Brian Kelly Talks Bryce Young, Setting Foundation in Year One

LSU's defense preparing for Young's dynamic game, chance to make a statement against Nick Saban and Alabama.

Brian Kelly understands the daunting challenge awaiting the Tigers next Saturday when the Alabama Crimson Tide head to Baton Rouge. Led by Heisman winning quarterback Bryce Young, this defense will have their work cut out for them.

Kelly harped on how dynamic Young’s game is and what LSU must do in order to come out with a victory next weekend.

“I mean, they’ve all (SEC QBs) been so difficult to defend and this will be the most difficult,” Kelly said of Young. “What’s most difficult with him is improvising, his ability to improvise and when he improvises, he’s making plays.”

“He’s getting the ball out to skill players. An enormous challenge for our defense is to contain him in some fashion. Maybe you even have to look at how to slow him down a little bit because he’s that good of a player.”

READ MORE: Tigers Dishing Out Offers Left and Right, Utilizing Bye Week

The chance to get ahead of schedule with the open date allowed this program to get an understanding of what they’ll lock in on in practice this upcoming week. 

“In these weeks where we don’t play on Saturdays, as a coach you love them because you get to go over all the mistakes you made in the passing game and the running game and clean those things up,” Kelly said on Tuesday. “Fundamentals. We got a lot of individual (work). And we got to scrimmage the young guys that haven’t played. As a coach, these (weeks) are as good as they get.”

LSU has done a 180 since the beginning of the 2022 season. After dropping their game to Florida State, it had fans on edge, but Rome wasn’t built in a day and that’s the approach this program is taking.

Little by little. Inch by inch. It’s slowly coming together for the Tigers as they sit at 6-2 with a chance to come out on top in the SEC West.

READ MORE: LSU Commit Rickie Collins Lighting Up Senior Year 

But Kelly is looking at the bigger picture. He’s looking at what LSU can be long term and it starts with recruiting. Kelly and his coaching staff used the bye week to prepare for Bryce Young and the Crimson Tide, but also utilized it as a recruiting week.

“There’s a lot of work to be done there. Recruiting for us has just started,” Kelly said. “This freshman class is the first class we’ve gotten in the doors here and we only had a few months to recruit it.”

“Our first freshman class is coming up. Building your program is through recruiting as well. We’re establishing habits. We’re establishing those things, but that takes time and we’re making progress. These kids have done everything we’ve asked them to do, but we’re still obviously building this thing.”

As Alabama week begins on Monday, LSU has the chance to make a statement against a Top 10 foe. It’s never easy facing off against Nick Saban, but Brian Kelly and his program can take sole possession of No. 1 in the SEC West with a win. Something LSU fans couldn’t have imagined earlier this season.