Brian Kelly's hybrid recruiting strategy, key staff hires paying off early on

When Brian Kelly left Notre Dame, a job as coveted as any in college football, it raised eyebrows. 

The 60-year-old had returned a once-proud program to the conversation as one of college football’s elites, and his efforts on the recruiting trail were finally paying dividends. The Irish had made two College Football Playoff appearances — albeit both semifinal losses. But Kelly had established a culture in South Bend, seemingly setting the table for him to ultimately retire there. 

When LSU athletic director Scott Woodward knocked on his door looking for a replacement for Ed Orgeron, it was a chance at a fresh start. Factors outside of his control, including Notre Dame’s elite academic standards, made recruiting at the level necessary to win national titles a major obstacle. With the advent of the transfer portal, retooling a roster in South Bend like Alabama, Georgia or Ohio State could was nearly impossible. 

Kelly wasn’t a natural fit in Baton Rouge, having grown up in the Northeast and coached throughout the Midwest for nearly his entire career. And after a few early faux pas put him on the receiving end of numerous jokes, namely his failed attempt at an accent during an introduction at an LSU basketball game, speculation crept in about whether he could acclimate, and ultimately recruit, in the deep south.

Through a very abbreviated 2022 cycle and nearly two-thirds of the way through 2023, the vision Kelly had on the recruiting trail — the one Woodward admired in the hiring process — has come to fruition. The Tigers rank No. 6 nationally in the On3 Consensus Team Recruiting Rankings, have seven top-150 prospects currently committed, and are the overwhelming favorite to land On3 five-star offensive tackle Zalance Heard when he commits on Sept. 1. 

Kelly has built a recruiting machine inside LSU’s football offices, and though the proof will ultimately be laid bare on the field, the early returns have proven Woodward right. 

Coaching hires paying early dividends

What Kelly lacked in Cajun bona fides and good ol’ boy persona, something Orgeron had in spades, he hoped to make up for with a disciplined rebuilding of LSU’s program after a disastrous crash-and-burn run under the latter’s watch.  

His hiring wasn’t just a fresh start for himself; it was a chance for LSU to turn a page in the football program. Longtime staffers, who had stayed on through multiple coaching regimes, weren’t asked to return. Kelly brought in an almost entirely new coaching staff and recruiting department that was matched to his priorities and strategies.

With almost no experience recruiting in the southeast, and in particular Louisiana, Kelly wanted people who could navigate the often muddy waters. Recruiting in the state of Louisiana is overtly political, with high school coaches and trainers consistently lobbying for why their players should be getting attention from the state’s flagship school over another prospect. For an outsider like him, the staffers he brought in could make or break his efforts to recruit locally.

One of his first orders of business was hiring away McNeese State head coach Frank Wilson, formerly of UTSA, to be his associate head coach. Wilson, 48, is someone who On3 national recruiting analyst Sam Spiegelman, who has covered the state for nearly a decade, calls the ‘Godfather of Louisiana.’ 

“Frank is a guy with as many connections across Louisiana as anyone,” Spiegelman added. “Guys like Tyrann Mathieu and Leonard Fournette probably don’t end up at LSU without him.” 

At the same time, Kelly identified another New Orleans native for his staff: Georgia wide receivers coach Cortez Hankton.

Like Wilson, Hankton is a graduate of St. Augustine High School, a pipeline for major football recruits and NFL Draft picks. While he hadn’t coached in Louisiana at the college level, Hankton had developed a name for himself at both Vanderbilt and Georgia, and his reputation as a recruiter preceded itself. 

That hire has already paid off, with the Tigers landing commitments from five-star Baton Rouge (La.) Catholic wide receiver Shelton Sampson and top-40 prospect Jalen Brown, who Hankton took out of Miami (Fla.) Gulliver Prep. 

Rebuilt recruiting strategy

Winning inside its own state has never been an issue for LSU, though. The Tigers routinely sign the majority of the top 10-15 kids inside the borders, and in many cases, playing for the school is a massive point of pride for in-state kids. 

But Kelly also had to figure out how to maintain a level of elite recruiting in down talent years, whether it be through the transfer portal or a more regional and national lens to recruit within. 

To do so, he brought former Nevada head coach Brian Polian, a longtime assistant of his at Notre Dame, along with him. Polian immediately went to work in the transfer portal, bringing home Louisiana natives Joe Foucha and Greg Brooks, who had previously starred at Arkansas. He, along with defensive backs coach Robert Steeples, nabbed promising Missouri transfer Mekhi Wingo, who played under Steeples in high school and was named a freshman All-American after his first year with the Tigers. 

On top of all of that, Polian worked to land Arizona State quarterback transfer Jayden Daniels, who is expected to start in Week 1 against Florida State. 

“With Brooks and Foucha, they’re New Orleans kids,” Spiegelman said. “Getting a guy like Kyren Lacy, a Thibodaux kid, was a big deal. They’re bringing a lot of guys home, which will make a lot of families happy in the state. It will make high school coaches happy, too.”

Kelly also leaned on his connections throughout the Midwest and Northeast, along with bringing in recruiters who can easily identify which specific prospects they want, rather than trying to cast a wide net in hopes of landing on the right player.

Just in this cycle alone, Kelly and Co. have taken top-150 defensive linemen Jaxon Howard, Joshua Mickens and Dashawn Womack out of Minnesota, Indiana, and Maryland. They’ve also beaten out the likes of Georgia and Ohio State for Columbus (Ga.) top-50 defensive lineman Darron Reed and poached top-150 cornerback Daylen Austin out of California.

“I would say the staff is taking a more targeted, national approach,” added TheBengalTiger.com‘s Billy Embody, who has covered LSU and its recruiting since 2016. “Previous staffs might’ve tried to go after some prospects that for whatever reason, were never going to end up in Baton Rouge. This staff, they’ve been using their rolodexes to get prospects they can land and they covet on campus. And so far, they’ve been seeing a high hit rate.”

A handful of high school prospects remain on their board, namely five-star Washington (D.C.) Archbishop Carroll athlete Nyckoles Harbor, recent Texas A&M decommit and four-star cornerback Bravion Rogers, and Arlington (Texas) Martin defensive back Javien Toviano. Each ranks among the top five players at their position in this class. And LSU is stepping outside its traditional footprint to go after them. Winning those battles is exactly what’s expected when you sign a contract for 10 years and close to $100 million, though.

Behind the scenes, LSU is making up for lost time

When Kelly took over the job in December, he had less than a month to keep together the Tigers’ recruiting class, all while building out his staff. He managed a handful of recruiting wins, none bigger than beating Texas A&M for five-star Cypress (Texas) linebacker Harold Perkins. Coveted in-state quarterback Walker Howard, who he’d tried to flip to Notre Dame, also remained committed to the Tigers, along with top-40 offensive tackle Will Campbell, who is competing for the starting tackle job this fall.

But even with a few months under their belts, the LSU staff still far behind when 2023 recruiting kicked into gear in February. That’s when Kelly leaned on the staff he’d built, both at the assistant level and in the recruiting department.

Director of Recruiting Jon Randal Belton and specialist Jordan Arcement, both considered rising stars in the personnel and recruiting world, went to work. Arcement, who previously worked at Virginia and someone who Spiegelman describes as a master of relationship-building, began outreach into the local high schools in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Belton, who himself played at Louisiana-Monroe, prioritized the upper half of the state, including powerhouse programs like Neville, where the aforementioned Heard hails from.

More than anything though, the key this cycle has been early and consistent evaluations.

“You know, Les Miles was a big camp guy, and Orgeron improved on that a little bit,” Spiegelman said. “But take a guy like Ashton Stamps. LSU worked him out multiple times and had him on campus, then they offered and in July he committed. Now you’re seeing after the fact that schools like Alabama, Oregon and Oklahoma are trying to get into his recruitment. That’s a testament to finding the right guys early on.”

Of the prospects LSU got on campus for official visits during the spring and summer, they’ve hit on a large number — both from inside and outside the state. Rather than bring in massive groups of visitors like other programs do during that month, LSU’s recruiting staff had smaller groups each of the four weekends, allowing coaches to spend more individual time with those targets.

“Starting in January and February putting a staff together, you have a very short period of time to build those relationships,” Kelly told reporters last week. “I think this is the continuation of those relationships starting to form. J.R. Belton and his staff did a great job of putting together visits in June, which allowed us to really sink those relationships deeper, and I think we’re starting to see that work come out.”

Brian Kelly’s business-like demeanor is a welcome change

Arguably the biggest question around Kelly wasn’t his ability to win games — or even to manage a program — but it was how his personality and often quieter demeanor would be perceived in a state that has never been short on flash.

His predecessor, especially after winning an undefeated 2019 season and national title, became a celebrity who was often referred to as the unofficial “governor” of Louisiana. Orgeron rarely shied from the limelight, something that became a problem as losses started to mount last season.

Kelly on the other hand, operates much like a CEO. He prefers to delegate to the people he’s hired with the belief they’ll execute. His goal, according to Spiegelman, is to focus largely on the current roster and to serve as the “closer” with recruits.

“I was very curious to see what the reaction would be to that,” he added. “I try to ask this question to families, coaches, moms, dads, etc. And what they tell me is, it’s about the relationship with the players, about the respect within the program and what they show everybody in the building. Coach O, with a national championship and his personality, he was pretty much a celebrity. But BK has had a very different approach early on.”

Added Embody: “He’s more of a businessman, a politician of sorts. He values a long-term plan that’s detailed more than anything. They’ll graduate players while going after the goal of a national championship. He drives a Tesla around and rides his Peloton a good bit. He gives off vibes of having had success in his life, and I think players gravitate toward that.”

Ultimately, LSU’s success — both on the recruiting trail and on the field — will depend on Kelly’s win-loss record and ability to compete for championships. While few jobs come with the built-in support and advantages of a program like LSU, arguably none, not even in the best division in the best conference in the country, come with higher expectations. Success on the recruiting trail is just a start, but a paramount one at that.