Brian Kelly gives early thoughts on Jayden Daniels, what he wants to see from Garrett Nussmeier

LSU head coach Brian Kelly lauded his quarterback Jayden Daniels on Monday following the team’s 65-17 win over Southern in Week 2. During his press conference previewing Mississippi State, Kelly broke down what Daniels brings to the table as a third-year player.

“You start with efficiency with Daniels,” Kelly said. “His ability to keep eight drives alive, consecutively, and turn them into touchdowns, it’s a great place to start. There’s still growth there and he would tell you that if he was standing here there’s still growth in recognition.

“He’s so coachable. I think I mentioned this last time, his demeanor when he comes to the sideline, he’s extremely coachable, taking in information…picking it up and moving on to the next series. I like that about him.”

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Kelly noted that the continued growth in Daniels’ ability to scramble and find his targets downfield will only make him more successful as the season goes on.

On Saturday, Daniels threw for 137 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for an additional 18 yards and a score.

Although the starter led the Tigers to a 44-0 lead, backup Garrett Nussmeier actually topped the stat sheet for passing yards. He finished with 183 yards after going 13-for-23 with two interceptions. Kelly shared what he wants to see from Nussmeier moving forward after the game.

“You never want to have a moment where you turn the ball over, we had a conversation about that, and he knows that, but he did some really good things,” Kelly said. “We have to build off of that. When you’re in the No. 2 position, you press a little bit… He doesn’t need to do that. We have great confidence in him.”

Kelly explains the difficulty in preparing for Bulldogs

Kelly and his first-year squad open up their SEC schedule this weekend as they take on Mississippi State at home. The Bulldogs are notorious for their air raid offensive attack led by head coach Mike Leach. Kelly discussed the challenges of facing their offensive scheme during his press conference on Monday.

“I think perceptually that people think there’s a lot of curveballs, but this is dive, QB keep, or pitch,” Kelly said. “There’s maybe four, five, six concepts that are run so well and so efficiently that if you get too cute on defense, that’s where you get exposed. Or you try to do one thing to take it away, if you play too much man, if you play too much three-man rush, if you try to be one dimensional defensively that’s where you get in trouble.”

Mississippi State may only have a few run plays on their call sheet, but they run them effectively. Coupled with a passing attack that’s been consistently ranking near the top of the national standings on an annual basis since Leach’s arrival, the Bulldogs’ offense is hard to stop.

Kelly will try to give Mississippi State quarterback Will Rogers a variety of looks and run them efficiently, as they plan to limit the quarterback who’s already thrown for 763 yards and 9 touchdowns with a 78.6% completion percentage through two games. Limiting the Bulldogs in the red zone will be key to keeping the score close on Saturday.

On3’s Kaiden Smith contributed to this report.