Everything LSU head coach Brian Kelly said previewing matchup with South Carolina

LSU head coach Brian Kelly met with the media on Monday to preview the Tigers’ trip to Columbia to face South Carolina this weekend. Here’s everything he had to say in his press conference.

Opening statement

“All right, we’ll start with just a recap of the Nicholls State game. We have a way to kind of go through the week, and I know you guys have picked up a little bit on it, but Sunday is called ‘Assessment Sunday’ for us. It gives us an opportunity to assess our play after our performance, which was a successful Saturday for us. So many times when we get together, it’s a quick reaction to a question and what I saw on the field, what you saw on the field is prompting your questions and we have a healthy discourse, accordingly. Been doing it for 34, 35 years and that’s the nature of the media and the head coach in a press conference. But the great part of this is that we get an opportunity to spend seven hours dissecting film and going over the game plan and watching. As I got a chance to do that with our staff  and meeting with the staff, there were a lot more good things that happened in that game than I was able to articulate after the game. We had a number of first-time players step up and play really good football for us. Excited about Gabe Reliford’s play for example. Ju’Juan Johnson stepping in as a true freshman and playing after being told on Tuesday that he was moving into an offensive position. Shone Washington had to step in for an injured Jacobian Guillory playing literally his first snaps for us after spending the first three weeks on scout team. And that was great to see. (Zy) Alexander coming back from knee surgery, an ACL, and playing the kind of aggressive man-to-man coverage that we were looking for and almost picking up from where he left off before he got that injury against Army. Really great to see that, have the return game with the eye on that had been missing.

“So there were so many really good things and I think the most important thing was this sense that we were out-physicaled and that simply wasn’t the case. From an offensive standpoint, we threw the football because that’s what was required in this game. They were in a seven and an eight-man front, and we needed to throw the football. We were not going to run into extra hats and an extra hat being an extra defender just to flex and say we’re the bigger guys. We’re going to do tactically and technically what is the most appropriate thing. That’s why Garrett Nussmeier leads the country in touchdown passes right now and he’s throwing at 75 percent. So I just wanted to give you a sense of assessing what what transpired in that game. Now, that’s from an offensive perspective. There’s no sense here of our offensive line is not physical enough or can’t knock people off the ball when we needed to. We did that and so I feel really good about that. Defensively, there were two drives that were difficult for us to get off the field. They hit some really good plays against us. On third down, they kept the drives alive, hit some snag routes, some slant routes. We’ve got some young guys out there that are learning on the fly. But we were aggressive up front, we fitted the plays pretty darn good. I told our guys, this team, Nicholls, was a lot like many of the games that I played at Notre Dame when we’re playing Navy. It’s a difficult offense to defend. It’s ball control. You better know your gap responsibility and if you don’t leverage them the right way you’re going to give to give up a big play and they were able to milk it the first couple of drives. And then after the big play run, I thought our defense did a great job. So I just wanted to give you that sense. Nicholls did a great job, hats off to them. They played a great game. They were sound, they had a great game plan, but at the end of the day, after the touchdown run, we held Nicholls to 86 yards on their final five possessions. So that coupled with what we did on the offensive side of the ball, I feel a whole lot better than I did Saturday after I went home for dinner on Sunday night.

“So having said that, we move on to SEC play and a very good South Carolina team. Noon kickoff, ABC, ‘College GameDay’. So it’s obviously going to be a great environment there, a great opportunity for us to take another step into development of our football team. And obviously, continue to work to get better. As we mentioned, Garrett leads the SEC in passing touchdowns and completions. (Kyren) Lacy leads the SEC in receiving touchdowns. Zavion Thomas leads in in kickoff return yardage. And our offensive line has done a great job in keeping Garrett up and allowing him, obviously, to throw the football.

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“Playing South Carolina, you look at what Shane’s (Beamer) done, he really gets his team to play well, in particular at home. They come off of a really great road win against Kentucky, 31-6. And a lot of it is the type of offense they’re running now with (LaNorris) Sellers at quarterback, (Rocket) Sanders the transfer from Arkansas, (Josh) Simon at tight end. This is a big, physical quarterback. Reminds me of the kid at Florida, (Anthony) Richardson, the quarterback at Arkansas. Big, physical, 6’3, 242. We’re going to have to be prepared for kind of a similar offense in a sense. but a guy with a strong arm that can certainly get the ball down the field. (Dalevon) Campbell, (Nyck) Harbor’s a freak of an athlete. So they’ve got some weapons there from an offense offensive standpoint. Defensively, they lead the SEC in sacks. So this is a a defense with an outstanding front. Freshman EDGE player in (Dylan) Stewart and (Kyle) Kennard is an outstanding player. Really love (Nick) Emmanwori, the defensive back, No. 7 — very active. He was a freshman All-American in 2022. Just a really good defense, and they run both three-down and four-down and made it really difficult for Kentucky last week. And then they’re very innovative, do a lot of things in the special teams game. So on the road in the SEC, we know the challenges, especially with the noon start. We look to improve on all facets of our game as we go on the road against the Gamecocks.”

On Jacobian Guillory’s injury and what that loss means for LSU

“Yeah, obviously, we’ve lost him for the year. Looks like he’s going into surgery right now with an Achilles tendon rupture. Look, he he was a stalwart for us, big physical point of attack guy. We’re having conversations now with with he and his family about the possibilities of medical redshirt for him. We’ll have more information on that as that kind of comes together. But now we have other guys that are going to have to step up in in that situation. So again, I think we’ll have more information as it comes together. But in terms of that rotation, we have some ideas in terms of what we might do in the next couple of days.”

On the media making out the offensive line to be a strength of this team

“No, I don’t think it has anything to do with the media. This is not a media created scenario. This has to do with how teams have wanted to defend us and that is they don’t want us to run the football. So this is really about a team and I told Joe Sloan, ‘Joe, I do not want be about, well we have to run it to show everybody that we’re big and bad and we have an offensive line.’ If they protect like they have and we haven’t given up a sack in two games and let Garrett Nussmeier throw the ball against cover one, we have great receivers and we’ll beat you that way. Look, I’ve built my career on wanting to be equally as good. Balance to me is being equally as good at running it as throwing it. Now, if South Carolina comes out in three-down and plays cover two, I guarantee you we’re running the football. But when you’re loaded in there and there’s eight guys on the line of scrimmage and you’re just saying, ‘I can’t block them all,’ what sense does it make really in those situations? We’ll pick our spots. There are going to be times that you’re going to have to make a guy miss or run a guy over, which we did on several occasions in the blue zone. But by and large, this has nothing to do with you guys. This has everything to do with the way teams have wanted to play us and it’s much more with a loaded front and that’s going to cause us to throw the football.”

On where the team is at with the outlook at DB

“Yeah, I think it’s a good question. I think what we have found is that nobody is at a point where they can play 65, 70 snaps. We have to get our players playing at the highest level but not playing that many snaps. I think Z can play 30, 35, but he’s going to have to be spelled as well. So I think you’re going to see four corners playing. I think you’re going to see four or five safeties playing. So I think we’re going to really rely on the depth of those units to make certain that we’re playing at the highest level instead of saying, ‘Hey, Major Burns, you’ve got to play 65 snaps or 62 snaps and I think we’ll be a better defensive backfield playing in that capacity.”

On if you temper your expectations for the defensive line with the loss of Jacobian Guillory

“Well, Jacobian was a very technically sound, physically strong football player. So you know what you’re losing from that standpoint, but we know what he wasn’t as well. He wasn’t a dynamic pass rusher and he would be the first to tell you. But you’re losing a very strong inside presence to your defense and so you’ve got to look at who can make up for that and we’ve got some ideas about how we can do things with our front that can make up for his loss. But it’s like anytime you lose a really good player, you don’t necessarily make up for what he did, you try to do some other things differently that can complement the guys that you have.”

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On the options at linebacker and how to get Harold Perkins more of the “splash plays”

“We go back and forth in terms of you know Harold’s production and wanting to get him involved as much as we can. And part of it is setting him up for success and so that always becomes the conversation of getting guys in the right place at the right time and part of it is the players have to obviously make the plays as well. So we’re continuing to look at are we better suited in nickel personnel? Are we better suited in three linebacker sets? So I think in answering the question, honestly, I think it’s a continuous search of trying to get him in a position where you know he can impact our defense the most. So I think we’ll continue to work on that this week and see where we end up on Saturday.”

On Gabe Reliford’s versatility on the DL and other players who have been cross-training on the DL

“Yeah, we didn’t move him to defensive tackle. He was playing in our nickel package inside. It’s just a pass rush position but he’s a defensive end. He obviously is a guy that we really liked coming out and felt like he had some ability to play early on but he’s worked at it. I mean, he’s put himself in this position. Obviously, Coach (Kevin) Peoples’ done a great job with him early on in his pass rush techniques. But he’s a natural end that when we get into our our nickel and dime packages we can slide into a four technique and he can be an inside pass rush guy for us.”

On what was so upsetting about the field goal at the end of the first half on Saturday

“I wasn’t upset about missing the field goal. I was upset about the process I had just explained what the process was and the referee went over and explained it to Damian and confused him and essentially said listen to the head coach. I’ve been doing this a long time. He got confused about the process so we had a 1.46 operation time. Your operation time needs to be about 1.1. He thought something different was going to happen after the explanation. I had taken the time to explain it to him, he didn’t listen to me. I like our guys to listen to me. He’ll listen to me in the future.”

On updating Ka’Morreun Pimpton and Bo Bordelon switching to No. 89

“Well, he just gives us another big guy at the tight end position. Pimpton had been nursing an ankle was not 100 percent, didn’t feel like we could get him in there. So that’s why you saw a lot more Trey’Dez Green. But Bordelon coming in at that tight end position, he’s an athletic guy that we felt like gives us a big push on the goal line and then of course we put him in there and we throw the ball. So we want to break a couple Tendencies early on with him but no he I think he gives us a nice physical presence there as that third tight end.”

On preparing for LaNorris Sellers and Dylan Stewart

“Sellers is a physical presence and a lot like Richardson that played at Florida. He has a cannon for an arm and can throw it 65 or 70 yards. He just reminds of that physical presence but he is a new starter,” Kelly said. “You are going to have to do some really good things to defend the quarterback and quarterback run game because they have the transfer from Auburn (Robby Ashford) as well. So that’s going to be important for us.”

“Stewart is a pure pass rusher. That doesn’t mean he can’t defend the run. I’m not saying that. But he is a guy who they want in there to get after the quarterback. We are going to be disciplined in our drops, and have to get the ball out on time. This is an SEC defensive front and they can get to the quarterback. In particular he can.”

On providing the latest on Garrett Dellinger, Chris Hilton and Kyle Parker

“Dellinger is cleared. He’ll be at practice tomorrow. He’ll be ready to go. I think if we were playing last weekend against, it was the championship game, we could have maybe done something about it but I think it was best to hold him.”

“Kyle Parker is improving. We’re trying to get full strength back from that nerve that got pinched. I think he’s someone that could be ready by the end of the week.”

“Chris is day-to-day. He is ground based. He is running. This now becomes, what can you tolerate? There is going to be some pain associated with it, but he has all function now and it’s just a matter of time. Once he feels really good and can get in and out of breaks and function at his level, we’ll see him back on the field.”

On if he plans to keep Sage Ryan at safety moving forward

“I think that’s where he he can help us the be the look. He’s a very versatile player for us but I think that’s where he fits right now for us. I think we’ve really focused in now with Alexander playing at the level he has. I think it just makes sense for us to keep him at the safety position.”

On if the second-leading receiver will be more by committee

“I think there’s going to be more to come. I think we just talked about Chris coming back. Kyle Parker’s going to get in the mix here before it’s all said and done. I really think that as we keep going, I know I talked about Samson. But there are the little things that he’s got to continue to work on, but he’s going to get some touches before this season is out. So I I just think that there’s more guys as Taylor’s having a monster year for us right now and I think that’s going to continue. He’s on the pace right now Garrett to throw between 45 and 50 touchdown passes if we can continue that if teams want to play the way they are. He’s a very talented quarterback and we’ve got a lot of depth at the wide receiver position.

On who could see an increase at snaps with Jacobian Guillory out and fill that role

“Well as I mentioned, Shone Washington picked up most of those snaps on Saturday. Shone wasn’t scheduled to play when Guillory went out, Shone picked him up and played it very well. So he’s going to be the first guy that picks up a piece of those and then we’re going to have to make a decision do we activate McKinley? Do we get him moving a little bit more? Do we move somebody down inside that’s a defensive end that can help us? And so there’s some guys that maybe can move down inside to give us some more snaps and we’re probably talking about 15 to 20 more reps that are needed inside. So once Shone is able to do the things that he did on Saturday that helps us a lot now in trying to find another 15, 20 reps.”

On if Nussmeier has the latitude at the line of scrimmage to change the play

“Yeah, so we had four balls that we threw out on the perimeter that were runs those are actually run plays right so when that ball gets thrown out on the perimeter. You see Anderson catch the ball on a quick perimeter throw those are run plays that he’s throwing the ball out because there’s too many guys. I can’t block them all so that happened four times. Those were run calls with too many players that you couldn’t block so the ball gets thrown out on the perimeter and that’s that those are some of his checks the other ones some of those run plays we have hitch routes attached to it and the run is called but because there’s too many guys we have free access throws that we can throw the ball onto the perimeter as well. So I think we had 23 or 26 runs I think we probably called in totality maybe 35 36 run plays but they were checked out of because of the particular look.”

On what’s next for Ju’Juan Johnson

“We’re going to lay a lot as much as we can so I would say as much as we can more so than a lot. And I think he’s capable, early indications are he picks things up fast. He’s a quick study, the game comes easy to him and I’m a big believer in giving him as much as he can handle. And he’s not a guy that will shy away from any of it so I’m excited I want to just continue to give him more and more and see where it goes.”

On if they’ll make contingencies for the hurricane later this week

“If there’s one thing that I’ve learned about being here at LSU, there are plans over plans over plans when it comes to when people talk about hurricanes. So the thing that we’re clear on is we have a plan in place for Wednesday, Thursday because that’s when obviously it’s imminence and then the next stage is thunderstorms on Saturday and then disruption of the game. So I’ve already met with our uh strength staff for stretching purposes our nutrition. So it’s been a a long morning on hurricanes and thunderstorms on Saturday. So yes, we’re already on top of that, thank you.”

On what LSU has to do to rise up and meet the challenge of playing on the road at Williams-Brice Stadium

“I just think you know there’s a lot of guys that have played on the road understand what it takes to win on the road whether it was Mississippi State last year, Missouri at homecoming. There’s a lot of guys that have played in that atmosphere. It just requires a focus, it requires an understanding that you’re in it every single play, an incredible sense of urgency. I’m certain that they’re aware of what is going to be necessary for them to be successful. I’m not dealing with a group of guys that will be surprised by what GameDay and South Carolina and all that will be a about and we’ll prepare for it with crowd noise and things of that nature this week to get them ready. But it’ll take a great effort, a team that’s locked in and playing their best when their best is needed good.”

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