Coach [autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag] came into an LSU program rich with both history and expectations last spring, and though the 40-22 season that ended in the final round of the Hattiesburg Regional was nothing to scoff at, one thing was clear: This team wanted more.
Johnson embarked on a talent acquisition quest this offseason to try to take this team to the next level, and the result was a transfer haul that included two-way player [autotag]Paul Skenes[/autotag], who will be LSU’s ace on the mound this season, and [autotag]Tommy White[/autotag], who is coming off a dominant hitting season as a freshman at NC State.
In an interview with SiriusXM previewing the 2023 season, Johnson said those moves were made with a championship in mind.
“It’s funny because during part of the recruiting process, I was the only coach on staff during this time because my assistants got power five head coaching jobs,” Johnson said. “You know, I actually think it goes back a lot further than the summer time. It goes back to last year. We did a probably an underrated job in the transfer portal for the 2022 season. I’m very pleased with what we accomplished last year, winning 40 games, had the highest SEC finish for LSU in five or six years, and Jacob Berry had a lot to do with that. Tyler McManus had a lot to do with that. Riley Cooper had a lot to do with that. Eric Rezyelman had a lot to do with that.
“And when I looked at the transfer portal, it’s really hard to picture last year’s team without the guys that we added. So when we looked at this last summer coming up, we want to contend for a national championship. I want to high five coach Rooney in Omaha. So where were we short?”
Johnson elaborated on LSU’s portal strategy, which saw needs at both pitcher and in the lineup with [autotag]Jacob Berry[/autotag] and [autotag]Cade Doughty[/autotag] moving on to the professional ranks.
“We were short with starting pitching talent,” Johnson said. “And then we were going to lose Jacob Berry and Cade Doughty you know, first and second round draft picked hitters that were kind of the core of our lineup. So we addressed all of that in the portal this year. And it was pretty intense. It was pretty intentional with how we did what we did and very excited that we got the results of getting these guys on our team.
“They all bring something pretty unique from a player and person standpoint to this group. And we’re certainly going to be better because we have those five players.”
The Tigers are going to look a lot different this spring, and they’ll enter with sky-high expectations. LSU will toss its first pitch of the season on Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. CT vs. Western Michigan at Alex Box Stadium.
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