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Brian Kelly was made available to the media to talk about the 2024 class.

• Had one signee today, Dominick McKinley, the No. 1 player in the state of Louisiana. Says adding him to this class "really tops it off for us."
• They are going to be intentional with the portal. Want to build this program with their freshman classes. Said it was no mistake that they signed so many Louisiana natives in the portal.
• Said they were looking for experience in the portal, especially on the defensive end. They got that in Jardin Gilbert and Jyaire Brown.
• Thinks they still have needs at the defensive tackle position. They're "vetting" the options at the position.
• Said they had huge needs last year, so they had to dip into the transfer portal to fill the roster, but feels that's not sustainable. Would much rather build through high school recruits that you have a relationship with. The "business plan all along" has been to build a base in Louisiana and develop the high school player. Doesn't mean you don't use the portal, you just need to be strategic with it.
• Said the coaching change at A&M started the opportunity for them to flip McKinley. Says when the other school is going through a coaching transition, it allowed them more time to build relationships with McKinley and his family.
• Only three players they signed weren't from border states. Says those border states are the ones they targeted. Says "they'll go anywhere for a quarterback or a difference maker," but their base recruiting is going to be in the border states.
• Loves the young players they have on the defensive line - highlights the freshman class. Says they're going to be in a really good situation, but feels they're going to need to get more depth there. Says they're still recruiting and says they still have the spring portal.
• Thinks locking down the state of Louisiana is important. Says each of their coaches need to lock down an area of LA and then find ways to connect with border states. Thinks it's a commitment to getting out there and working hard, and thinks his staff did a great job of that.
• Says the new coaches have been well received in the recruiting world because they've been so successful in their careers on the field and recruiting.
• They're considering moving some guys around on the defensive line. Says they don't want to name names yet, but they're going to have some movement at the position. Also says they will test some offensive lineman out of the D-line.
• Talked about how important it was to get recruits from LA, but he said it was intentional that he brought some coaches in from LA. Says it wasn't mandatory for their new coaches that they have experience recruiting in LA, but it certainly helped their resume.
• Has a lot of confidence in the younger players, but says there's nothing like having someone who's experienced. Jardin Gilbert is "a smart, committed player who has experience."
• Thinks the CFB calendar needs to change. With the portal opening while the season's going on among other issues, he thinks something needs to change. Says they have a meeting coming up on the 15th where it'll be discussed.

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McKinley Locked In

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Lafayette (LA) Acadiana DT Dominick McKinley has been one of LSU’s top targets on the defensive line throughout the entire recruiting process. The former Texas A&M Aggie commit at one time seemed destined for College Station, but LSU head coach Brian Kelly and Co. worked feverishly to flip McKinnley’s commitment and since then he’s been dialed in with LSU. No drama is expected with this one.


Can LSU Flip Bussey


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Timpson (TX) five-star athlete Terry Bussey has been talk of National Signing Day leading into Wednesday morning. He’s been committed to Texas A&M since the end of September, but much like McKinley, the LSU staff has worked overtime trying to flip Bussey to the Tigers. They managed to get him for a visit just before signing day but the Aggies got the curtain call and was Bussey’s last visit heading into National Signing Day. Both coaching staffs felt positive following Bussey’s visit and while I will say that it feels like the LSU staff closed the gap some,

So Where do things Stand?

Texas A&M: The Aggie staff feels they’ve done enough to hang on to Bussey, but there is concern because LSU has done such a great job of not only staying in the picture but climbing back into it. So while there is confidence in College Station, there’s also a certain level of uneasiness as well.

LSU: It really feels like the confidence on the LSU side has grown even since the day he first committed. The consensus back then was that LSU hadn’t done enough and the gap was too large to close. But when Bussey opted not to sign with Texas A&M, it gave the Tigers coaching staff a window of opportunity and they really capitalized. So confidence in Baton Rouge with Terry Bussey is high, and the LSU staff feel they’re very much in this down to the end.

Georgia: This is the other team that entered the mix somewhat late. They too received a visit and it’s hard to ever rule out Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs, but the feeling is that the Bulldogs are on the outside looking in at this one, and the least confident of the three programs in the mix for Bussey.

Prediction

Prospects like Terry Bussey are always tough to read. They only put out there what they want to be known and generally that’s very little. Based on everything I’ve heard over the last 48 hours or so, I think LSU does have a chance in this one, A commitment to LSU wouldn’t be over the top shocking but if I had to make a guess I’d say I think he sticks with his commitment to A&M and signs with the Aggies.

Wednesday is National Signing Day, meaning the Terry Bussey train will come to a final stop at either Texas A&M, Georgia or LSU. Bussey is still verbally committed to the Aggies, and although fresh off an official visit to College Station, he's taken trips to Georgia and LSU in the last few weeks.

Bussey will sign at 9 a.m. Wednesday.

From national recruiting director Adam Gorney four days ago: "The only five-star left in the 2024 class to make his final decision, Bussey will take his final official visit to Texas A&M this weekend and the feeling is that the Aggies are in strong shape to keep him in the class. LSU is the other main competitor after the five-star athlete from Timpson, Texas, visited in recent days. Georgia also is very much in the mix. But if things go well in College Station this weekend, Bussey is expected to stick with his initial decision."

From Aggie Yell on Sunday: "From what we've gathered, A&M feels like the visit went well overall. LSU is pulling out the stops to get Bussey to flip, but as it stands now, the odds favor him signing with the Aggies."

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Parsa Bombs on X passed along information on the men's tennis team's latest commitment: Jamie Diack.

Diack took an official visit to LSU in January after assistant coach Sebastian Rey visited him last summer in England. Diack committed to the Tigers on Tuesday and will join the team in the fall of 2024.

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The National recruiting team at Rivals joined the Death Valley Insider staff to discuss LSU's 2025 class in this installment of Fact or Fiction.

Our panel of experts examine the following statement...

LSU will finish 2025 with the No. 1 overall class

and determine is it FACT or is it FICTION...

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John Garcia Jr. and Adam Gorney discuss the biggest storylines of the Late Signing Period, which begins Wednesday.

@Luke Hubbard breaks down what we learned from LSU's baseball scrimmage on Monday night.

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The Tigers landed two commitments from their junior day festivities last Saturday with Jaboree Antoine on campus and then Devin Harper a few days later from home. Today's visitor list isn't expecting much, but we know former Georgia pledge Micah DeBose will be in Baton Rouge.

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DeBose is harder to get into contact with, but if I can get ahold of him this time around, I'll make sure to get all information to you guys.

Statement from Jon Miller, president of acquisitions and partnerships for the All-American Bowl:

"Given the changing landscape at the collegiate level, our senior participants are graduating high school earlier and enrolling in and attending college as early as December. As a result, the All-American Bowl is pivoting to now include top juniors for the upcoming 2025 All-American Bowl. This change will allow more top juniors to make their college declarations on network television."

Of the three major postseason high school games, the All-American Bowl is the first to permit juniors to play. LSU had five signees participate in San Antonio last month.

At 6pm CT, the LSU Baseball team will face off in an intrasquad scrimmage. Check back here at 6pm for live updates. I'll post the lineups as soon as they are announced, but likely won't be until a few minutes before.

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Bradley Wright visited LSU on Jan. 27 for the "Cajun Bash" and received a preferred walk-on offer from the Tigers on Jan. 11.

John Jancek served as a defensive line coach last season, helping on the recruiting side as well when Jimmy Lindsey was away due to a medical matter.

Jancek was retained during the firings last month, but he wasn’t assigned a clear title moving forward.

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Cordova has also been offered by Mizzou, but it came after Peoples left for LSU. I'll get more information on Cordova soon.

Jay Clark

• Thinks every team need a 1-2 punch, but thinks they have a 1-2-3 punch with Kiya, Haliegh and Aleah. Says it's a great situation to be in.
• Says when the team first meets after Friday, they take an introspective look on what they did well and how they can improve. Just tries to get them to take a good look in the mirror whether they played well or not. Said they didn't perform at a level that was absolute perfection, so there's always more to improve on.
• Liked the fact that they continued to fight even though the meet was out of hand early. Says a team that's not in the right mindset can end up making mistakes and letting the other team get back into it.
• Thought beam was the best event of the day, even with floor's score being higher. Wanted to see them improve there, and they did.
• Feels Savannah Schoenherr is a great competitor, but puts too much pressure on herself to be perfect at times. Calls her an intricate part in what they do.
• Said they had a flu bug that ran through them before Missouri and they're still on the tail end of it. Cammy Hall was out all week and missed because she was sick.
• Athens is a special place for him. It's his alma matter and his families alma matter and where he started his career, but he's been here 12 years and considers himself an LSU Tiger. Says it's not any different besides the ticket requests from his family. Said the first couple years here it was a bit emotional, but not anymore.
• Feels Amari Drayton is doing about what he thought she'd be doing in her career. She's been great on floor and vault, but thinks she can become an all-arounder at some point in her career.
• Konnor McClain has surprised him. He knew she was talented, but she had so many injuries coming in and hadn't practiced in like a year, so he's surprised she's doing so well so early.
• They're looking for a spot to give Kiya a week to rest a bit. Her achilles is fine, but he wants to make sure he keeps her healthy. Says she has "after meet soreness," but nothing to worry about.
• His No. 1 point of emphasis is consistency. They've been great, but inconsistent this season and they need to be more consistent if they want to compete in the postseason.
• Gave them an analogy that "if you go to Chick-Fil-A in Baton Rouge, then you go to Chick-Fil-A in New York, you expect them to taste the same."

Aleah Finnegan

• Said they just turned the page after their loss to Missouri. Said there was nothing extravagant about Friday, they just need to do that every week.
• Felt they had a great week of training leading up to the meet on Friday.
• Said she doesn't feel like she's watching a freshman when she's watching Konnor McClain. Said she's watched her compete for years prior to this, and it's nothing short of extraordinary.
• She's beginning to feel like herself again. Didn't have the greatest start to the season, especially in the meet against Missouri, but bounced back in a big way Friday.
• She notched her first career 10 last year against Georgia. Says she remembers crying and celebrating with her team after. They travel to Athens this week to take on UGA.
• Thinks if they keep "stacking good days" they can be really dangerous in the postseason.
• Said she hasn't been focusing on the Olympics yet. Won't start until April when the season is over.
• Thinks Kiya has been unbelievable. Calls her a rock for this team. Says watching her perform after coming back from the achilles tear has been really special.

Much more here on JaReylan McCoy and others:

@Kenny Van Doren has the latest on a Rivals100 CB that Corey Raymond has reconnected with after his arrival back at LSU.