It's the lockdown podcast network, your team every day. Laying kiffin with an introspective update of spring practice, I'll explain it's locked on LSU. Here we go. You are locked on LSU, your daily podcast on the LSU Tigers, part of the locked on podcast network, your team every day. Okay, let's get it. It is locked on LSU, your team every day. I'm your host, Matt Moscona. Thanks for making us your first listen. LSU was back on the practice field Tuesday to begin the second week of spring. Laying kiffin met with reporters afterwards. Now, I gave you a full practice report in our previous episodes. So if you're an everyday or shout out, thanks for catching that. If you missed it, go back and listen after we're done with this episode. But what was so interesting is typically, if I can give you just a sort of a flyover, I've been in media for 23 years. I mean, it's a relatively long time. I have sat in hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of press conferences and you start to learn the subject whenever you sit in press conferences and you listen for me primarily to coaches and how they communicate through the media. And so I'm learning Layne Kiffin. And one of my big takeaways is, listen, I think he's hilarious on social media. I respect the social media troll and he is that. And I think it's, I can take it for what it is. I think it's hilarious. He is very different in press conferences. He is thoughtful and very smart. And it's not to suggest that he's not a smart guy. I mean, I think we know he's a brilliant offensive coach. I just mean the way he responds to things I think are very smart, very thoughtful. Not like thoughtful consider, Rose, I mean, he's thinking a lot about what he's saying because he wants to present a message a certain way. So let me just, let me give you an example. Okay. So, so practice ends, the media sitting in the team room, Layne Kiffin walks in and typically a coach will give an opening statement and then they'll open it to questions. And the opening statement can be any varying degree of whatever they, they want it to be. Sometimes coaches can filibuster. Sometimes they'll actually give you a meet. Sometimes it's just a throwaway. This is how Layne Kiffin opened his press conference, which I think now with hindsight was sort of a preamble to every answer he was going to give subsequent. I think that practice has gone really well. I think they're really competitive. I think that anytime you go somewhere has nothing to do with previous staff, you have a lot of work to do. You have a lot of work to do. Besides what is the obvious that everybody thinks about roster changes and portal and additions, but how you practice and how players think, you know, to fit into the way that you want things done. So, you know, that's a constant battle for us. And so I can see that improving out there, understanding how to practice. You know, we want to practice really physical, but also protect the team and how that we practice. And that maybe sounds really easy, but it's, it's challenging to get right to that middle spot of how to do that. So it's been going well. And I think there's great competition out there. He said how to practice three different times in that clip, how to practice. Normally you would hear coaches talk about the progress they're making based on whatever benchmarks they have in their mind. Maybe it's, you know, by day four, we want to be on X of install or it's working on us. It's good on good. We really wanted to ramp up tempo or acclimate. Like that's what you get. And I think given is telling you they're working on how to practice. And by the way, he, he elaborates a bit more because he was asked. So that was his opening statement. It was very brief, but the second or third question was, was, Ling, are, is your team on target, meaning like, are your four practices in, are you where you thought you would be through four practices? So what did you remember? And I'm not trying to go too existential. I'm going to get to a point, I promise, but I just need you to follow me. Okay. So he's talking about how to practice, not, not hitting benchmarks in practice, but teaching these guys how to practice. And he follows up here when he's asked, okay, are you on target? I just really look at each day, like how are, how are we doing? It's kind of like when people want to be into goals, you know, like how many wins and where are you at at this point? You know, I look into more of like, okay, not goals, habits, you know, how are we creating habits that are going to lead us into getting to numbers that everybody wants. So I don't really set those things. I think that their attitude, their energy, the way that they're approaching it has been really good, you know, but this would be no matter what with me. I wish there was more execution going on, especially in the, you know, offensively in the passing game. But again, you got all these new pieces, basically like an expansion team on offense, it's going to take some time. Now, before fans get mad, I didn't say years, it's just going to take some time. He checked just about every lane kiffin box there. He gave you a very thoughtful answer. He's trying to temper expectations and then he works humor in at the end. It's like, check, check, check. That was the quintessential lane kiffin answer. But you heard, remember the question was, are you on target? You know, for where you want to be through four practices? And he starts by saying people are focused on goals. How many wins are you going to have? Are you on target? Like as far as progress? And he says, what he said was habits. Are we creating good habits? Are we practicing with a good attitude? Do we have good energy? What does that sound like? Who does that sound like? Who does that sound like? If you think in college football terms and you have someone start talking about, we're not worried about goals, worried about habits and attitude and energy, like you're creating good practice habits. It's how you practice. Who does that sound like? Sure sounds an awful lot like Nick Saban, doesn't it? When forever he talked about his process and I know people have talked about lane, you know, even with the hand gestures and a lot of the things like Nick, that sure felt a lot like a Nick Saban answer, didn't it? Now I, the other part of that that I found was interesting is at the end of the sound by when he says, you know, he's talking about habits and attitude, attitude and energy and, you know, not so much about goals and how many games you're going to win, but the things you can control that'll lead to that result, which is so Saban-esque. But he says he wishes the execution was better in particular in the passing game. Now, told you that if you heard our practice report, one of the things that we talked about on the practice for Tuesday was it was not a great day for the offense in particular, the quarterbacks and the receivers, even throwing against air. This was it. It was a windy day on Tuesday, but this was a day where they were not on the same page. You had a lot of misfires, a timing that wasn't very good. And remember last week when we first met with, with Lane Kiffin, he talked about the quarterback sort of being the point guard in this offense. They want to go fast. They want to go fast. And the quarterback has to know this system so they can execute it at a high level. So if you're not executing at a high level, throwing accurate passes, knowing where to go with the football, then you can't go fast. So what he wants is execution in the pass game at a higher level. So it's interesting that sometimes what we see the media and a very limited sample size, sometimes it does mirror what the coach will, will tell us what he's seeing as well. And sometimes there's a disconnect, which is why I think press conferences can be important to try to see how you might compare or contrast what you think you see relative to what the players and the coaches are actually seeing and doing. So it goes to show you, there's a lot of work still to do in this pass game. And I think it's, it's why spring is so important. And I know I talked about this in the, in the, the recap practice report episode, but it's why I think, especially for this team this year, spring is so important. There's a lot of guys at spring, spring doesn't matter. It doesn't matter for Witt Weeks. Just be healthy for Clemson. Doesn't matter for DJ Pickett. You're a six foot five, rangey corner, probably the best corner in America, man. Just be ready to roll week one and lock down Clemson's best guy. It doesn't matter for a lot of guys for quarterbacks and receivers in this offense. It matters tremendously because they're trying to build rapport and timing and all those things so they can move quickly and fluidly and create good habits and have good attitude and energy. And they're learning how to practice and all the things Lane's talking about there. So again, I told you it's a bit existential, but it's not me reading into that. It's how he's choosing to answer these questions. And he wasn't done. He was asked about Sam Levitt coming back from his injury. He was asked about wide receiver depth. He was asked about the defensive line after he kind of had to get on him last week. He was asked about Gabe Relaford's injury and all those answers. It wasn't necessarily just a direct answer about that question. It was a sort of introspective view into everything. I'm going to get to that as we continue. So don't go anywhere. It is locked on LSU, your team every day. What if sports were traded like markets? Now you can put your sports IQ to work in real time with Robin Hood prediction markets. It's not you against the house. It's you participating in a live market. You can buy or sell your positions live all game long. Use your sports knowledge in the moments that matter. Robin Hood prediction markets changes the game. It's people moving the action. So when momentum shifts, you can move with it. I always knew the game, but never had a dynamic way to apply that knowledge. Now I can actually take part live in a market powered by people. You're no longer just a spectator play by play. You decide. So trade every play with Robin Hood now available across the U S download the Robin Hood app now to begin futures and cleared swaps trading involves significant risk and is not appropriate for everyone. Event contracts are offered by Robin Hood derivatives LLC, a registered futures commission merchant and swap firm. Russell brought to you by Turbo tax. It's tax time, but for a lot of us, the old way of doing taxes is a lot trying to book an appointment. That's not the most convenient sitting in a waiting room with stacks of papers, emailing back and forth, wondering if they really get your situation. But this year you're getting a major upgrade into a turbo tax now has in person locations nationwide. You can meet face to face with a real tax expert and your documents get uploaded straight to your turbo tax app on the spot. And just like that, you're done. Your turbo tax expert works to get you every dollar you deserve while you get real time notifications as you go about your day. It's the relief of walking in and meeting a real person walking out knowing your taxes are being handled right. Head to Turbo tax.com slash local to find a store near you and to book your appointment. Get back to the episode in just a second, but I want to remind you, you get your first month of the everyday or club for free when you use the code March. You'll unlock ad free episodes and entry into our private listener group chat where we're hanging out daily. So, click the link in the show notes and if you want to claim your first month free. So, Lane Kiffin is meeting with reporters after practice. This was practice four of fall camp. We already went through his open and when he was asked if they feel like they're on target, well, now he's asked a very direct question about Sam Levitt. And of course, Sam Levitt is the Arizona state transfer quarterback and basically, unless you, it feels like is going to go as Sam Levitt goes. He's the guy they made a massive investment in. You heard Kiffin say it. I mean, this offense really is predicated on the quarterback being the point guard. Now they've got Hussan Longstreet and they've got Landon Clark running a lot of those reps right now. But the question about Levitt, the question was about Levitt and it was about Levitt moving better than I think we thought. Now remember, and we talked to you about this when the portal was open and you know, part of the reason LSU sort of took their eye off the ball with Sam Levitt and was looking at the Mon Williams is because of that list, Frank Injury. As I understand it, when he came here, there was a first look that they got at him and realized, man, this is serious. Is he actually going to be recovered in time for the season? Well, with all that considered, I think it's a little surprising for those of us watching practice to see Levitt out there with no brace, no type of contraption on his foot where he had surgery. He's out there throwing and actually, I posted this video on my social media, you see him jogging between drills. Now he's not doing any running drills. He's not doing any 11 on 11, but he is moving around pretty good. So Lane was asked about Sam Levitt being limited and listen to how he pivoted the answer. For them, it's great because they get so many extra reps. Basically like everything in life, there's a cost and there's a benefit to everything that happens. And so obviously, we would love to have Sam and love to have him taking all the team reps fully healthy, but because he's not, it benefits them and they've done a really good job with that. And it makes them show up because now they're up there with the ones. But it's been challenging for Sam. He's extremely competitive. So I know it bothers him that he can't do more and that's a really good thing. The answer was more about Hussain Longstreet and Landon Clark getting reps and opportunity. And I'll remind you a year ago, this past season at Ole Miss, they had a guy that was their starter. It was Austin Simmons. And Simmons got dinged up early in the season. It opened the door for Trinidad Chambliss. And the rest, as they say, is history. Simmons got Wally pipped and now he's at Missouri and Chambliss went through a legal battle to be eligible this year. And he is eligible for Ole Miss. I'm not suggesting that Longstreet or Clark are going to be this year's version of Trinidad Chambliss. What I'm saying is the question was about, about Sam Leavitt doing maybe more than we thought and the answer pivoted to the opportunity this has provided Landon Clark and Hussain Longstreet. And then at the end he circled back to Sam Leavitt because I think we all understand that it's going to be critical for LSU to achieve what they want to for Leavitt to be healthy and ready to go. Now the other thing on the offensive side before we get to defense was about receivers. And this is another thing that I thought was so telling about the approach this team took. Now you got one receiver from last year returning, Phillip Wright. That's it. One scholarship receiver. They remade that entire room aside from Phillip Wright. You ensigned double digit receivers in the portal. And that's an approach that Lane Kiffin explained why they did it that way. You know, we kind of look at that room where maybe you don't, you know, we try to balance the room more. If you think of it as like here's your cap number for a room, you know, instead of being really top heavy with one and two and then not having depth, I think when we've been our best, it's because we've had, you know, four to five to six receivers that can all play really well. And so that's what I we're striving for here. I think we have a chance to do that with the players that are out there because it didn't work the best for the long run of the season and potentially in the post season. And I think you got to look at that, especially as schedules get harder with the ninth game. And basically here, the way it's set up, you really have 10 basically SEC games. So it's really critical, the numbers that you have there and that you can stay healthy throughout the season. And when you go to your second guys that you're still able to put pressure on defense. So he explains there why you didn't go after a guy like Cam Coleman. Remember throughout that entire portal process, we use the word evaluation. It was the thing I was told about Kiffin and Billy Glasscock over and over and over again. And one of the things that was made clear is they put a value, a positional value on the roster. How much of your roster should be invested in quarterback? How much of your roster should be invested in offensive line? How much of your roster should be invested in cornerback and so on? Now, Cam Coleman was the number one receiver in the portal from Auburn, landed at Texas. And Cam Coleman would have come to LSU for the right price. But as we reported during the portal, Cam Coleman's asking price, the starting price was north of 3 million bucks. Well, you heard Lane Kiffin say right there, think of it like you have a cap number. Would you rather be top heavy with one or two elite guys, but not have depth? Or would you rather 8, 10, 12 guys that you think can all compete for you? Or of those 8, 10, 12, you're looking for four to six that you feel really good about because injuries happen. If you go all in on that one guy and he turns an ankle or isn't as effective, what does that do to your offense as a whole? Well, what Kiffin's saying is you can go invest all that money into one guy, one elite guy, or you can go take that cap number for the receiver group and go get 10 guys, create great competition and let the four to six that are the best emerge out of that group. And we've talked about those guys so far. I mean, just looking at these receivers, he knows what he's got in Winnie Watkins coming from Ole Miss, but then you look at Jace Brown from Kansas State, who was really dynamic on Tuesday. I thought Trey Wilson coming in from Florida has been awesome as well. And Jackson Harris from Hawaii is so fluid. This guy averaged 15 yards of reception last year. That's just scratching the surface, man. You have so many guys. Roman Mother Sheds, a big six foot five receiver. Jabari Mack had this incredible one hand to catch that's going viral. Malik Elsie is a big bodied receiver coming in from Illinois. So a lot of different guys with different skill sets, but Lane's telling you there, I'd rather have that number of guys and let the cream rise among the four or six that are going to be impact guys, because over the course of nine SEC games, and then when you throw Clemson in there, it's like 10 marquee games, you're going to need depth throughout the season that potentially even longer run. If you make a deep run in the playoffs, so you're not relying just on one or two guys, everything about this was so thoughtful. That question, by the way, was about having deep threat receivers and look at the direction he took it. He, we're learning that Lane is talking, you know, is explaining through the media, regardless of how the questions asked. He's getting the message out there that he wants. Now he was also asked, we're not done, because I want to flip to the defensive side and play two more sound bites that Lane said on Tuesday that illustrate this even further. That's next. It's locked on LSU, your team every day. Workplace chaos, deadline stacking up inbox overflowing and the one position you have to fill is still sitting open when the pressure is on and you need the right hire. This is a job for sponsored jobs. Indeed sponsored jobs helps you reach the people who actually fit what you're looking for skills, experience, location. So you're not just hoping the right candidate stumbles across your post and the staff that says it all in the minute we've been talking companies like yours have a 27 hires on indeed. That's according to indeed data worldwide. So if you're hiring, spend less time searching and more time interviewing candidates who check all your boxes with indeed sponsored jobs and listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to help get your job the premium status it deserves at indeed.com slash podcast. Just go to indeed.com slash podcast right now and support locked on LSU by saying you heard about indeed locked on LSU indeed.com slash podcast terms and conditions apply need to hire. This is a job for indeed sponsored jobs. Saving seekers, we hear you seeking energy savings always keep your energy prices under the price cap with next pledge. Your energy prices are guaranteed to always stay below the price cap. Satisfy those savings cravings. Check out our full range of tailored energy solutions at the next.com forward slash save. Eon next we make energy savings work. Next pledges a 12 month fixed time trucker tariff with variable rates lower than off chance price cap for standard variable tariffs direct debit required T's and C's apply. So I want to get back into what Lane Kiffin was saying and there's a couple of more clips that I thought were super relevant. He was asked about the defensive line. Now last week he was asked about the defensive line kind of that he had to get he called him together and to get on him a little bit. So he was asked the way the question was asked is do you feel like they've taken to the message better? I thought their mindset was better. And again, that's what you're supposed to do. You're here to coach. So everything's you're going to walk in and everything's going to be the way you want it to be. And so I'm not complaining about that. That's just part of the process. No different than it was. We had no fights today and we had like six fights the other day and I had to teach them that don't fight. So you know when you come in you really can't expect and assume anything is the way that I approach it. You got to go back and teach everything from the beginning as if they don't know anything no matter where you are, but especially because there's so many coming from different places. And I talked to our coaches about that a lot and they want to say well soon they're supposed to know how to do this. Well, don't assume that, you know, go back to the beginning of everything. Go back to the beginning. Don't assume they know anything and you heard him mix in there about fights like it. There were six fights the other day. We told you Harlan Berry kind of got into a little bit of a skirmish on Saturday at the end of the 11 and 11 period, which they call fast six. I learned that the end or had an interview with a Jacim Jackson, the LSU cornerback and said they call that the fast six or the quick six. It's six plays. They go really fast at the start of practice. And at the end of that Harlan Berry got into a little bit of a skirmish. Apparently after we got kicked out or even more of those skirmishes, but that's something he didn't have to disclose. He chose to disclose that because he wanted us to know that, that there's physicality and there's passion and there's energy and there's emotion in this thing with this team as they're starting to come together. Now I did also ask Lane Kiffin to confirm the Gabe Relliford news. Now if you're here over the weekend, we broke the news and reported that Gabe Relliford tours ACL in the second practice of spring. And then I asked the impact that loss will have on that room. Give a listen. That's a difficult injury. You know, I'm really challenging for him after missing time last year. He was doing a great job. Again, kind of like the way I view that position like receivers. If you're going to be really good because plate counts are up nowadays and as you look at the conference, you know, it used to be kind of fast and it slowed down a little bit offensively. If you look at like last year, there weren't really many up tempo teams. And now you kind of have to swing back. So to me, even more than ever, okay, to have defensive, multiple defensive ends that can rush and that can play snaps to play against that tempo. This was a significant loss for us. He has a really good future here. And we were really excited about how he was performing. I think a couple of things. Number one, obviously confirm the injury and confirm one of the things we talked about on Saturday that staff members had told us that Relliford had done an incredible job rehabbing this off season. Getting his treatment in, getting his workouts in, doing drills at the indoor facility on his own. I think all that speaks to the type of player teammate person Relliford is and we wish him well in his recovery. But he compared there the edge position to receiver. What he talked about a bit ago, why they wanted depth at receiver is because you go through a long season at that position, you want to have a lot of guys. So you're sort of protected against thinning out for whatever reason. And he said, I thought it was interesting to talk about play counts being up because last year they slowed down. And this year he's expecting it to swing back. I guess I hadn't considered even watching the SEC last year that the league had slowed down. Now, part of that I would assume has to do with who the coaches aren't calling plays. And the reason he's thinking it'll swing back is look at some of the new coaches in the conference. So when you have a guy like Ryan Silverfield going to Arkansas from Memphis, that's a guy that's going to spread and go fast. You have Alex Golis going from South Florida to Auburn. That's a guy that wants to go fast and is going to try to get play counts up. Those are both teams, by the way, that LSU is going to play in 2026. I can take it a step further and we could look at John Someral going to Florida. I don't know how different that might be to what Billy Napier was doing there in Gainesville. But the point is, certainly Wilstein at Kentucky and LSU plays Kentucky this year. From Mark Stoops, who was more of a physical grinded out type coach. Now you're talking about a guy in Stein coming in from Oregon, who's going to spread it out and try to go fast and run a lot of plays. All those teams, by the way, LSU plays this year. So take it back to last week when Lane Kiffin was asked about tempo. And he said, not only is it great to condition the offense, but it's good for our defense to go against this tempo every day because this is the fastest tempo they're going to see all year. Because they are LSU is going to go faster under Kiffin than anybody else will, but they're going to see tempo. They're going to see play counts, which is why depth is important and why losing Gabriel Eletford is significant. So keep an eye on that defensive end group, that edge group here throughout spring and fall camp as they continue to figure out the pecking order without Gabriel Eletford. And of course, every time they give us availability, we'll certainly be out there. It was interesting too, because Lane opened the press conference by effectively asking us for feedback. Like, do we want to see more? Some people don't want to go to the whole practice. Well, I do if they'll let us. So hopefully we'll get even more access. And if we do, of course, I'll be there every time they give us access and I'll give you reports right here on locked on LSU. So please subscribe on your favorite podcast, apparatus, leave a review, YouTube smash that like button, subscribe to the channel, hit the bell so you're notified whenever we post a new video. And be sure to let a friend know that if they love the Tigers, we got to hear every single day for locked on LSU. It's your team every day. In a world of noise and uncertainty, IG is the investment platform that backs you. Take a reflexable stocks, ISA, which gives you the freedom to withdraw funds anytime and replace them in the same tax year, all without losing your £20,000 tax-free allowance. And if that's not enough, pay no commission on your stock shares and ETFs when you invest with IG. IG. Trade. Invest. Progress. Your capital's at risk. Other fees may apply. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and is subject to change. Savings seekers, we hear you. Seeking energy savings. Always keep your energy prices under the price cap. With Next Pledge, your energy prices are guaranteed to always stay below the price cap. Satisfy those savings cravings. Check out our full range of tailored energy solutions at eonnext.com forward slash save. Eonnext, we make energy savings work. Next Pledge is a 12-month fixed-time track-a-tariff with variable rates lower than off-chance price cap for standard variable tariffs. Direct debit required. Teas and seas apply.
