BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) Invigorated as LSU coach Brian Kelly appears to be by his first year at the helm of a traditional Southeastern Conference power, he didn’t downplay the relative uncertainty surrounding the Tigers as fall camp opened.
A coaching staff that has just one returning assistant – offensive line coach Brad Davis – has a slew of decisions to make about a roster comprised of numerous new players.
LSU opens its season against Florida State in New Orleans on Sept. 4. But as camp opened on Thursday evening, Kelly said he could not yet even pencil in who likely starters would be at quarterback, cornerback or along most of the offensive line.
”A lot of good and bad things happen in those units, and there’s questions that have to be answered,” Kelly said. ”Now, I stand here in front of you feeling pretty good about the players we’ve put together in very short order that can go out and play at a very high level in the SEC. But the fact of the matter remains, we’ve got to figure out who those guys are.”
At the end of last season, the Tigers were so thin at quarterback that they had to start receiver Jontre Kirklin, a former high school QB, in the their Texas Bowl loss to Kansas State.
Now they have four QBs to choose from, including two – 23-year-old graduate Mayles Brennan and redshirt freshman Garrett Nussmeier – who’ve already played under center for LSU. They’re competing with transfer Jayden Daniels, who was a three-year starter at Arizona State, and Walker Howard, a coveted freshman recruit.
None of last year’s starting cornerbacks have returned – not much of the secondary overall for that matter. But Kelly has tried to shore up the position with Oklahoma State senior transfer Jarrick Bernard-Converse and Ohio State graduate transfer Sevyn Banks, among others.
After losing three offensive linemen in the NFL draft, that unit needs to be remade. Among those returning from last season, Cameron Wire is the most experienced with four starts, but was plagued by injuries last season.
”We’re going to go through camp and have to make some tough decisions and, quite frankly, rely on evaluations in camp to do that,” Kelly said. ”That’s a little bit different in my years. Generally, we’ve had guys kind of – you know, everyone says the depth chart, it’s always open – but you always have a guy penciled in somewhere. There’s not a lot of penciling in yet. So, yes, there’s some work to be done.”
This uncertainty, on the heels of last season’s…