Brian Kelly on Peyton Todd's spring game: 'Not as consistent as I'd like'

LSU Tigers head coach Brian Kelly was frustrated with the play of punter Peyton Todd following the program’s spring game. In particular, Kelly expressed concerns with his lack of consistency.

Kelly added that there was a chance for Todd to come out and say, through his play, that there was no competition at punter. That just didn’t happen.

“Not as consistent as I would like,” Brian Kelly said. “I thought today was an opportunity for him to just say, ‘There is no competition here,’ and he’s got to be more consistent, quite frankly.”

Peyton Todd came to LSU as a three-star recruit in the Class of 2021, according to the On3 Industry Rankings. He was the top-ranked punter in that cycle and the 1,379th-ranked player overall. He played his high school football for West Monroe in Louisiana.

For the past two seasons, Peyton Todd was the backup to Jay Bramblett, who followed Brian Kelly from Notre Dame to LSU. He’s now in a position to start if he can be more consistent and earn the job.

“He’s long. He’s got all the tools. He’s a classic case of today. You’ve got 14 practices. You look great, and today the ball was wobbling. It was not what I was looking for, nor was it what he was looking for, either. He’s a great kid, but look, this is about performance on Saturdays and he’s got to do a better job.”

Beyond Peyton Todd, LSU has Badger Hargett on the roster as a punter. There are also four different placekickers on the roster.

Brian Kelly has entrusted the special teams at LSU to Slade Nagle, the special teams coordinator and tight ends coach. He recently joined the staff in January of 2024, having spent the last eight seasons at Tulane.

Brian Kelly shares biggest difference in LSU program now compared to when he arrived

Now, going into his third season with the program, Brian Kelly shared the biggest difference he sees in LSU from then to now.

“I think they’re just at a point now where they understand what the standards are. It’s an attention to detail, it’s a laser focus, it’s every single day. This is hard,” Kelly said.

“If you want to compete for a championship in this league, you’ve got to be elite. And you can’t get by with just doing it at 90 percent. You’ve got to be at 100-plus all the time. So that constant attention to detail is what this team is a lot better at.”