On Early National Signing Day, LSU Head Coach, Brian Kelly, met with the media to discuss the Tigers 2025 freshman class, but it took a bit of a turn. Instead, there was a lot of discussion about NIL and how it's effecting LSU and the rest of the recruiting scene.
Kelly was very open and honest about what recruiting has become in recent years, and more particularly this year. What's supposed to be a fun day celebrating the incoming class has turned into a scramble to make sure they're all staying committed. He also said that it's unfortunate that recruiting is no longer about finding the right fit for a player, but more about who offers the most money.
"Today feels more like tax day than it does signing day," said Kelly. "Scrambling the last few days, it's unlike any recruiting period that I've ever been involved in...This is a new landscape that we are in. It's not just about finding the right fit academically. It's not just about finding the right fit where you can develop holistically and graduate and play for a championship. It's about what's the most money that I can get, and that's unfortunate."
Kelly went on to explain that realistically, you could spend most of the season raising money then just go on a spending spree in the final few weeks and build your class with NIL dollars. Obviously, LSU is not going to do that. He still values relationships with recruits, but notes that they have to have NIL to supplement their recruiting efforts.
"One side of it, you just say 'hey let's go raise money the entire recruiting season and get X [dollars], then in the last few weeks go and buy a team. Obviously, that's not what we're going to do, but what it means is that recruiting is no longer just about recruiting. It's not longer just about relationships. You need a collective, you need the NIL to supplement your recruiting efforts and that's just the reality of what we live in. You can't close every one of these because you've got great relationships and they want to go to LSU."
Over the past few weeks, LSU has lost Bryce Underwood to Michigan, Devin Harper to Ole Miss, Mike Tyler to South Carolina, LaJesse Harrold to a decommitment and are on the verge of losing Derek Meadows, likely to Alabama.
When talking about their losses, Kelly said that they didn't lose them because they didn't want to come to LSU or because they didn't recruit them hard enough, it's because the other teams placed a high dollar value on them, and they were willing to do whatever was necessary to get them to flip.
"Anybody we lost in the last few days, it wasn't because we didn't offer money, it wasn't because we didn't recruit them, it's because the value that was meant to them was exponentially more. It wasn't market value, it was exponentially more because they needed that piece and they were going to do whatever was necessary to get that piece."
Kelly was also asked about LSU's ability to compete in the transfer portal with schools like Oregon, Ohio State, Michigan, Alabama, etc., who all seemingly have unlimited NIL dollars to spend. He says, for LSU to hang with the big dogs, they need the donor base to be heavily involved. If they want to see LSU succeed, they need to play a big role in helping them raise the money to get premier talent.
"That's the bar, right? It's Oregon, it's Ohio State, it's Michigan, it's Georgia, it's Alabama. I could keep naming them, but you guys know who they are. It's no longer about just your brand. Your brand has to be backed up with the ability to supplement it with dollars, because that's what we're in. If you want to get into the portal and be able to close some of these, you have to have active participation from a donor base, and it can't just be one or two guys, it has to be all of those who want to see the Notre Dames or the Ohio States or the Oregons do well. They have to be involved, so that means the LSUs too. If they want to be at the top of the food chain, then we have to be involved as well. "
This was the most open and honest I've ever heard a coach when talking about NIL. It's crazy to think that just last year, Jim Harbaugh was suspended three games because he bought a recruit a hamburger on a visit.
NIL has completely changed the college football landscape. Gone are the days where relationships win out (at least in most cases). In are the days where, if you have enough money, you can buy yourself a championship roster, and I agree with Kelly in the fact that it's really unfortunate.
Stay up to date on all the LSU news with your premium subscription
Talk about this story and more in The Quad
Make sure you're caught up on all the latest LSU news
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel for video and live streaming coverage
