LSU’s Brian Kelly has inside track to making up ground in Arch Manning recruiting race
By Ethan Lee
It looks like Brian Kelly and the LSU Tigers might be making a strong impression on a pretty important coach of a pretty important recruit.
While the LSU Tigers haven’t exactly been all that heavily linked to Arch Manning, it appears as if the quarterback’s head coach is pretty impressed with the way Brian Kelly is recruiting folks in Louisiana.
There seem to be many who believe that Kelly and the Tigers won’t really have a shot at getting Manning to end up choosing them over another suitor, and there’s probably a pretty good chance that LSU won’t be able to land the quarterback, but it never hurts to try. And it looks like that’s exactly what Kelly is doing.
As it turns out, that’s working out pretty well when it comes to impressing Manning’s coach.
According to a
from ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Nelson Stewart of Isidore Newman in New Orleans thinks pretty highly of Kelly and that’s especially true when comparing him against previous LSU head coaches.
“No coach has come through and made as strong of an impression as Brian Kelly,” Stewart told Thamel. “He has a humility and authenticity when you meet him. You feel like you’ve known him forever.”
LSU football: Brian Kelly reportedly makes strong impression on Arch Manning’s high school coach
If you’re trying to land a highly coveted quarterback, there aren’t really many better places to start than by getting connected with his high school football coach. And hey, it looks like Kelly is working on doing just that.
“An LSU offer is the prestigious offer,” Stewart told Thamel. “When kids get that offer, it’s very, very special. LSU has the tradition, facilities and recruiting the camaraderie. It’s a very special place.”
Again, maybe this doesn’t work out for LSU when it comes to Manning, but it might pay off in helping land other future Tigers.
According to Thamel’s report, Stewart said roughly 90 percent of his players who had an offer from LSU ended up as Tigers. Brice Brown, another longtime Louisiana high school head coach told Thamel that 70 percent of his players that had the chance to go play for LSU did just that.
Building a program by being connected to communities throughout the talent-rich state and keeping other powerhouse programs out could help Kelly out.
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