BJ Ojulari reveals why he chose to stay at LSU under Brian Kelly, details buy-in process

LSU defensive lineman BJ Ojulari could have jumped ship when Ed Orgeron was fired. He was coming off a great season and would have been a top target in the transfer portal had he decided to enter his name. Except Ojulari opted to stick around and see what the Brian Kelly era had to offer. And then he flourished, nearly matching his stats from last season despite playing two less games thus far.

So Ojulari obviously made a great decision in staying. But this week he was asked why he ended up making that decision in the face of so much unknown with the coaching staff. Here was his answer:

“Yeah, for me it was never about who’s coaching or anything like that. For me the biggest thing was staying at LSU, just knowing the great history that LSU has, ultimately I fell in love with the school. But there’s been great coaches before me, there’s going to be great coaches after me. But Coach Kelly, he just has a certain process. When teams apply that process, it’s proven to be successful. I know it’s successful for us. He does things a certain way.”

As one of the veteran leaders of the team, Ojulari knew that the coaches would need his buy-in from the get-go in order to implement their culture within the team.

“Yeah, as being one of the leaders, I’ll say my buy-in was pretty immediate just with Coach Flint and them coming in during the bowl game, starting to implement the little pieces of the strength training process. Having to buy in and show the guys that this is what you have to do, this is the new process that is at LSU.”

Lastly, BJ Ojulari discussed the infamous “SWAT” teams for LSU football.

“Yeah, definitely with the “SWAT” teams, holding people more accountable. As teammates, checking up on other teammates. Everyone having to do their job, pull on the same side of the rope all season.

“But everything that we do is not just physically. Coach Kelly does a great job focusing on the mental aspect of the game, breaking teams down for us to get the mental edge, to keep us focused and positive throughout the whole season.”

It takes some faith for the coach and players to fully buy-in to one another in their first year, but that seems to be the case down in Baton Rouge. At least Ojulari and Brian Kelly