Southeastern Conference media days kicked off Monday at the Grand Hyatt in Nashville, Tennessee.
Second-year LSU head coach Brian Kelly was the first to speak on the main stage at media days.
LSU won the SEC West division in Kelly’s first season as the Tigers’ head coach.
Tennessee won at LSU, 40-13, on Oct. 8, 2022. The Tigers won five consecutive games after losing to Tennessee.
Kelly discussed having success in his first season at LSU after losing to the Vols.
“What we were able to do was really give our players a clear vision and a clear plan as to what we wanted them to do on a day-to-day basis,” Kelly said. “Here are the standards. Here are the non-negotiables. Here’s where you can’t cross that line. If you stick with these non-negotiables, that you have to do, these things every single day and be accountable to them. We have a chance to build a relationship on a day-to-day basis that you’ll see that will prepare you for success.
“The real crossroads for us was when we got beat bad by Tennessee, because a lot of that trust can go right out the window in year one when you get beat that bad. Our kids hung in there and they gave us the trust necessary to work through that, and they went back and they worked harder and they worked to the details that we told them we needed to, and then once we got past that Tennessee game, I think we had those guys bought in. You’re going to need some of those moments in year one where those young men go, we’re in, we’re going to stick with you. Sometimes it doesn’t happen that way. In this instance, it did.”
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