Notebook: Brian Kelly Has 'Utmost Confidence' in LSU DC Matt House

Kelly believes defensive coordinator Matt House can turn it around, work with talent on the roster.

Brian Kelly hit the ground running on Sunday after the Tigers lost their Week 5 contest to Ole Miss with a fresh hire on defense.

Kelly added defensive guru Pete Jenkins as an analyst with this side of the ball looking for immediate change and improvement.

But in the meantime, Kelly has the "utmost confidence" in current defensive coordinator Matt House and his ability to make things right for the Tigers.

Kelly answered the tough questions on Monday surrounding the LSU defense and his thoughts on House:

Proof In The Product: Matt House Can Make It Happen

A season ago, the Tigers relied on veteran leadership in Greg Brooks, Joe Foucha, Jarrick Bernard-Converse and more as the LSU defense shined with their weapons. 

Now, utilizing a handful of youngsters in the rotation, it's caused trouble, but Kelly remains confident House can turn things around. 

"Clearly defense won games for us [last year]. We had a lot of veteran players like Greg Brooks, Mekhi Garner, Jarrick Bernard Converse, that's a veteran group in the back end of the defense that made a lot of plays for us," Kelly said on Monday. "We know where we're at. We're playing a combination of 15 freshmen and transfers and they're young and inexperienced, and they gotta grow. There's gonna be some growing pains. 

"I said that at the start of the season when you take that many guys, there's a red flag, and we're going to have to go through these growing pains, but we're going to keep fighting and we're going to keep teaching. We're going to keep coaching. The blame does not lie at the feet of one person. This is a collective situation where we've got to coach better and we've got to play better."

The Bigger Picture: Improvement Lies Ahead... Or Does It?

It's no secret there will be personnel changes with the LSU defense moving forward. In order to see success, things must change in the blink of an eye, even if it means tweaking a few different processes. 

"We have a process where we rely on our process for consistency, right? When we lose, we do the same thing. But sometimes you have to tweak your process," Kelly said. "There are things that you tweak, and so in our total preparation, it's always about the physical, the technical, the tactical and the mental. So will there be some tweaks? Absolutely."

New Hire: Pete Jenkins

Kelly doesn't sit back and expect things to change overnight, but he's working towards a process of improvement and it starts with the defensive line.

On Sunday night, Kelly made a new hire: DL analyst Pete Jenkins. 

"Jimmy Lindsey has not been with us as our defensive line coach... Pete's role has not been defined yet other than he will be consulting and assisting our defensive line room," Kelly said. "He's a good football coach, but we want to provide our student athletes with the most resources and Pete gives us the expertise and the ability to help us with technique. Some technical things that we want to be able to do on a day to day basis, so he's going to come in. He'll be here, and assist us and help coach Jancek in that room."

Happy Medium: Balancing Personnel and Scheme 

Kelly hasn't slept much ever since Saturday's loss to Ole Miss as he continues tweaking and changing a few things. It started with a fresh hire on defense and it'll carry into making a few personnel changes in Week 6. 

"We got home at around 2am [Saturday]. I got about four or five hours sleep and since that time, we've been having those discussions up until I walked into this door right here. I think we've come up with some valid solutions to where we want to go moving forward," Kelly said. "We missed a lot of tackles that gave up a lot of yards after the misses. We've got to be better in the fundamentals, and our guys know that. We've got to get the ball on the ground. We've got to create a new line of scrimmage, and that will be job one."

The Fundamentals: Tackling Troubles. Confidence in Matt House

LSU missed 34 tackles against Ole Miss on Saturday night, resulting in over 280 additional yards for a ferocious offense. It hurt them in the long run and Kelly is prepared to take that next step in addressing the situation. 

"This is really about the the teaching and the execution. That requires part in the coaches coaching and the players executing. That's not about leadership. That's not about the message not resonating," Kelly said. "I feel great about all those things and the leadership that we're getting from my defensive coordinator. 

"We're always welcoming input. We had a meeting today with the entire defense and we got great input. I always ask for input. There's never a silence when it comes to weighing in because you can't fully buy in unless you're allowed to weigh in. We take information. We want to listen to everybody that has experience but there is one voice there. One leader of our defense. I have the utmost confidence in his ability to run our defense and he will run it effectively."