Brian Kelly to LSU will reshape national recruiting landscape – again

A report from Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel has Brian Kelly leaving Notre Dame to coach LSU.

The college football recruiting landscape has been transformed once again, a little more than 24 hours after the bombshell news emerged that Lincoln Riley was leaving Oklahoma for USC.

Riley’s departure was a seismic moment that immediately altered the recruiting landscape in California and Texas. But it pales in comparison to the national impact Kelly’s departure from South Bend to Baton Rouge will have on the recruiting trail.

Simply put, it’s one of the most transformative moments we’ve seen in the past decade in recruiting.

The tentacles of this reported move by Kelly will stretch from coast to coast because of Notre Dame’s and LSU’s national recruiting footprints.

It’ll greatly impact a long list of recruits, unlike anything we’ve seen in quite some time, says a veteran SEC coach who has recruited against Kelly and LSU for years.

“Lincoln Riley was big,” the SEC recruiter said. “This is bigger than big. It’s colossal. It’s going to (mess) everything up for so many.”

Will Brian Kelly succeed in recruiting at LSU?

Brian Kelly has been coach at Notre Dame for 12 seasons, turning them into a constant in the College Football Playoff conversation. He’s been to two playoff semifinals and appeared in the 2012 BCS National Championship Game. There has been nothing but consistency at Notre Dame with Kelly, who has guided the Irish to double-digit wins in each of the past five seasons. That’s the first time in the school’s illustrious football history that has happened.

Kelly also has turned Notre Dame into one of the nation’s top recruiting programs.

Notre Dame has the No. 5 2022 recruiting class in the country, according to the On3 Consensus Team Recruiting Rankings. The Fighting Irish were 11^th in 2021, 18^th in 2020, 14^th in 2018, and ninth in 2018. Kelly has done all of this while working with academic restrictions that only a few top programs must deal with.

Notre Dame has a true national recruiting footprint under Kelly unlike any other program in the country, outside of Alabama, Oregon and Oklahoma before Riley’s departure.

But Kelly never has coached south of the Mason-Dixon line. It’s a fair question to ask if he’ll have success at LSU.

“I’d be concerned if I’m an LSU fan,” said a former SEC recruiter who now works at an AAC school. “But I also know Coach Kelly is a smart guy. He wouldn’t make this type of move without a game plan in place.”

Kelly must have Southeast connections

Brian Kelly’s game plan, according to On3 national analyst Gerry Hamilton, must include seasoned recruiters who have fought SEC recruiting battles. We’re talking about savvy coaches who know where the recruiting honey pots are in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia and Florida.

“With all head-coaching hires, it comes down to the staff hired,” Hamilton said. “I have little doubt (current LSU secondary coach) Corey Raymond will be part of the staff. And he’s a difference-maker. If Kelly proves he knows who to hire on a staff to recruit in Texas, Georgia and Florida, he will do very well.”

Chad Simmons, On3’s Director of Recruiting, agrees with Hamilton’s take on the staff structure being paramount for Kelly.

“Kelly has recruited players in the south, but recruiting against SEC powers will be different,” Simmons said. “He has no coaching experience in the SEC, so how he builds his staff will be extremely important. He needs coaches who understand the SEC, the landscape and how to recruit in this conference.

“The players are there [in Louisiana]. Most grow up dreaming of playing at LSU, so the opportunity is there for Kelly to do big things in Baton Rouge. How he puts his staff together will be what I watch closest in the coming days. That is key.”

The good news, according to a report from Hamilton, is that Kelly is expected to retain Raymond. Ace recruiter Kevin Faulk, a LSU alum, also is expected to be on the new staff in Baton Rouge, per Hamilton.

Kelly has gotten more involved in recruiting

A positive sign is those close to Kelly say he’s stepped up his recruiting involvement in South Bend. It’s something he’ll have to do even more now that he’s battling Nick Saban, Kirby Smart, Jimbo Fisher and the long list of elite recruiters in the SEC.

“We’ve mainly seen Brian Kelly recruit nationally at Notre Dame,” said Charles Power, the Director of Scouting and Rankings for On3. “You obviously have that capability at LSU, but the recruiting starts in-state and then spreads out. I thought Notre Dame was recruiting as well as they ever have under Kelly in the 2022 and 2023 cycles. Those two classes appeared to be trending up for the Irish and they have several high-end, difference-maker types committed. Kelly has largely been a closer on the recruiting trail. But it seems like he’s gotten a little more involved in recent classes.

“You have to think he’ll have some assistants with regional connections, as this is new terrain. But if he can find the right mix, then there’s no reason to think he couldn’t have success.”