LSU has signed eight of the top ten players from Louisiana and owns a hard commit from a ninth in Texas A&M decommit Dominick McKinley, a five-star recruit at one of the Tigers’ absolute positions of need on the defensive line.

Kelly has landed six transfers as well, not nearly what it was the previous two years when 29 of his 69 signees were from the portal, including three originally from Louisiana. The latest is Liberty wide receiver  and Georgia native CJ Daniels, who committed to LSU just yesterday.

“I think it really stabilizes the program,” Kelly said after the bowl game win over Wisconsin. “For us, it’s been recruiting, development, and retention. You can’t do that when you’re 3-9. When you have back-to-back 10-win seasons, and you’re doing it with bowl victories as well, it certainly helps a lot.”

Read the rest of Part II here.

It has been almost two weeks since we posted Part II, but we have been waiting for head coach Brian Kelly to round out his coaching staff. It looks like we are there.

On paper, it seems Kelly has amassed a splash of a staff, especially on the defensive side of the ball. After firing almost the entire defensive unit after an embarrassing 2023 showing that cost the Tigers and their No.1 ranked offense a shot at a national title, Kelly has reeled in what appears to be an All-Star group headlined by new defensive coordinator Blake Baker and defensive line coach Bo Davis.

Here are all the moves Kelly has made this off-season:

DC/LBs: Blake Baker

DL: Bo Davis

Edge: Kevin Peoples

CBs: Corey Raymond

Safeties: Jake Olsen

Co-OC/QBs: Joe Sloan

Co-OC/WRs: Cortez Hankton (the Atlanta Falcons have requested an interview)

TEs: Slade Nagle

General Manager: Austin Thomas

The guess is that it is the defensive hires that will be the most crucial in next year’s level of success.

Blake Baker’s 2023 defense at Missouri led the way in the upstart Tigers going 11-2 and ending the season with a 14-3 win over No. 7 Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl, a dominating effort that saw Mizzou holding the Buckeyes without a touchdown for the first time in eight seasons. He has eight years of defense coordinator experience, served also as the safeties coach at Mizzou, and handled the linebackers at LSU in 2021.

“Blake brings a wealth of experience and success as a defensive coordinator throughout his career, including the last two years in the SEC at Missouri,” Kelly said. “His ability to develop and motivate his players while putting together highly successful defenses sets him apart in his field. I am excited to welcome Blake and his family back to Baton Rouge.”

The hire some Tiger fans are most excited about is Davis, who played for LSU in the 1990s, served as the football program’s graduate assistant from 1995 to 1997, and was part of the strength and conditioning staff on Nick Saban’s 2003 national championship squad.

For the last three years, he has turned Texas from notoriously soft up front to one of the most aggressive units in the country. The Longhorns reached the College Football Playoffs this past season with one of the nation’s top defenses. He has also worked as defensive line coach at Alabama under Saban, which should say everything you need to know about the respect Davis has earned in the college football landscape.

“As a defensive line coach Bo brings a wealth of proven success at both the professional and collegiate level throughout his distinguished career,” Kelly said. “Additionally, coach Davis is an outstanding recruiter and developer of the players in his charge. I am excited to welcome back to LSU coach Bo Davis.”

There have been other important hires, including Peoples (also from Missouri) and former LSU staff stars Corey Raymond and Austin Thomas, but you get the picture through Baker and Davis: Brian Kelly was not playing around or wasting time after what happened in 2023. His singular relentlessness in hiring the very best in just a few weeks since the bowl game reveals something inside him that is the true story of this impressive hiring spree.

The 62-year-old Kelly is hungry for his first championship. With Alabama’s Nick Saban now retired, only three coaches with a national championship in hand remain in college football–Kirby Smart, Dabo Swinney, and Mack Brown. Additionally, the 62-year-old Kelly is now the winningest active coach by one win over the 72-year-old Brown. It is a good guess that by the time Kelly is done, he will retire as the winningest active coach in the nation.

But Kelly came to Baton Rouge to win a national championship, and it is clear that he still has the fire of a younger coach. The heat he has brought to January indicates that he intends to bring LSU to the pinnacle of the sport sooner rather than later. It also indicates, and this is pure speculation, that he recognizes that had he maybe made a change or two to the defensive side of the ball after his SEC West winning year one at the helm, it is likely that LSU and its No. 1 offense would have been playing for a national championship this past year, ahead of schedule. His well-documented process in rebuilding the program, much in the vein of Saban’s philosophy–was actually not on schedule, but ahead of it, and Kelly may be kicking himself for not recognizing that sooner.

If this is true, his response has been nothing short of convincing.

His (on paper) slam dunk hires and a recruiting class that has him locking down Louisiana for 2024 and boasting the No. 1 ranked group so far for 2025–including the top player/quarterback, the top running back, and the top receiver–indicate that Kelly is putting the utmost urgency on doing what each of the previous three Tiger coaches were able to do, and that is bring home the ultimate trophy to Baton Rouge.

Whether or not Kelly can replicate the fact that they each did it in year three of their respective tenures will make 2024 all the more fun to follow.

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Jeff LeJeune is the author of several books, writer for RVIVR, editor, master of English and avid historian, teacher and tutor, aspiring ghostwriter and podcaster, and creator of LeJeune Said. Visit his website at jefflejeune.com, where you can find a conglomerate of content.