As the first year of the Brian Kelly era comes to a close, the future looks bright for the LSU Football team. After a disappointing loss in their season opener against Florida State, many people doubted Brian Kelly would be a good fit in Baton Rouge. Maybe he and the players needed a little extra time to adjust; maybe they just didn’t play their best football.
“He’s been doing this for a long time so we just had to get to know him and he got to know us,” Ali Gaye said. “From then on it was just, let’s play ball and let me show you how my process is gonna help you guys win and we bought into that. We’ve been trusting it ever since.”
Now with almost a full season under his belt in the SEC, Coach Kelly has proven his haters wrong. The Tigers rattled off four straight wins following their season-opening loss, including a shutout against New Mexico. According to players, there is one phrase Coach Kelly has drilled into their heads all season: “what’s important now?” It sums up the Tigers’ mindset despite all the noise: about their coach, about last year and about their fate in the postseason.
“Everything he said was true, everything that he told us about the process, about trusting in it, to keep working every day, the little details,” Micah Baskerville said. “Everything is true and everyone is seeing it and seeing our success from it. It’s a wonderful feeling for sure.”
As Kelly consistently keeps his players focused on one game at a time, they began to see success and trust in his abilities. Even after a 40-13 loss against Tennessee at home, the team kept their faith. Throughout the season, Coach Kelly has said the only people who can decide the outcome of any game are his players, no matter the opponent they face.
“I didn’t put any wins or losses on this team. I put that I want to play hard, I want to be better in November and I want to teach them how to win,” Coach Kelly said. “I think we’ve hit all of those markers.”
The Tigers have one more Saturday night in Death Valley against the UAB Blazers before closing out the regular season on the road at Texas A&M. With only two games left before they face No. 1 Georgia in the SEC Championship, Coach Kelly’s first season with LSU seems to be the start of something special.
