Brian Kelly always has a plan.
And when he bolted from Notre Dame after the 2021 regular season to take over for the fired Ed Orgeron at LSU, Kelly envisioned the ability to construct a championship-level program that could be sustained on the bayou.
"I didn't come down here because we were going to jump into the (NCAA Transfer) Portal and buy a football team," Kelly told Jacques Doucet, sports director at CBS affiliate WAFB-TV. "This was about developing a football team, putting in the system and the process that was going to last for a long time. ...
"That's clearly the goal here, is to be part of the 12 teams. Each year you are putting yourself in position to be one of those 12. Certainly the SEC is an important part of that and winning the SEC and being SEC champions but at the end of the day, you want to be one of those 12 teams because it gives you a chance to win the championship and that's what we're playing for here at LSU. We're playing for championships."
Since Kelly's December 2021 arrival, LSU has fortified its roster with ample talent signed out of the NCAA Transfer Portal -- most notably 2023 Heisman Trophy winner and 2024 NFL Draft No. 2 pick Jayden Daniels, now the quarterback of the future for the NFL's Washington Commanders.
But Kelly, first with former FootballScoop award-winning personnel ace Will Redmond, has maintained that he wants the LSU program built on long-term recruiting and relationships.
So, yes, the Tigers need some reinforcements along their defensive front and they could possibly take a player from the Portal at one or two other positions of need, but Kelly is adamant that is not a sustainable model for his program.
After it had top-five ranked transfer classes, per 247Sports, in 2022-23, LSU brought in just seven transfers in the 2024 class, one that landed as the No. 42 class out of the Portal.
To that point, LSU has signed 70 high school prospects to 35 from the Transfer Portal since Kelly took over the program.
"I think I made it pretty clear in a number of press conferences that I had that we were in the market in recruiting, in the Transfer Portal, looking for defensive linemen," Kelly further told Doucet. "It hasn't fared very well, quite frankly, because we're selling something a little bit differently. We want to recruit, we want to engage, build relationships, we want to develop, retain and have success.
"We're not in the market of buying players. And, unfortunately, right now, that's what some guys are looking for. They want to be bought and, look, I understand NIL is part of this and we have an incredible collective. We have very, very generous opportunities around the greater Baton Rouge area for NIL opportunities; they are here. "
Kelly did single out college football administrative veteran Austin Thomas, whose decorated career has included stops at Baylor, USC, Ole Miss and extensive time at LSU, as a key asset who returned to the program earlier this year.
"Austin Thomas, an experienced general manager that allows us now to really set ourselves in position with NIL and the Transfer Portal," Kelly said. "There's so many of those things going on today that you need somebody that can be on that every single day. You just need that in your organization; there were many years that I didn't need something like that."
Though Kelly acknowledge the need for a general manager, he emphasized that LSU would not just look at players and potential NIL deals as its preferred method of roster assembly.
"We're not going to go out and buy players," Kelly reiterated. "That's not what this is about, this was never about that. We will develop you, we will get you ready for the next step, as we did with Jayden Daniels. As we did with Malik Neighbors, as we did with Brian Thomas.
"As we did with three defensive linemen that all got drafted this year, and we'll do that again.
"But if you're just looking to get paid, you're looking in the wrong place. If you like all the things we do here in developing our players, bringing you into a championship program, playing in front of the best fan base in America, playing for championships and having an opportunity for NIL, you should be a Tiger. But if you just want to get paid, this is not the place for you."
Kelly, who built his success at Notre Dame on the strength of the Fighting Irish offensive lines, has adopted a similar approach at LSU and also indicated he feels a certain loyalty to the players rebuilding LSU with him along the way.
"They also have to understand that they're walking into a locker room with a cloud over them as well, and so when you're making those decisions I have to factor in everybody who's sitting in these seats (inside the LSU team football room) and everybody including my offensive linemen who are the bell cows, who have been playing for me over the last three years as freshmen and sophomores and juniors," he said. "What about them? Everybody has to be part of the solution.
"We're just not going to get into it if it's strictly about ... now, if you add that into all the other things I mentioned, then LSU is the right place for you. It just hasn't worked out so far with the guys that we have recruited."
He added when asked if college football players were being bought rather than truly compensated for marketing/promotional purposes, "I can only tell you what we're asking our players and that is, this is all part of a bigger picture and the bigger picture for us is getting their degree, playing for championships and preparing themselves for that next step. And if they can be helped out with NIL money, absolutely. We're going to be able to provide those opportunities. But if you're looking to retire playing college football, this is the wrong place."
LSU opens its 2024 season, the third with Kelly at the helm, Sept. 1 against Lincoln Riley and USC in Las Vegas.