We’re less than a week away from LSU football kicking off its season. At Brian Kelly’s first, game week press conference as LSU Head Coach, he gave some updates on the team as they prepare to open  against Florida State on Sunday.

Some questions were answered, and some will have to wait until game time on Sunday. Here are the takeaways from the press conference today. 

Quarterback remains unclear 

Throughout fall camp and especially during the end of it, some theorized that whenever a decision was made, Kelly and the coaching staff would keep the decision secret to have an advantage against the Seminoles on Sunday. This was confirmed by Kelly.

When asked about the quarterback situation, he said they finally came to a decision, but they would be keeping it secret until the game on Sunday which provides them with an advantage as the Seminoles now have to prepare two game plans instead of one, due to Daniel’s and Nussmeier’s play styles being different.

“I think it’s a tactical advantage for us to not announce it,” Kelly stated. “It doesn’t help us to give our parts away.”

Despite there being a named starting quarterback, the competition is not over. Kelly describes the two quarterbacks as a 1A and 1B, rather than first and second. He believes that fact will keep both players motivated to continue to improve, as if the starter digresses or the backup improves, there could still be a switch.

The decision was made on Saturday, meaning the race came down to the wire. 

“They’re going to be so engaged because they know how close they are to playing every snap,” Kelly said regarding the backup. 

While we can only speculate who the quarterback will be on Sunday, the coaching staff taking a strategic approach to what information they choose to put out seems like a good sign for the team.

Clarity on the offensive line

One of the biggest questions surrounding the team heading into the season was the offensive line. Those questions were headlined by the hole left at center, which was the first position Kelly addressed when discussing the offensive line.

“The lynchpin to the decision at the offensive line started and ended with the center position,” Kelly said. “Once we felt comfortable with Garrett Dellinger at the center position, everything else was able to fall into place.”

Dellinger took almost every single first-team rep at center during fall camp, so his inclusion in the starting lineup is no surprise. What was more up in the air was how the rest of the starting offensive line would shape up, and Kelly made that clear as well.

“We think Bradford at guard, Frazier at guard and wire, and Campbell at the tackle position gives us the best chance with those five guys,” Kelly said.

The inclusion of Campbell, Frazier and Bradford is not too surprising, but Wire is somewhat of a late emergence. He was taking mostly second-team reps for the first part of camp until he began to emerge at right tackle later on. That left Tre’Mond Shorts out of the starting lineup and had Bradford move inside to right guard to make room for the experienced Wire. Shorts is still expected to play a role and is someone Kelly mentioned specifically as it pertains to depth on the offensive line.

“Tre’Mond Shorts is gonna be in the mix, he’ll get a chance to play,” Kelly said.

Decisions being made at kicker

Special teams was an area of great turnover for LSU this offseason as it lost its starting placekicker, punter and kickoff specialist. Kelly already made clear earlier in camp that Jay Bramblett will handle punting duties, and today he announced that Damian Ramos will handle placekicking duties for LSU.

“I think Damian Ramos is gonna start at the field goal position and extra point,” Kelly said.

Ramos, a redshirt freshman from Baltimore, Maryland, was seen handling field goals and extra points throughout the latter part of camp. He won the job over Ezekeal Mata, Nathan Dibert and Trey Finnison. The competition for a kickoff specialist is still ongoing, with all four seemingly in the mix.

“I think we’re still in the process of making a decision on kickoffs,” Kelly said. “It’s extremely competitive there, we feel like that decision is probably gonna be made here in the next 24 to 48 hours.”

Finnison is the only one out of the group with kickoff experience in college, tallying 36 kickoffs over three years at Northwestern. Kelly and the staff have not given any real hints at this position, so the job still seems up for grabs.

Additional Notes: Wide Receivers and Running backs situation

LSU is likely to feature a full wide receiver room on Sunday, with Jack Bech recently returning to action and Malik Nabers expected to do the same after not dressing out on Saturday. That means there will be a lot of talent available on the bench for their opening game. 

Fall Camp revealed just how deep the receiving room is and according to Kelly, they will look to frequently rotate guys in and out to utilize all that they have. Along with the projected top-three of Kayshon Boutte, Bech and Nabers, Kelly cited Jaray Jenkins, Brian Thomas Jr. and Kyren Lacy as guys who will likely contribute on Sunday, with each of those players having their impressive moments throughout camp.

“It gives us a nice rotation and keeps [our] guys fresh,” Kelly said. “Seven to eight guys is what you’re going to see playing for us at receiver.” 

Regarding running backs, John Emery Jr. is still expected to miss the first two games of the season. When asked, Kelly gave another cryptic response, adding that he was not able to go into details.

“John’s done everything that would allow him to be in good standing in the football program, but I have things that are out of my control as it relates to who I can play and that’s not something I can comment on,” Kelly said.

As it stands, Noah Cain and Armoni Goodwin will remain the top two running backs against Florida State and Southern, with Josh Williams likely earning some touches as well. It’s unclear if the rotation will span past that.