Lots to talk about, lots still be determined and lots we still don't know, so let's get that out the way...
Brian Kelly, Scott Woodward and whomever else is part of the inner circle hiring the LSU coaching staff is playing this very much how the head coach search went on -- quietly behind the scenes. We obviously know several Notre Dame assistants turned down the opportunity to follow Kelly to Baton Rouge, including defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman, who is now the head coach of the Fighting Irish, offensive coordinator Tommy Rees, tight ends coach John McNulty and running backs coach Lance Taylor, cornerbacks coach Mike Mickens and safeties coach Chris O’Leary will keep their current positions on staff, per our Rivals Notre Dame site, BlueandGold.com. Then Notre Dame DL coach Mike Elston tweeted he's ready for his 12 year with the Irish, insinuating he'll be sticking around too. Also, Notre Dame tweeted a video of strength & conditioning coach Matt Balis, the Director of Football Performance, informing players that he wanted to remain at Notre Dame and “want to die here.”
I haven't heard or seen anything final in regards to ND WR coach Del Alexander, OL coach Jeff Quinn, special teams coordinator/associate head coach Brian Polian. Also keep an eye on Jacob Flint, the co-director of strength and conditioning at Notre Dame, as a potential candidate to replace Tommy Moffitt, who Kelly let go over the weekend.
Most of the time with coaching hires, the head coach goes with a guy he's previously worked with or somehow has ties too, in this case Kelly could also be looking for coaches with some Louisiana ties or experience recruiting in the SEC. Here's a few names to keep an eye based on those qualifications (so just my opinion, none of this coming from any sources):
Mike Denbrock, the Cincinnati Bearcats offensive coordinator who spent time on the Notre Dame staff from 2010-2016. Joe Brady, who was fired over the weekend by the Carolina Panthers, played a big role in LSU's championship season in 2019 and changing up the offense in Baton Rouge. He didn't care for recruiting whilst at LSU, but certainly plenty of college programs will come calling and reach out. It only makes sense that Kelly at least would check in with Brady, right? Or, perhaps he wants to distance himself from Ed Orgeron and that 2019 season. Jeff Lebby, the Ole Miss OC and quarterbacks coach, is a name that's been tossed around, but it seems that he could be heading to his alma mater, Oklahoma, to become the OC for new OU head coach Brent Venables, and that could be happening soon. It's been reported that Lebby was in the conversation for both the LSU OC job and Auburn too. Perhaps Kelly may have wanted to reunite with Chip Long, who coordinated Notre Dame’s offense from 2017-2019 and most recently was the offensive coordinator at Tulane, but it was announced that Long would become Georgia Tech's OC and QB coach. Or does Kelly do the unlikely and keep Jake Peetz and DJ Mangas? I personally don't see that happening, but never say never, I guess.
Rivals' Sam Spiegelman reported over the weekend that he was hearing that UGA WR coach/PG coordinator Cortez Hankton and Alabama DC/LB coach Pete Golding's names circulating as possible candidates to join Kelly's staff. That also could make sense as both are elite recruiters on SEC staffs and both are from Louisiana. And without a doubt, both of those coaches would make immediate impacts on the recruiting scene from the Tigers.
All of that to really say, we don't know who he's going to hire. When we have more information, we'll pass it on, but he's playing it close to the vest.
I haven't heard much in terms of defensive coaches, other than what Sam reported about Golding and the ND coaches turning Kelly down to stay in South Bend. I truly believe one of the best options would be to retain the entire LSU defensive staff. It would go a long way with recruits and current players, plus we saw the defense get better. We saw Damone Clark transform into an incredible LB from the beginning of the season to the end and even though he didn't win the Butkus, the stats prove he was the best in the nation. He will play in the NFL for a very long time. Blake Baker played a BIG role in Clark's transformation and he would tell you the same thing. There's some talk behind the scenes that Kelly may want to keep Baker, who will have other job opportunities, but the question I'm wondering: does he want to uproot his young family again after just returning back to Louisiana, where his wife is from? We'll have to wait and see especially if he gets some defensive coordinator offers, which we have heard could happen. We also saw Corey Raymond work his DBU magic after both Derek Stingley Jr. and Elias Ricks got hurt. At one point, we saw two former Nicholls transfers (Pig Cage and Darren Evans) on the field together. It seems like Raymond is another staffer Kelly wants to keep. We also saw Andre Carter and Daronte Jones continue to improve throughout the year even after key players were injured like Andre Anthony, Ali Gaye and Maason Smith. The back half of the season, LSU held Alabama to 20 points, Arkansas to 16, ULM to 14 and Texas A&M to 24. It's also believed that Kelly would keep running backs coach Kevin Faulk if he wanted to stay. Faulk had a rough year after suddenly and tragically losing his daughter during the season. So, it's not clear yet what he would want to do. I would think all signs point to Brad Davis being retained since he's currently the interim head coach and technically a Scott Woodward hire, plus he's from Baton Rouge. It will be interesting to see though if Quinn wants to follow Kelly to LSU. I believe Davis won over a lot of fans after his Sunday night press conference, which you be see below. He was humble, insightful, relatable and just a really fun interview. It was his first media appearance since LSU hired him in June 2021.
As far as recruiting goes, we are literally days away from the Early Signing Period on Dec. 15. Kelly started making phone calls to commitments and recruits late last week and will start going on in-home visits this week and the Tigers will host visits this weekend.
Kelly spoke to Walker Howard, Will Campbell, Emery Jones, Laterrance Welch just to name a few but he also reached out to some priority in-state targets, including five-star safety Jacoby Mathews, who I spoke to this morning.
"I talked to him two days ago, it went great," Mathews said, "He made it clear he wants me in purple and gold and (we) have plans of meeting with me a few times after my season is over."
Mathews and Ponchatoula will face Zachary in the Class 5A title game Saturday night in the Superdome. And as it stands right now, Mathews will wait until the February signing day.
I also spoke to OL commit Fitzgerald West, who hasn't heard from Kelly yet, but will take an official to LSU this weekend, while tight end commit Jake Johnson said, "Coach Kelly is supposed to visit at some point as they're working out scheduled with all the recruits." LSU's only DL commit Tygee Hill told me he's expecting potentially an in-home visit from Kelly Tuesday night.
Almost all of the commitments are expected to be in Baton Rouge this weekend for official visits.
A few additional recruiting notes:
-- Alabama DC Pete Golding, a Louisiana native, will be visiting WR Shazz Preston for an in-home Monday night. Preston is still waiting to see who LSU hires as OC and the next WR coach with Mickey Joseph off to Nebraska. The feeling is that Bama and Georgia lead for Preston at the moment over LSU.
-- LSU is still in the mix for cornerback Denver Harris, who Raymond has been recruiting for a very long time. It could be down to LSU and Texas A&M. Also, we're still watching how things play out with DL Anthony Lucas and S Kamari Wilson, who put out a top four of LSU, A&M, Georgia and Florida State. Texas LB Harold Perkins, a New Orleans native, has a top three of A&M, LSU and Texas but won't be announcing his decision until Jan. 2 at the Under Armour All-American Game, which would give Kelly & Co. more time to work on him, especially if Baker is retained.
-- Nick Saban was at Captain Shreve Monday morning checking in with four-star athlete Kendrick Law, who it feels like is leaning Bama at the moment.
-- Like we said in the last notebook, we're also still monitoring CB Chris Graves, RB Tre'Vonte Citizen, Notre Dame wide receiver commit CJ Williams out of California, Ponchatoula ATH Amorion Walker, who is currently a Notre Dame commitment and Miami commit Landon Ibieta.
I'll do my best to answer any questions in the comments section.
Brian Kelly, Scott Woodward and whomever else is part of the inner circle hiring the LSU coaching staff is playing this very much how the head coach search went on -- quietly behind the scenes. We obviously know several Notre Dame assistants turned down the opportunity to follow Kelly to Baton Rouge, including defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman, who is now the head coach of the Fighting Irish, offensive coordinator Tommy Rees, tight ends coach John McNulty and running backs coach Lance Taylor, cornerbacks coach Mike Mickens and safeties coach Chris O’Leary will keep their current positions on staff, per our Rivals Notre Dame site, BlueandGold.com. Then Notre Dame DL coach Mike Elston tweeted he's ready for his 12 year with the Irish, insinuating he'll be sticking around too. Also, Notre Dame tweeted a video of strength & conditioning coach Matt Balis, the Director of Football Performance, informing players that he wanted to remain at Notre Dame and “want to die here.”
I haven't heard or seen anything final in regards to ND WR coach Del Alexander, OL coach Jeff Quinn, special teams coordinator/associate head coach Brian Polian. Also keep an eye on Jacob Flint, the co-director of strength and conditioning at Notre Dame, as a potential candidate to replace Tommy Moffitt, who Kelly let go over the weekend.
Most of the time with coaching hires, the head coach goes with a guy he's previously worked with or somehow has ties too, in this case Kelly could also be looking for coaches with some Louisiana ties or experience recruiting in the SEC. Here's a few names to keep an eye based on those qualifications (so just my opinion, none of this coming from any sources):
Mike Denbrock, the Cincinnati Bearcats offensive coordinator who spent time on the Notre Dame staff from 2010-2016. Joe Brady, who was fired over the weekend by the Carolina Panthers, played a big role in LSU's championship season in 2019 and changing up the offense in Baton Rouge. He didn't care for recruiting whilst at LSU, but certainly plenty of college programs will come calling and reach out. It only makes sense that Kelly at least would check in with Brady, right? Or, perhaps he wants to distance himself from Ed Orgeron and that 2019 season. Jeff Lebby, the Ole Miss OC and quarterbacks coach, is a name that's been tossed around, but it seems that he could be heading to his alma mater, Oklahoma, to become the OC for new OU head coach Brent Venables, and that could be happening soon. It's been reported that Lebby was in the conversation for both the LSU OC job and Auburn too. Perhaps Kelly may have wanted to reunite with Chip Long, who coordinated Notre Dame’s offense from 2017-2019 and most recently was the offensive coordinator at Tulane, but it was announced that Long would become Georgia Tech's OC and QB coach. Or does Kelly do the unlikely and keep Jake Peetz and DJ Mangas? I personally don't see that happening, but never say never, I guess.
Rivals' Sam Spiegelman reported over the weekend that he was hearing that UGA WR coach/PG coordinator Cortez Hankton and Alabama DC/LB coach Pete Golding's names circulating as possible candidates to join Kelly's staff. That also could make sense as both are elite recruiters on SEC staffs and both are from Louisiana. And without a doubt, both of those coaches would make immediate impacts on the recruiting scene from the Tigers.
All of that to really say, we don't know who he's going to hire. When we have more information, we'll pass it on, but he's playing it close to the vest.
I haven't heard much in terms of defensive coaches, other than what Sam reported about Golding and the ND coaches turning Kelly down to stay in South Bend. I truly believe one of the best options would be to retain the entire LSU defensive staff. It would go a long way with recruits and current players, plus we saw the defense get better. We saw Damone Clark transform into an incredible LB from the beginning of the season to the end and even though he didn't win the Butkus, the stats prove he was the best in the nation. He will play in the NFL for a very long time. Blake Baker played a BIG role in Clark's transformation and he would tell you the same thing. There's some talk behind the scenes that Kelly may want to keep Baker, who will have other job opportunities, but the question I'm wondering: does he want to uproot his young family again after just returning back to Louisiana, where his wife is from? We'll have to wait and see especially if he gets some defensive coordinator offers, which we have heard could happen. We also saw Corey Raymond work his DBU magic after both Derek Stingley Jr. and Elias Ricks got hurt. At one point, we saw two former Nicholls transfers (Pig Cage and Darren Evans) on the field together. It seems like Raymond is another staffer Kelly wants to keep. We also saw Andre Carter and Daronte Jones continue to improve throughout the year even after key players were injured like Andre Anthony, Ali Gaye and Maason Smith. The back half of the season, LSU held Alabama to 20 points, Arkansas to 16, ULM to 14 and Texas A&M to 24. It's also believed that Kelly would keep running backs coach Kevin Faulk if he wanted to stay. Faulk had a rough year after suddenly and tragically losing his daughter during the season. So, it's not clear yet what he would want to do. I would think all signs point to Brad Davis being retained since he's currently the interim head coach and technically a Scott Woodward hire, plus he's from Baton Rouge. It will be interesting to see though if Quinn wants to follow Kelly to LSU. I believe Davis won over a lot of fans after his Sunday night press conference, which you be see below. He was humble, insightful, relatable and just a really fun interview. It was his first media appearance since LSU hired him in June 2021.
As far as recruiting goes, we are literally days away from the Early Signing Period on Dec. 15. Kelly started making phone calls to commitments and recruits late last week and will start going on in-home visits this week and the Tigers will host visits this weekend.
Kelly spoke to Walker Howard, Will Campbell, Emery Jones, Laterrance Welch just to name a few but he also reached out to some priority in-state targets, including five-star safety Jacoby Mathews, who I spoke to this morning.
"I talked to him two days ago, it went great," Mathews said, "He made it clear he wants me in purple and gold and (we) have plans of meeting with me a few times after my season is over."
Mathews and Ponchatoula will face Zachary in the Class 5A title game Saturday night in the Superdome. And as it stands right now, Mathews will wait until the February signing day.
I also spoke to OL commit Fitzgerald West, who hasn't heard from Kelly yet, but will take an official to LSU this weekend, while tight end commit Jake Johnson said, "Coach Kelly is supposed to visit at some point as they're working out scheduled with all the recruits." LSU's only DL commit Tygee Hill told me he's expecting potentially an in-home visit from Kelly Tuesday night.
Almost all of the commitments are expected to be in Baton Rouge this weekend for official visits.
A few additional recruiting notes:
-- Alabama DC Pete Golding, a Louisiana native, will be visiting WR Shazz Preston for an in-home Monday night. Preston is still waiting to see who LSU hires as OC and the next WR coach with Mickey Joseph off to Nebraska. The feeling is that Bama and Georgia lead for Preston at the moment over LSU.
-- LSU is still in the mix for cornerback Denver Harris, who Raymond has been recruiting for a very long time. It could be down to LSU and Texas A&M. Also, we're still watching how things play out with DL Anthony Lucas and S Kamari Wilson, who put out a top four of LSU, A&M, Georgia and Florida State. Texas LB Harold Perkins, a New Orleans native, has a top three of A&M, LSU and Texas but won't be announcing his decision until Jan. 2 at the Under Armour All-American Game, which would give Kelly & Co. more time to work on him, especially if Baker is retained.
-- Nick Saban was at Captain Shreve Monday morning checking in with four-star athlete Kendrick Law, who it feels like is leaning Bama at the moment.
-- Like we said in the last notebook, we're also still monitoring CB Chris Graves, RB Tre'Vonte Citizen, Notre Dame wide receiver commit CJ Williams out of California, Ponchatoula ATH Amorion Walker, who is currently a Notre Dame commitment and Miami commit Landon Ibieta.
I'll do my best to answer any questions in the comments section.
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