By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports
BATON ROUGE — In his previous football coaching life at Notre Dame, Brian Kelly discovered persuading blue-chip Louisiana high school talent to sign with the Fighting Irish was darn near impossible.
He signed five Pelican State products in 12 seasons with one becoming a starter and four transferring, including two returning to Louisiana colleges.
“You have to work really hard to get somebody to leave the state of Louisiana,” said Kelly at his introductory press conference when he was announced as LSU’s new head coach on Dec. 1, 2021. “That bodes well for us moving forward.”
Saving the best for last in the Tigers’ 2024 36-man recruiting class (29 high school signees, 1 junior college transfer, 6 transfer portal signees), Kelly announced Wednesday on the first day of college football’s annual second signing period that the state of Louisiana’s No. 1-ranked recruit officially flipped from Texas A&M to LSU.
The signing of Lafayette Acadiana High’s Dominick McKinley, the state’s top player who’s also rated the nation’s No. 2 defensive tackle by Rivals.com and ESPN, clinched a 247Sports No. 7 national recruiting class ranking for the Tigers.
With the addition of McKinley, Kelly signed eight of Louisiana’s top 10 Class of 2024 players and 12 of the top 15 in-state players.
The signing of the 6-5, 273-pound McKinley, who had a combined 156 tackles, 29 tackles for loss, and more than 20 sacks in the last two high school seasons, meant almost 63 percent of LSU’s signing class (transfer portal signees included) are from Louisiana.
LSU was able to make a second run for McKinley when he de-committed from Texas A&M in December after Aggies’ head Jimbo Fisher was fired.
“The window was opened with the transition at A&M,” Kelly said. “Then, we just became consistent with our ability to get with him and his family and show them why this was the best choice. “When there’s a transition, you’re able to build a stronger relationship and trust.”
McKinley became one of four Aggies’ commitments who switched and signed with LSU. The others were December early period signees 5-star offensive lineman Weston Davis of Beaumont (Texas) United, 4-star defensive end Gabe Reliford of Shreveport Evangel Christian, and three-star wide receiver Coen Echols of Katy (Texas) High.
Kelly also confirmed the six transfer portal signees, inking three offensive and defensive players each.
It’s the least amount of portal acquisitions in Kelly’s recruiting classes – he had 16 last year and 15 in 2022. Also, the 28 high school signees are the most Kelly has signed.
“The business plan has been all along to pull our base here in the state of Louisiana, develop the high school player, and then by doing so you develop a relationship and a trust and allegiance to the young man that’s in your program,” Kelly said. “That doesn’t mean you don’t use the transfer portal. You’ve got to be strategic and you’ve got to be in it when you need it.”
Four transfers are from Louisiana – former Baton Rouge University High standouts Texas A&M junior safety Jardin Gilbert and Auburn sophomore defensive back Austin Ausberry, Ohio State junior cornerback Jyaire Brown of New Orleans Warren Easton, and Mississippi State junior wide receiver/return specialist Zavion Thomas of Marrero John Ehret.
The others are Vanderbilt junior quarterback AJ Swann and Liberty grad transfer wide receiver CJ Daniels.
Swann started 12 games in two years at Vanderbilt and threw for 2,731 yards and 22 TDs. Daniels has 106 career receptions for 1,954 yards. Thomas had 40 catches for 503 yards and a TD last year and had scored on punt and kickoff returns.
“We needed to add some offense back into an offense that lost some prolific weapons and we do that with these three (Swann, Daniels and Thomas),” Kelly said. “Replacing some offense was very important strategically as we continue to develop and bring along young players in our program.”
Defensively, Gilbert, who has 12 starts in 25 college career games, had 61 tackles and two interceptions as a sophomore in 2022 before sitting out most of last season with a shoulder injury. Ohio State’s Brown appeared in 14 games (one start) in two seasons. Ausberry played in seven games in two years at Auburn.
“We were looking for someone with experience who played off the hash and we got that in Jardin Gilbert,” Kelly said. “Jyaire is an experienced player from Ohio State and Austin is an outstanding athlete.”
It’s also been somewhat by design by Kelly that when he fired his entire defensive staff and had to replace the offensive coordinator, he found replacements who have Louisiana ties.
Every assistant on Kelly’s 11-man staff has either played or coached for a Louisiana college or is a Louisiana native.
“I don’t think (hiring a coach with Louisiana ties) isn’t probably first on the list (of qualifications),” Kelly said. “It’s not mandatory. But you should have experience recruiting in this state.”
LSU, coming off consecutive 10-win seasons and returning 22 players who started at least one game last season, opens spring practice on March 5.
The Tigers will practice 15 times before playing the National L Club spring game on April 13 in Tiger Stadium. No kickoff time has been announced.
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com
