While the spring transfer portal window hasn’t technically come to a close yet, most of the LSU targets have just about made their decisions, leaving the Tigers relatively empty handed entering the summer. Even so, coach Brian Kelly still sounds confident in the way they went about things and recently shared his thoughts on his defensive line group moving into the 2024 offseason.
It wasn’t an ideal spring transfer window for LSU football in 2024
Heading into the spring transfer portal window, there was little doubt about where coach Brian Kelly would focusing his attention. He wanted to bolster his defensive line group that just lost several key members to the NFL this offseason.
Unfortunately, those plans didn’t exactly pan out, as they swung and missed on several big time transfer targets including Simeon Barrow and Damonic Williams, who ultimately chose Miami and Oklahoma, respectively.
Even so, while speaking with Jacques Doucet of WAFB Baton Rouge, the third-year head coach didn’t show any signs of hesitation when explaining his overall confidence so far this transfer window.
“I think I made it pretty clear in a number of the press conferences that I had that we were in the market – in recruiting – in the transfer portal looking for defensive linemen,” Kelly said when asked about his defensive line group. “It hasn’t fared very well, quite frankly, because we’re selling something a little bit differently.”
“We want to recruit, we want to engage, build relationships, we want to develop, retain and have success. We’re not in the market of buying players, and unfortunately right now, that’s what some guys are looking for. They want to be bought.”
The concept of “being bought” in college athletics is still incredibly new, largely thanks to the introduction of NIL and players essentially being paid for their service at their respective schools. In turn, this has added a whole new layer to a world of recruiting that was already about as complicated and in-depth as it gets.
Additionally, the introduction of NIL and “being bought” has opened a debate between programs in terms of what the best way to build a roster is. While some programs have shown a willingness to dish out hefty sums of money to players for as little as one season, others have had serious hesitation.
Interestingly enough, coach Brian Kelly and LSU have implemented something of a hybrid form. Thanks in large part to one of the best NIL collectives in the country, the Tiger head coach still has the power to stay true to his own beliefs in what the best way of building a college football program truly is in the year of 2024.
Coach Brian Kelly sends powerful message to potential recruits, transfer portal targets moving forward
“Look, I understand NIL is part of this, and we have an incredible collective. We have very, very generous opportunities around the greater Baton Rouge area for NIL opportunities. So they are here, but we’re not gonna go out and buy players. That’s not what this is about; this was never about that. We will develop you, we will get you ready for the next step.”
Since the moment coach Kelly first stepped on campus in Baton Rouge, he made it clear that he wants to build a championship roster. In turn, it’s a pretty safe bet that he’s willing to do quite a bit in order to snag his first career national championship as a part of the purple and gold.
With that said, he’s also made it pretty clear that he’s not in the business of throwing money at kids who haven’t earned it yet.
Important to remember is the fact that some of the defensive line targets they were going after were just going to come in and compete for a starting job. LSU football has several starting caliber defensive interior players, so any transfer additions at that position were likely going to come in and create competition to help the room develop as a whole.
With that, if a player is asking for star caliber money, it might not have been the worst idea for the Tigers to bow out and call it quits on some of those recruiting battles this spring.
“We developed three defensive linemen that all got drafted this year, and we’ll do that again, but if you’re just looking to get paid, you’re looking in the wrong place,” coach Brian Kelly continued. “If you like all the things that we do here in developing our players, bringing you into a championship program, playing in front of the best fanbase in America, playing for championships and having an opportunity for NIL, you should be a Tiger. But if you just want to get paid, this is not the place for you.”
As we stand today, the purple and gold have landed just one transfer portal defensive lineman this offseason, as Gio Paez will make his way to Baton Rouge via Wisconsin for his graduate season. Aside from Paez, the main candidates to compete for starting snaps include 5th-year Jacobian Guillory, senior Jalen Lee and freshman Dominick McKinley.
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