BATON ROUGE - With a Top 10 matchup on the horizon to open the season for the LSU Tigers, head coach Brian Kelly discussed ongoing preparations after Fall Camp practice on Friday.

'All right, five practices in the row for for our team, we go again tomorrow, so we'll have six, and then we'll have a recovery day. So you know, this is about stacking days together for our guys, and it's also about managing them a little bit. So we managed some players today. But, you know, we were looking for, you know, today specifically, much more about the mental than the physical. Yesterday was a very physical day. We were outside two hours. Guys had to really fight through the elements and fatigue. Today was much more about staying inside and focus on one play at a time. So, you know, working on the skill of focus, you know, helping our guys, you know, manage that and being their best one play at a time, and stacking plays together. So that was kind of the emphasis today. And we also had some graduates today, Jordan Gilbert graduated, Chris Hilton, Prince Princeton, Marlborough graduated, Emery Jones came back. Mekhi Wingo, Kobe Roberts, Slade Roy, so proud of those guys and finishing off the mission and graduating from LSU."

WEEKS AND NUSS MANAGEMENT

"Yeah, just manage and load. We were not going to have him practice five days in a row until we get into game week. So today was his day off. He'll be back out there tomorrow. He'll scrimge Tomorrow. Nuss is much more about, managing his throws. He hit a number of throws where we give him some time to back off a little bit. He'll be back out tomorrow full. Go scrimmaging tomorrow. Again, it's just maintenance on some of these guys with workload."

ZAVION THOMAS

"I think the first thing that stands out is his leadership. He's been great in the off season. I think there's a more of a comfort level in how things are done here on a day to day basis, coming in from from Mississippi State, you know, obviously impact our team last year, but we just felt like his role could be expanded. He's a talented runner of the football. He certainly, from a wide receiver standpoint, helped our team last year. We think he can help them, so help us even more. So it has grown that role, but I think it's grown because he's handled it so well in all the other areas as well. He's been a really good representative of what we want to do and how we do it. And we're going to reward guys like that, that have that ability."

JAKEEM JACKSON

"He had a slight hamstring, probably a grade one, so we wanted to be certain that when we brought him back in, that we didn't have any reoccurrences."

SECONDARY COMMUNICATION

"I think communication starts back at the safety position, and I think we've got two guys that do a great job back there. I think Deshaun has grown immensely in his communication back there, you know, and Jayvion, you know, Tamarcus and certainly AJ, those four guys have done a really good job of getting us lined up, communicating effectively, which, in fact, made it, from a perception standpoint, look like, you know, there's a lot more continuity and consistency with the group, because they're doing a really. A perception standpoint, look like, you know, there's a lot more continuity and consistency with the group, because they're doing a really good job. You know, we're really running, you know, until Jake had a little bit of a pull, we were running six corners out there, and that's a lot. So you you better have great communication. I think your question is grounded in I think the ability to coordinate things on the back end starts with the safeties in the communication. It's been really good."

OFFENSIVE LINE

"I mean I look I've coached for a long time. A lot of guys in the NFL. A lot of first round draft picks. I think I got a pretty good eye for what an offensive line looks like. This group is. going to be really good, you know, we don't have a will Campbell, right? You know, he's the fifth pick in the draft, but we have five guys that play well together, and it starts with the center. You know, our center position in Brandon Moore kind of sets up the rest of the group for success, his combination work, his outstanding his recognition of fronts, you know, getting us to be an elite offensive line, if you have a center that can kind of set the stage for that, it allows everything else to kind of fall into place, and it's starting to fall into place quite nicely."

CLEMSON INSTALL

"We started Tuesday, you know, working towards, you know, Clemson demo, if you will, Scout however you want to use the words, you know, we started to look at, you know, going up against their fronts and certainly their offensive structure begin that on Tuesday. So Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, we'll do a little bit more tomorrow. So you know, we'll get in five days this week, full week, next week, and then our third week. So it'll be, it'll be a week more than any bye week that you have. So we'll have no excuses about recognition of scheme."

VAN BUREN

"I thought Mike did a really good job today. I mean, he's making really good progress. A lot of this is, you know, being in a new offensive structure, a lot of making, I would say Michael has grown so much since the spring in terms of recognition, footwork, progression, reads all the things that that you need to be a high performer in this offense. He is. He's getting better at that every day. You know, it was a great day for him, because he really got a chance to take virtually all the reps today, and so it's a great opportunity for him to gain even more confidence. So we're, we're pleased with his progress."

SATURDAY SCRIMMAGE IN TIGER STADIUM

"We want to be able to duplicate a night game the best we can. So we, you know, give our guys the opportunity to feel the night experience. You know, we'll have the boards lit up, things that that will distract you. We have to work on that so they don't get distracted by the noise and the book, the boards, you know, lit up, and so that really is the emphasis tomorrow is scrimmaging in that kind of environment."

SATRTING ON CLEMSON SO EARLY

"I think I've had teams that I haven't started on an opponent until the last week because we had so many question marks about so many different parts of our offense, defense and special teams. This one has been, I think, driven by the fact that we have some veteran players on both sides of the ball that allowed us to transition into our opponent a little bit sooner. But there have been some years that have been later, and right about now we didn't start until Saturday for USC last year, so that's five days ahead, you know, in terms of preparation. So I think it's year to year, team to team, and then at what point."

STARTING TO IDENTIFY STARTERS OR KEEP COMPETITION GOING

"I want to continue the competition. I think it brings out the best in everybody you know. And you know some of our areas of concern last year were that we didn't have any depth, and we didn't have that competition, and we couldn't keep the, you know, a sharpness, if you will. And so we're going to continue to keep the reps in a manner that allows competition for all players. "

JT LINDSEY – SECURITY QUESTION

"This is all about who is in your circle, right? I'm not concerned about our university and the security and such. This is about who you give access to in your circle, right? I mean, your circle of influence has got to be based upon people that you trust, people that know you and you know them, and that circle needs to really be evaluated by some players and some individuals.

And it's not just players, it's anybody that can gain access through what you have, right? And if you're going to give that up to somebody, it's going to have access to areas that they shouldn't be in. So this is really about individuals understanding, and in particular, players today, right? I mean, you know, they're making revenue share money. They're targets too. You know, people want to ingratiate themselves with people that are making, you know, substantial amount of money, and so you've got to be careful. And my point is this, you know, we're in an age where you know you've got to keep your circle really close. It's got to be family members. It's got people that you elicit information from in a manner of mentoring. You you start to, you start to widen that circle because somebody said nice things to you on Twitter. You know, buyer beware, and that's really the message to our team."

HAVE PARENTS REACHED OUT OVER CONCERN

"No, we, I have not firsthand, but I'm a parent, and I'm concerned about it. And so generally, what prompts me is not what's other people's opinions. It's my own, and my own is, you know, I want to help educate these guys and about who's in your circle, and you have to be very, very thoughtful. And it's an area that they haven't really have had to be vigilant on. They have to be much more vigilant about that."

JUJAUN JOHNSON AT RB

We're going to have a party. There's going to be a party later, and balloons wall and then jump out of the cake and say, I'm a running back. You set that up pretty, pretty good for me. He’s focusing his time at running back at this point, and that's his focus right now.  I think he'll be very involved. I think he's going to be an important part of what we did."

BERNARD GOODEN

"He's done a really nice job. Look, you know, we were specific in what we were looking for at that position. You know, Savior Mitchell is 340 pounds. Shown Washington is 315 320 we had some big fellas. We wanted somebody that was that could move, that was athletic, and he fit that bill. And he's continued that in camp. Now he's got to do it, you know, play in, play out in the SEC. But he's been fun to coach. He's bought in. He brings a lot of energy every single day. I know Coach Williams enjoys coaching him and and he fits with what we want to do in certain situations, in terms of the movement up front."

PATRICK PAYTON

"I think there's going to impact our football team. You know, some people show up differently. You know, he is a player that is still learning the position in which he's playing, just working on his drops, for example. You know, coming out of a system where he wasn't in that he was, he was strictly a rush end, so there's been a little bit of a learning curve for him. But I love, I love the way he comes at it. He is very conscientious, and I think when it's all said and done, we're going to have pretty good rotational players coming in and out of the game."

SUCCESS IN THE RUN GAME

"I think it's like anything else, right? You have to trust it and be confident. And trust and confidence can't be built if you don't do it. And so you have to be committed to it. I think it's like anything else, we have to be committed to those situations where everybody knows you're going to run the ball and you still have to run the ball, that, to me, is the litmus test how good you're running. They know you're running it. Everybody knows you're running and you're still running. I think that that's what we're going into this season with that mindset of, there's going to be times that you know that we're running the ball and we have to impose our will on you. Look, one of the most difficult jobs is to move somebody against their will. You know, it's an offensive lineman moving a defensive lineman who doesn't want to move. Sometimes, that's just mental and but if we're easy at coming off that right, that determination of wanting to run the ball, then they will be too. So we got to be a little bit hard headed sometimes and impose our will from that perspective."