π Published on: 2024-12-06 13:00:30
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TigerRag.com’s Audibles podcast β December 6, 2024 | Brian Kelly spoke about LSU’s NIL challenges at his signing day press conference.
Financial Support Needed
Despite landing a top 10 recruiting class, the Tigers lost top prospects to teams offering bigger paychecks. Kelly emphasized the need for more financial support. He stated that LSU faces a choice:
Constant fundraising
Last-minute spending to stay competitive
He pointed out the difficulty of keeping up with richer programs. He mentioned Tennessee’s “talent fee” as a possible solution. Kelly warned that LSU needs more funding to remain competitive, as recruiting now depends on the highest offers.
2025 Season Signing Class
LSU added 23 players to its football roster for the 2025 season on Wednesday, signing one of the nation’s top recruiting classes.
The Tigers’ signing class was ranked as high as No. 6 nationally by Rivals.com, while On3, ESPN, and 247Sports ranked it at No. 8.
Kelly’s Statement
“I think this is the finest class I’ve signed,” said LSU head coach Brian Kelly. “It’s a testament to the work our entire staff has done over the past 18 months to put together an outstanding class. Despite what happened last week, all these guys wanted to be at LSU, representing LSU and wanting to be part of a championship.”
“This is an outstanding class. They all wanted to be part of LSU because they saw something, they felt something that was clear to them β that this is going to be a championship program and they want to be part of it. We’ve put together elite classes in back-to-back years.”
Top Talent in the Class
Kelly’s fourth signing class at LSU featured 10 of the top 20 rated players in Louisiana, including:
No. 1 ranked player: Running back Harlem Berry
No. 1 rated players:
OL Carius Curne from Arkansas
CB DJ Pickett from Florida
EDGE Damien Shanklin from Indiana
Pickett, from Zephyrhills High School in Florida, is widely considered the No. 1 cornerback prospect in the Class of 2025 and is ranked as the 10th-best overall prospect nationally. Berry, from St. Martin’s Episcopal School in Metairie, is the nation’s top-rated running back, while Solomon Thomas is rated as the No. 1 interior offensive lineman nationally. All three players earned 5-stars in the On3 composite rankings.
In-State Signees
Of the 10 in-state signees for the Tigers:
Five were rated among the top 10 in the state
Eight were among the top 15 players in Louisiana
The class includes 14 players on the defensive side, made up of:
Four defensive tackles
Four linebackers
It also includes nine players on offense, with:
Four offensive linemen, including:
5-star tackle Thomas
4-stars Curne and Tyler Miller
Legacy Players and Family Connections
The Tigers also added a pair of legacy players:
Offensive lineman Brett Bordelon
Tight end JD LaFleur
Bordelon joins his brother Bo on the Tiger roster and is the son of Ben Bordelon, who started 31 games for the Tigers in the 1990s. LaFleur is the son of David LaFleur, an All-America at LSU in 1996 and a first-round draft pick of the Dallas Cowboys.
Another member of the Weeks family joined the LSU roster as well β Zach Weeks, the younger brother of West and Whit, will play for the Tigers in 2025. This is the first time since 1995 that LSU’s roster will feature three brothers. That year, the Hills β Chris, Greg, and Melvin β all played for the Tigers.
π Channel: DerDiZ Digital
π Channel Country: United States
π Tags:
lsu football,lsu tigers,lsu football news,Brian Kelly,national signing day,football signing day,signing day
π΅οΈββοΈ Transcript:
[Music] now it’s no longer about just your brand your brand has to be backed up with the ability to supplement that with dollars because that’s what we’re in so if you want to be in the big poker game this is what the anti is this is uh Todd horn and Glenn Gilbo with tiger rag we’re talking about LSU’s national Signing Day um hey Glenn it’s getting a lot of uh a lot of publicity in the national press right now and they they’re kind of slamming uh LSC for having a bad day they did take some lumps but it was a it a good signing class overall yeah I I think getting Solomon Thomas uh the number two guard or Center in the country now they rank him as interior offensive lineman from uh Jacksonville Florida and uh DJ picket from near Tampa Florida now picket was a commitment Solomon was a was a flip but that that was a pretty strong way to end the class although Solomon’s commitment was to Florida state which is two and 10 and when he committed to them they were on the verge of making the playoffs last year so good for LSU to scoop in there and take one from a bad team which has happened to them uh this year uh you know going 8 and four instead of where they were expected uh to go but yeah I think they finished strong you know they they uh started to day eth uh they finished uh sixth or seventh you know every one of their every one of the um ratings websites has in between six and8 uh so that tells you if they would have kept uh Bryce Underwood they’ probably be uh you know fifth or or fourth or something like that so let me play fraan here with you you just said that LSU scooped in on Florida State because they had a bad team this year and that’s happened to LSU at 8 and4 do you think think some of the people that they lost like like Bryce Underwood and Cade Phillips do you think they lost them because they finished eight and four maybe you never really know that and and you know who who knows maybe well what did Kelly say about that well he didn’t say anything about that well he said why they lose their players they lost well he didn’t say it because of their season um he he said well the one the one player he lost to uh South Carolina that was a tight end right yeah yeah you said that that they needed him more you know so that brings the the price up that brings the market value up he he’s already got players at that position but what I’m saying is um you know you never never really know why you lose guys even if LSU was like if they were 11- one right now or 10-2 they might have lost Underwood they probably would have what I heard Kelly say yesterday is they Underwood fits right into that value market value thing he wasn’t going to pay that much for Bryce Underwood it sounds to me like that if he would have been willing to pay the12 million that Michigan offered Bryce Underwood that Bryce Underwood would have probably come to LSU but he wasn’t willing to pay him that much and I don’t blame him uh well I didn’t hear him say that but reading between the lines okay well now I know with Kade Phillips the K that that Texas offered him a million dollars and LSU was offering him $800,000 right and kelly didn’t want to make that move up to get Kade Phillips even though he may not have but if he would have offered him a million and matched it he might have gotten him but again the value for Kade Phillips was different for LSU because have CJ or DJ picket coming in and there’s also uh some players in the transfer portal that they may be interested in at quarterback where Kate Phillips wasn’t even a cornerback Kate Phillips was a safety that they wanted Cory Raymond wanted to move to cornerback so there’s there’s all kinds of nuances and things that go into this and I think that’s what Kelly was talking about yesterday when he said you know we value our roster and the players we want to play plug in and recruit or go after in the transfer portal based on what we look at them as and then you know like can your example South Carolina looked at uh the tight end differently than he looked at than Kelly and the LSU staff looked at it right right and and you know and even if regardless of the numbers of players if if they think a if if one of the schools thinks a player is not that great they’re not going to pay him what somebody else’s pain that’s not the case with Underwood obviously but with other players I think like wait a second you know that guy’s not that good we got somebody better than him already and we’re not paying him as much so we’re not going to pay him let him go to the other school I think I think that happens sometimes but you know the the bottom line is they they finished pretty good they didn’t they didn’t have all the flips that that people feared they would have you know one one of the feared flips was was DJ picket they they kept him um so you know it’s a pretty good class you know it’s like you know Kelly he’s Kelly’s got a great salary but he’s never had a great season he’s had pretty good seasons and he’s never had a great recruiting class he’s had pretty good recruiting class he so he’s continuing on but I mean look they got they they got three five stars 17 four stars and three three stars in this class they got the number one ranked player in the state of Louisiana and Harlem Berry they got uh the number one player in Arkansas and Kar they got the number one player in Florida in picket and they got the number one player in Indiana in in Shanklin Damian shanlin yeah it’s it’s a pretty good class it’s a top 10 class they got uh you know half a dozen top 10 or 11 ranked players they got uh yeah five top 10 or six top 10 rated players four four top five or four actually top top two players but you know what what sticks out too to me is they also have the number 95 defensive tackle Deon battle the number 65 offensive lineman caras Kern 77 defensive tackle Zeon Williams 73 wide receiver Philip Wright 87 defensive tackle Walter matthysse so that kind of that’s some large fluctuation they got they got some three stars in there and to me that’s that’s not a great sign let’s let’s do this let’s take a quick break and when we come back let’s listen a Kelly some excerts from Kelly yesterday because I thought it was a very interesting press conference in a number of ways and I’d like to get your take on that as well hi I’m Mike melin and we’re here to smash the capitol City’s trash smash my trash is a revolutionary compactor for large dumpsters sometimes reducing the volume of waste by up to 70% this means fewer hauls per month and big saving for your business fewer halls and compacted waste will also result in a positive impact on our community and our environment by taking up less space in our local landfill sites schedule your company’s free demo today call 225 49711 well I mean I I think you could make the case that you know you you um you just go out through the entire year and you raise money right that’s one and look I’m I’m not trying to be a guy but one side of it could say hey let’s just go raise money the the entire recruiting season and get X and then the last few weeks let’s just go buy a team of freshman obviously that’s not what we’re going to do right but what it means is that recruiting no longer is just about recruiting it’s no longer just about relationships you need a collective you need the nil to supplement your recrui efforts and that’s just the reality of what we live in because you can’t close every one of these just because you’ve got great relationships and they want to go to LSU because I I’ll give you an example where where we see um where we see Tyler Miller you know relative to revenue sharing another school might see him much higher because they value him 20% 30% 40% more because they need him more and and so their number comes in at X it doesn’t mean we devalued him but we’ve got three other tackles in our program and so that’s where the rub comes right that’s where this comes of well so and so’s offering us X and you’re only offering us why well it has nothing to do with your value it’s just the other program is doesn’t have a tackle and they desperately need you as their Cornerstone and so they’re going to spend more money so it’s not your market value it’s it’s what they need and that’s where this becomes really really difficult anybody that we’ve lost in the last few days it wasn’t because we didn’t offer money it wasn’t because we didn’t recruit them it was because the value that was meant to them was exponentially more it wasn’t market value it was exponentially more because it meant they needed that piece and they were going to do whatever was necessary um to get that piece okay so everything Kelly just said there makes 1,000% okay sense it’s very logical it makes a lot of sense I think it accurately represents the situation that LSU and every other major college hell every other college in in that’s competing in football today faces nil’s now in its third year why does Kelly just now come to this realization after and I’m not trying to be mean to him or mean about it but it sounds to me like this is just a revelation to him this has been going on for three years and you know it was just last uh transfer season when he was going for the defensive tackles and he says he wasn’t going to pay players just to come to LSU yeah Wilson Alexander and I spoke about that after the press conference and I asked Kelly that question uh you know I I said I quoted some of the things he said and I said this has been going on for two years are you making these points now as what you’re saying that it’s just gotten more complicated more advanced and multiplied he he said he said yes he said you know the uh it’s it’s much different even though the concepts he’s talking about have been around for 2 or three years he says it’s much different now you know like like these uh uh the collectives are are more advanced they they they have more money they’re they’re better at the job you know various schools LSU’s not and uh you know at last you know he he’s trying to catch up whereas I think last year at this time or maybe even last month at this time you know he he wasn’t thinking about the the portal like that Glenn do you think that yesterday part of what he was saying was you guys better wake up and put your money where your mouth is if you really want if you really want to be competitive and stay competitive or I’m not going to be able to be taking receipts like I promised um I think that’s what you’re saying no I said do you think that’s what he say I think that’s what you’re saying I don’t think that’s really what he was saying I think maybe maybe that’s what he me means but but I don’t know as far as what he said you know he was saying you got to have a collective well well they got a collective maybe he was saying that um you know we we have we got we got to have more money or or maybe he was saying they do have it because part of what he was saying was you know Baton Rouge does have billionaires you know we you know so it’s like he’s already in contact with it I also think what he was saying was and I wanted to ask you this when he was talking about how you know this team needed that player more than we did uh do you think he was talking about Bryce Underwood I think because they got nut me I mean I think he was talking about the astronomical value of Bryce Underwood just being astronomical and and that was not something they were going to do and I think that’s smart because I don’t care how good you think a player is right now he’s still a a a high school senior and and he could people I think he was probably talking about Cade philps more specifically okay cuz I cuz I was talking to the people after the press conference too and they agreed that that and he actually mentioned two players but he didn’t say their name and and we were guessing and we came up with Bryce Underwood and Kate Phillips but you see here’s the deal Michigan doesn’t have if if Michigan didn’t get Bryce Underwood who would their quarterback be the guy they had this year well they had a they had a five or fourstar sigy already committed okay but they don’t have anybody left and is now going to Texas A&M okay well they left because Underwood because Underwood came right but but they don’t have anybody as good as nus me right before Underwood is this a subjective I’m telling you they don’t have anybody as good I think that’s what Le with les that’s what Kelly was trying to say they really needed Underwood now LSU would have liked to have and they really need him in 26 but they don’t need him as much right now cuz they got nire so maybe that’s what he was talking about and I think that’s a good point and I also think that a lot of people are not remembering that Colin Hurley who reclassified and spent a year at LSU this year as a red shirt freshman is a very highly rated quarterback and he’s the in my opinion the air parent and he’s the beneficiary of all this nonsense with Underwood but I do I personally believe that Kelly was talking most specifically about Cade Phillips because Cade Phillips 50 days ago committed tell issue even called off supposedly this is we you can’t trust any of this stuff anymore supposedly called off his last business the last visit to Texas and then called him on Sunday or Monday night and told them that he was you know been offered a million dollars and you know match it they were like you we’re not going to do that yeah well you know and here’s the thing uh Bryce Underwood is from Detroit okay he ended up at Michigan Kade Phillips is from Missouri City Texas he ended up in Texas I think you might be seeing that you know and I think this might be what that was like here’s a guy he probably really wanted to go to Texas the whole time Kate Phillips here’s a guy probably wanted to go to Michigan the whole time Bryce Underwood but they they’re going to they want to bring their price up though so that so they commit to a to another school you know that that’s that’s good marketing from them and you see I think in the first year of nil and and the first year of nil I don’t think the recruits were as business savvy as they are now and now they got probably better handlers everybody’s gotten a little better at it well what’s so interesting to me about it I know you laugh at me and almost act like I’m stupid but this is not supposed to be pay for play this was supposed to be you sign with your college that you want to go play football for that recruits you the best and then you get it you start nil discussions it’s completely different the transfer portal it was completely different right off though but what I’m saying is there’s absolutely what what is the NCAA the NCAA is is worthless well that that’s also not new that’s but that’s clear so they need to go away well I mean then then who what would you have you’re going to have the new Big 10 conglomeration the Big 10 and the are going to govern themselves oh okay yeah like Fox watching you ever heard of the college football playoffs the the NCAA the NCA is really bad but it’s the only thing you got I’m not I’m not advocating it I’m saying What’s happen he said they ought to go no that’s what’s happening yeah well they’re still they’re still punishing people but they’re just much weaker than they than they used to be but I I think the NCA threw up their hands because they lost so many lawsuits you know but but I know what you’re saying I remember in the first year of nil Sabin kept saying you know well you’re not supposed to pay them until they they get here you can say this is what you might get when you get here because this is what this guy’s getting but we can’t pay you right now well everybody just ignored that rule and look at for three years and and look at the transfer portal look at the transfer Port yeah yeah like you you don’t even have to be in the transfer portal and player they’re talking to players right now on your roster sure sure because the the NCA is weak and and they’re not they’re not going to do anything so yeah all the schools are talking to potential transfers weeks and days before the window opens which is not till Monday and you know the players may be calling them too so yeah I mean that that’s nothing new that’s been going around for years it’s it’s good for LSU that that Brian Kelly is is finally coming to the realization of these things and that was one of the first things I noticed yesterday while he was talking I’m thinking golly he’s talking about this like nil just started and nil started in 2021 well so as LSU goes into the transfer portal starting on the 9th officially uh looking for players Kelly says they’re going to bring in 12 he said that yesterday around 12 I mean I guess the number could vacillate a little bit it could be 13 it could be 11 but 12 seems to be the magic number right now and I also understand that LSU is paying this roster more than double the amount that they paid planning to pay than they played last year the whole roster the whole roster so that number looked like s Million last year so you’re talking about at least 14 15 maybe as high as 16 or 17 million that will be devoted to this roster so who who do you think well let me ask you this let’s back up who in this freshman class has a chance to play well let let’s hear what Kelly has to say about that well I mentioned carers Kern I mean I felt like physically he might be one of the strongest players that I’ve recruited at the position in a long time he has that kind of physical uh characteristics um I would say Zan Williams is is big and physical a guy that you could plug in uh immediately those those are big physical guys um you know I’d say just because of his length um you know a DJ picket you know and and his pedigree is a guy that could come in right away um you know again you know bordelon is physically as strong uh as some of the offensive linemen we have those are guys physically that can do it now who are the guys that can make the transition that have the physical tools to do it you know now you’re talking about Harlem Barry right you’re talking about Philip Wright you’re talking about skill guys can they make that flipping transition because they certainly have the skill to do it but the big physical guys I would lean on kerran bordelon Zion Williams um those are those are guys that that physically are ready go for okay makes sense physically those guys are are ready to play are they going to be mentally ready are they going to be able to adapt to college are they going to pick up the schemes are they going to be able to are they going to be able to transition into players that’s that actually have significant playing time or start LSU needs some starters which is why the transfer portal is going to be so important to fill in those gaps who there do you see in your mind that could possibly be an immediate starter of the of the freshman class that he talked about only that he talked about uh well I mean I I I don’t know I mean I I’m the some of the guys talked about a really low ranked but but he he thinks they have the size to come in but but I think he’s uh I think he’s talking about they need defensive lineman to come in there so uh I think he’s going to maybe play them maybe before they’re ready and he doesn’t know if they’re ready now he hasn’t seen them practice so you know I think he was just talking I I I I find that hard to believe especially freshman line being ready to play before he’s even seen him well I guarantee you DJ piet’s going to play okay well that’s not alignment I didn’t say the line you gra you asked me of the guys he said he didn’t mention picket he did too oh he did okay I thought he was just talking about he also mentioned Harlem Barry all right well to to answer your question the guys I think are going to play right off I think is going to be uh DJ picket I think it’s going to be uh Harlem Barry but he might not start you know he’s going to have to beat out uh Kaden Durham Durham right um you know but uh I mean other than that I mean I heard Hal I heard Solomon Thomas might be a guy who could who could come in and play right away um you know and it depends who they get in the portal I mean if they get some some good offensive lineman or defensive lineman in the portal they’re going to play before these guys most likely so it’s so what do you think of Bigg position needs in the portal right now the biggest position needs in the portal I would say are uh offensive line defensive line um that would that would be it for me well see on the and I I don’t disagree with you as far as the offensive line goes I think the defensive line they’ve got Dominic McKinley coming back who finished strong this year they got Jacobian gillery coming back and then they’ve got depth with the the recruits they brought in plus Ahad bro and Gabriel reliford who both played well I think they do need some Edge rushers from the transfer portal yeah they’re losing two of those and and maybe they’ll get Harold Perkins back yeah and put him at Edge rusher instead of inside linebacker I also think they need desperate help with safety I think you know everybody talks about Deshawn Spears is going to be good he didn’t you know and and I’m not I’m not saying Deshawn Spears is not going to be good but I don’t think he had the Freshman season that he could have had and I think they need help and depth at safety I think they need a star even though um they may be playing mostly three linebackers next year um I think they need a a top tier wide receiver whether Chris Hilton comes back or not because he’s so injury-prone I think they need um I think they need a cornerback I think they need another cornerback a proven cornerback but I do think the interior offensive line they may even need a tight end depends on what um you know what happens with the tight in situation I I think also you know as they go into the portal and if they’re they’re trying to get 12 as he said I think you know yeah go after the positions you need but if you have a shot at a guy regardless of position you know you know how they say best player available in draft I say you go after him too because I mean I don’t see any spots on the LSU team that have overwhelming strength where you would say oh you know what you’re a great player but we already got a couple of you guys you know I mean is there a position like that that’s so great they don’t need any help I think running back is going to be pretty solid okay yeah um yeah that’s probably the only one I would say cuz I like I like Kaden Durham and I don’t think we saw him at 100% the last few games yeah he’s having surgery this offseason yeah plus they got um you know the the number one running back in the country from St Martin and mety Harland Barry is coming in as we said JT lindsy is number eight plus you know you had a a good signing just a couple of years ago in Kaden is it uh Caleb Jackson which yeah who’s who has not played a lot this past season so you’re right if there’s if there’s one position where they probably look look sound it’s it’s running back and then they look sound for quarterback for this season but you know he needs a he needs a backup Hurley’s probably the backup but you know you’re probably not going to get a quarterback in the portal um so I would say every position but quarterback and running back in the portal well Jackson Arnold at Oklahoma’s available now he entered the portal yesterday you know who else is in the portal Miller Moss from USC interesting I think they need a center we talk about offensive line borderon uh the S borderon not the older brother but Brett bordon Brett bordelon it it could be a center they could also put uh from what I understand uh Thomas could be a center so I would say maybe move uh hey and if Emory Jones comes back he’s moving the guard because the NFL wants him at guard so they could be if they could just figure out the center position I think is I think that’s real important well one one thing I think they need to do when they get everybody in from the portal window they get everybody in from the second signing period in in February and then that second portal window is that after spring practice that’s after spring practice okay well in Spring practice they need to look at the first portal window and their two sigic classes and they need to figure out then or have a pretty good idea of who can play instead of trying to figure that out in freaking September four games into the season yeah now there’s some of that because you get new guys coming in in August sometimes and then you might have some new portal guys kind of in the the B portal if you will which is the second portal but they got a they got to start figuring out who who can play and then they got to start figuring out like well we need this guy to play we need to get him better you know like like sea Foster you know you you need to get ready you know it’s like they’re not they’re not making those hard decisions and and uh figuring out who they got quick enough that’s what they need to doot a lot of Kelly’s excuse or reason for that this year was he had new coaches you know Blake Baker and all the new defensive of coaches but uh that that won’t be an excuse next year no it won’t it won’t and um you know as we said earlier I I think it’s a it’s a pretty good class and Kelly has been pretty good overall at LSU but he needs a great portal class he needs to have one of the highest ranked portal classes for him to make the jump from very good coach to Great coach and answer his salary and finally get back into the playoffs taking receipts that’s right I’m taking receipts too pal all right pal trains are everywhere you should always expect one even on private property only cross tracks at designated crossings that fit your equipment if you don’t fit don’t commit look listen live it’s time to start betting on yourself Louisiana 988 can help if you’re dealing with tough emotions caused by gambling habits you can share as much or as little as you want and it’s completely confidential it’s free available 24/7 and most people who reach out report feeling better right in the moment call or text 988 anytime [Music] pap [Applause] [Music]
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