When [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] took over LSU’s program 13 months ago, the roster situation was — frankly — a mess.
In the Tigers’ Texas Bowl loss to Kansas State, they had just 39 scholarship players available. It was clear that to have any chance of immediate competitiveness, Kelly needed to add talent and do so quickly.
That’s exactly what he did, bringing in one of the top transfer classes in the country. He rebuilt the secondary essentially from scratch, adding players like [autotag]Jarrick Bernard-Converse[/autotag], [autotag]Mekhi Garner[/autotag], [autotag]Greg Brooks Jr.[/autotag] and [autotag]Joe Foucha[/autotag], but perhaps the most impactful addition was quarterback [autotag]Jayden Daniels[/autotag], one of the top signal-callers in the SEC this fall.
On3’s Mike Huguenin broke down LSU’s success in the portal this past offseason.
2021 record: 6-7
2022 record: 10-4, SEC title game loss, Citrus Bowl win
Coaching change?: Yes
Transfer quarterback?: Yes, Jayden Daniels (from Arizona State)
The buzz: New coach Brian Kelly went heavily into the portal, especially on defense. The key newcomer, though, was Daniels, whose mobility became a big part of the offense. He was a key reason LSU surprisingly (heck, stunningly) won the SEC West title. Transfers played a huge role in the secondary, with four seeing important playing time. And DT Mekhi Wingo, who transferred from Missouri, became vital when rising-star DT Maason Smith was injured and lost for the season in the opener.
2023 transfer commitments: 7
As Huguenin notes, some transfers like Wingo saw an even bigger role than expected due to injury. It’s hard to picture where this team would have ended up without some of these incredibly impactful additions.
Kelly has made it clear he doesn’t intend to use the portal as aggressively this offseason. LSU has seven commitments in the portal right now, and it may not add anymore until the second transfer window in the spring.
Now that Kelly has a foundation in place, he wants to focus more on high school recruiting — an understandable step. Still, this team needed an influx of talent badly in 2022, and Kelly’s aggressiveness paid off big time.
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