Brunch with Brian: Grambling

Brian Kelly took to the podium for his weekly Monday (in this case Tuesday) press conference with reporters.

Kelly put Sunday’s 45-24 drubbing at the hands of Florida State succinctly: “nobody’s happy with it. Nobody from (the) LSU fanbase should be happy with that performance. I’m certainly not.”

Kelly clarified a comment he made after the loss about how this group isn’t the team he “thought they were.” Kelly said he felt there was a “disconnect” between the team’s mental preparation and the body.

“The game of football requires a competitive edge that we lacked in particular in the second half,” Kelly said but he did not shy away from shouldering the blame.

“I did not have them delivering their best when their best was needed.”

When asked about how he and the staff restores that competitive edge Kelly talked about making sure his team plays with the proper sense of urgency. He mentioned little things like the offense getting to the huddle quickly coming off the sideline, or backside corners helping in run support “like their life depended on it.” But Kelly also mentioned that urgency needs to be controlled so that penalties aren’t an issue.

Kelly’s second question was probably the one all LSU fans are dying to know: what to do about Harold Perkins’s role as an off ball linebacker. Kelly was specifically asked if the Tigers can “afford” to not have Perkins in a “see ball get ball” role.

“Certainly a question we have talked about. There’s a lot going on. You could clearly look at Harold and what he’s asked to do versus lining him up off the edge. Player development has to be thought about; where he goes at the next level has to be thought about; and that impacting our team. I think that there’s a happy medium there that can probably strike and we’ve already began to look at how we can be most affective for Harold and for LSU.”