LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 28, 2022

Brian Kelly

Weekday Press Conference

BRIAN KELLY: Obviously it's exciting to be able to play for a conference championship. We certainly feel like we've earned the opportunity to be here by the play on the field, and we're excited about the opportunity to represent SEC West and playing the No. 1 team in the country.

Georgia has, again, proven themselves to be the best team, and we're excited about that challenge. We know it's going to be a tough challenge, but we're certainly up for this chance to win the SEC. That's what you play it for. I know our guys are excited about it.

Again, it's an outstanding football team. There's so many superlatives, whether you go on offense and talk about Stetson Bennett or you go defensively and you talk about some of the biggest defensive linemen and most active linebackers with Johnson and certainly inside with Carter and Beal. This is just a well-coached, consistent football team.

But our guys have had the opportunity to play the best, and this is another opportunity for us to be challenged. We're excited about the opportunity.

With that, we'll open it up to questions.

Q. Just a check on Jarrick Bernard-Converse what his status is. And this was always a makeshift year at corner; how would you evaluate how that group did, a lot of moving around and whatnot?

BRIAN KELLY: Well, we're playing for the SEC West Championship. I think that's a pretty good answer to that. But Jarrick, he will practice on Tuesday non-contact. If he gets through that non-contact practice, then he'll be fully cleared, so we're expecting that he'll be back for us.

Yeah, I think our guys have done a really good job. Putting together a secondary when you didn't have one is not where you want to be, and I thought that they've really hung in there all year. We've used a number of guys at that position to hold it down, and obviously the latest with Jay Ward playing the corner, and he played really well.

Really proud of the fact that we've been able to move new players into those positions and obviously get us to the SEC West Championship.

Q. Could you give us an update on Jayden? You did yesterday on the teleconference.

BRIAN KELLY: Yeah, nothing more.

He's been evaluated. He's in a walking boot. We'll keep him in that boot today, and then tomorrow he'll go in for his exam.

Really this is about strength. He'll go on the altered G today so he'll run with no obviously force and keep him conditioned even through today, which is a weight training and film study day.

Tomorrow he'll go through a manual exam where effectively he's got to be able to get up on his toes. If he's able to do that, then we're ready to go for Tuesday.

Q. It's a good problem to have, obviously, but some coaches in the past have said how playing in the championship game makes it difficult with the early signing period, with recruiting and stuff like that. Is it compounded by where the transfer portal is now? How are you dealing with it? You want to have this issue but it's still an issue.

BRIAN KELLY: No doubt. There's no question about it. Our situation is different because most teams that are not playing in a championship game are out on the road recruiting today, and certainly we're preparing for the game. We can't be out recruiting at this point, so you lose that opportunity.

But recruits know that we're preparing for a championship game, so you gain that back on the other end.

Next week is where it really gets interesting, right, so the transfer portal opens on the 5th. We certainly want to be able to recruit, but we want to obviously set our own roster, as well. So it's balancing setting your own roster, evaluating your team, exit interviews, doing those kinds of things while you're also recruiting and keeping an eye on the portal. So you've got a few balls up in the air next week.

Then our guys are in exams, so it lends itself to where we don't have to be hands on. We can turn them over to our strength and conditioning staff. It's just a matter of balancing how much time we spend with the guys in terms of one-on-ones, so we can set our roster, who's coming back, who wants to go to the NFL, who may want to go in the transfer portal, all those things we have to take care of and set our roster here at LSU, as well as look at the portal and we've got to recruit those that are coming in as mid-years.

Three balls up in the air at one time next week.

Q. I've been able to ask you this question a lot this year. You've apparently played a lot of teams from the SEC. You've played Georgia recently twice. Impressions of playing them when you did in '17 and '19, and also, do you take anything at all from those games for this week?

BRIAN KELLY: Not really. I mean, structure defensively is very similar. Certainly the personnel is different, but structure is the same. You know what you're going to get.

Offensively they're a little bit different with Coach Monken. He's got a creative bent to him that's a little bit different than what they had in '17 and '19, but there's similarities there that we take as a crossover more than anything else. Again, this is then -- this then becomes how do you handle Brock Bowers, how do you handle some of the match-up situations that you have to deal with. The quarterback is totally different.

I think structure is one thing in terms of knowing what the structure looks like, but then you have to game plan against individuals, and I think that's where this becomes a little bit different.

Q. Obviously you've been around a long time and watched plenty of SEC ball --

BRIAN KELLY: You say that, loooong time, thank you.

Q. When you joined the SEC West then and you thought about what it was to go through a year, how does that compare to now? What was the biggest takeaway from being a head coach in the west?

BRIAN KELLY: This past weekend, how you have to bring your best each and every week. If you don't bring your best, you'll get beat, and so I think that that to me more than anything else is the takeaway. You cannot play without the energy and the identity of your football team. There's just too many talented players. If you're not ready to play and play at your best, you'll get beat. That's the SEC West.

Q. What would it mean to win the SEC Championship, regarded as the top conference in America, especially after what you inherited and the situation you were in a year ago?

BRIAN KELLY: Yeah, I think it would be something that we would all feel great about in our first year here at LSU, but I think overall it's hard to win SEC Championships. It's so hard. There's so many good teams. We've just talked about how you have to play week to week in the regular season, but to get there and then win it all -- that's why somebody asked me yesterday about do you think that if they expand the playoffs that an SEC Championship would be devalued, and I said, absolutely not; you don't know what you have to go through to actually get here, and that's why I think it would never be devalued and would be such a huge thing for this football program.

Q. You talked obviously a lot this year about processes and that's kind of been the key to your program in general in this season. When did you feel like maybe the players had finally kind of adopted those things and things were clicking in terms of off-the-field processes and all that kind of thing?

BRIAN KELLY: Well, I mean, I think it's like anything else. When you put in a new way of doing things, new standards, it's like anything in life. You go to a new business or new operation, there's a new way of doing things.

That just takes time. I don't know that we're there yet. I think the first year is really setting those standards, making sure that they understand.

I think we're at that level of conscious competence. We know what to do. We know how to do it. But it's really hard for us.

We want to get to where it's unconscious competence. We don't have to think about it. It's just we do it and we do it the right way every day. I think it's still a process for us. They understand it a lot better. So I think that's where that level is.

But we still have another level to go.

Q. You're going up against a 6'7", 270-pound tight end this week. How do you combat that?

BRIAN KELLY: Hope they don't throw it to him; is that what you mean? Yeah, sometimes we break this game down to one player against one. You're hoping that in some situations that your zone coverage where you have somebody underneath him over the top, because really if you look at it, if it's just a one-on-one situation, he's a pretty unique athlete in that he can line up and has lined up at wide receiver. That's not a great match-up for anybody.

You've got to take some of those things away. You've got to be able to help with underneath coverage, over the top. Sometimes there's bracket situations where you've got a corner with an inside backer and a safety and that triangle kind of takes away throwing lanes because if it's just as simple as one guy versus one guy, that's not a favorable situation.

But you may get that sometimes, and you're hoping the pass rush gets there. You're hoping that Stetson can't find him, things of that nature, because it is a match-up issue.

Q. More big picture for the first year, could you maybe cite a couple of things beyond the coaching staff and managing the roster, a couple things that you implemented new to the program this year that in retrospect that you think you're really glad you did, and on the flipside, what was it like to try to decide what not to change, because obviously it's a very strong program.

BRIAN KELLY: Yeah. You know, you never really touch tradition, but you don't worship it. You bring tradition along with you. That is, you make sure you're welcoming former letter winners, former players, those that have been part of building the pride and tradition of LSU. I think that's absolutely crucial, to have guys back that have helped win championships here. I think we've done a really good job of doing that.

Without worshipping it and falling into that kind of hey, we have to do it this way because it's always been here, but paying attention to those that helped build the program, I think that's one way that I think we've done a really good job, and I think the other way is much more day-to-day in terms of we have a thing called SWAT teams where I think that's standard, and setting a standard so our guys knew what the expectations were, and on a day-to-day, they come into our building and we're not throwing them curve balls. They know exactly what they're getting. It's a consistency every day, and I think that creates an atmosphere within the building that they can trust.

So I think those two things in particular, really welcoming our former letter winners back, those that have been instrumental in building this program, without getting caught up with hey, we did it this way, we've got to continue to do it this way, and then internally setting up our SWAT teams.

Q. Do you worry or protect against a letdown after losing the game last week and for all intents and purposes losing a playoff shot?

BRIAN KELLY: No, no. The least concerns I have is a letdown. We didn't play up to our standards, and so our guys know it, and they care about that. You could sense it and feel it over the last couple of days from after the game in the locker room to yesterday when they had to be here for meal, even today in the training room. Our guys know they let something slip away, and they're upset about it.

They know how they have to play. We don't have a margin for error. We have to play with grit. We have to play with fire. We have to play to our identity, and if we don't, we're not the kind of team we need to be.

I think they're anxious to go back out and play up to their standard, and that's the way I feel that they will play.

Q. Could you go into further detail on Stetson Bennett, what you see in him as a winning quarterback, a consistent player?

BRIAN KELLY: Yeah, I think when you turn on the film, he just exudes confidence. He's a guy that has mastered the position, and what Coach Monken and certainly Coach Smart are asking him to do within that offensive structure, he just moves around with confidence. He's only got very few rushes. He's not a guy looking to run, although he can run away from you. In the Auburn game you could see him accelerate and separate from some defenders. But he wants to get the ball to his playmakers. He's just smart, careful with the football.

Yeah, I think the confidence level that he brings brings up the level of confidence around him and all the playmakers that he has.

Q. John Emery had a rough game against UAB with the fumbles and then comes out and scores three touchdowns for you this week. Can you talk about as his head coach the ups and downs you've had with him and the electric stuff he can bring to a game like this but also the need to protect the football against a Georgia defense that's probably going to try to rip it out?

BRIAN KELLY: Yeah, I think -- look, I think it's pretty well chronicled that our depth at the running back position is not where it needs to be. We've got to be very careful. You've got to make sure that John understands that look, you can't continue to put the ball on the ground, but yet on the other hand we can't put him on the shelf because he's got to help us.

You know, I thought he handled himself pretty good. I think Coach Wilson has done a great job of dealing with him in terms of the mental aspect of preparation and how to do this with a concern for holding on to the football, but we've got to get the best out of him, because as you know, he's a very talented player with the way he played this past week.

It's been a balancing act a little bit. We get Josh back this week, which will help, but I think more than anything else, I think Coach Wilson has done a really good job of balancing that discipline of carrying the football with we need you to play big for us, as well.

Q. The third year in a row Georgia is in this game. In what way might that be an advantage for them?

BRIAN KELLY: I don't know that it is per se. I think that their team clearly has themselves in a mindset that this is where we should be, and we expect to be here and we expect to win. Anytime you face an opponent that's confident and believes they're going to win, you've got to beat that. You've got to go ahead and take that from them.

It's like playing the Alabama teams, those that believe they're going to win football games. We were 1-9 against Alabama in the last 10 games. They believed that they were going to beat us, and we had to go take it from them. We'll have to do the same thing with Georgia. This is a team that believes they should be there and they should win the SEC Championship. We have to overcome that, as well.

Q. On Georgia's defense, obviously Kirby has done a great job of building them into what they are consistently, as well. What do you see when you look at them on tape?

BRIAN KELLY: Well, certainly physical -- the defensive tackles are outstanding, Carter and Beal. I think -- look, I think it's pretty clear that what you'll see is the perimeter players not only are athletic but they're outstanding tacklers, and that doesn't surprise me coming from what Kirby does and obviously what he demands from his players. They're tough-minded. They play physical. They play downhill. They play three down, four down, which we're obviously seeing a lot of it, but you've got to make sure you minimize the negative plays against a defense like this. You could get into some bad plays and now you're behind the chains. They get you the 3rd down, now there's a lot of things they can do.

1st and 2nd down and eliminating negative plays against this defense in particular is really big.

Q. You mentioned the running back department is not where you need to be. A lot of things on the team is not where you need to be, and yet you're in this place. If you were looking at this team somewhere else would you have thought man, they're probably not going to be able to get there, and yet here you are?

BRIAN KELLY: Well, we needed to play to our absolute best when our best was needed, and we did. I'd like to say that for the entire year, but that has not been the case. A lot of it is we have some work to do in terms of building up the depth of our program and certainly continue to build our process.

But I will say that they have given us everything. When the lights have come on and their best has been needed, they have given us their best.

You don't know that until you get around a group of guys in terms of what kind of fight they have. This group has a lot of fight. That's why they'll go to Atlanta and they will fight and they will play hard for four quarters and they will give everything they have against a very talented Georgia team.

Q. You kind of talked about this a little bit yesterday with Todd Monken on the Georgia side. Obviously you go back to Grand Valley State. There's a lot of connections. John Jancek, one of your analysts was there last year, going back to Grand Valley --

BRIAN KELLY: Cortez.

Q. Cortez, exactly. How close are you still with some of those people you started off with at Grand Valley? How did you stay close with them throughout your career?

BRIAN KELLY: Yeah, Chuck Martin at Miami of Ohio was on my staff, a lot of those guys. Look, when you come up through the Division II ranks and you have to learn how to do all the laundry as well as hand out meal money and do those kind of things, you build a relationship with all those coaches that you carry with you through your entire career.

We always stay in contact. John Jancek played for me. Those are the kind of things that you never forget when you start in Division II and you don't have the resources.

As those guys kind of ascend and go on to other positions, Todd and I have always stayed in contact. Spent a lot of time when he was at Louisiana Tech. He loves the state of Louisiana.

I think it's just that connection you have when you're Division II and you didn't have the resources that make it special.