Brian Kelly and the LSU Tigers will begin Spring Camp on March 8 with the program set to get a fresh look at the reconstructed roster in Baton Rouge.
Kelly and Co. will have a new-look squad in the purple in gold after reeling in the No. 1 Transfer Portal Class in America alongside a Top-10 2025 Signing Class.
LSU has their annual Spring Game set for April 12 following the conclusion of Spring Camp, but other programs are taking a different route.
We’ve seen schools across America cancel their Spring Game already with Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule being one of the first shot-callers to reveal why.
“The word ‘tampering’ doesn’t exist anymore,” Rhule said. “It’s just an absolute free open common market. I don’t necessarily want to open up to the outside world and have people watch our guys and say, ‘He looks like a pretty good player. Let’s go get him.'”
“I dealt with a lot of people offering our players a lot of opportunities after that,” Rhule added. “To go out and bring in a bunch of new players and showcase them for all the other schools to watch doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.”
It’s a new era of college football with bidding wars and open check books luring players elsewhere and Rhule became the first to openly state that, but other coaches have followed suit.
Texas Longhorns Cancel Spring Game
Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian publicly stated that the Texas program will not be holding a Spring Game this year.
“Over the last two years we played 30 games. That’s a lot for college football: 14 two years ago, 16 this year,” Sarkisian told Kay Adams in an appearance on “Up and Adams.”
“And I just mentioned we’ve had 25 guys get invited to the NFL combine the last two years, so we’ve got a lot of young players on our roster. We have 21 mid-year high school kids that just showed up. And so the development that’s needed for these guys to get ready for the fall is a little bit different than it used to be.”
Instead, the Texas Longhorns will take more of an “NFL approach” towards Spring Camp in an OTA style, which Kelly believes is a good decision.
“Our approach is going to be a little bit more NFL driven. Kind of more of an OTA style early on and as we grow into more of the scrimmage formats in the second half of spring ball, that I just don’t know if rolling the ball out, playing the game, when we only get 15 practices is the best for us to maximize the opportunities that we get,” Sarkisian said.
“So it’s going to be a little bit of a different approach, but I think college football is changing right now. And we need to do a great job as coach of adapting to college football and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
USC Trojans Cancel Spring Game
Lincoln Riley and Co. have also chosen to bypass a Spring Game at the conclusion of Spring Camp.
“The biggest purpose that a spring game actually serves now is a fan engagement tool, and we just we just think we can engage fans in a better way,” ESPN wrote.
What Will the LSU Tigers Do? Brian Kelly Weighs In:
In an interview with The Advocate, Kelly revealed there will be “live action” that gives fans a chance to see the players on April 12 inside Tiger Stadium, but “he has not decided’ what that will look like just yet.
“I don’t know if it’s going to be in a spring game format, but there’s going to be action,” Kelly said Wednesday. “I just don’t know how we’re going to put it together at this point.”
“I think that there’s more of, ‘Why don’t we just keep our business a little bit more closely guarded than being so public about it, especially with the ability to transfer so easily?’” Kelly added. “I think that there’s much more of a sense of that.”
What About the NFL “OTA-Style” Approach?
“I think we’re getting closer to maybe an NFL model in terms of what makes sense,” Kelly said. “I think it’s always been on the academic model, and I think we might be getting closer to what works best for the student-athlete outside of academics and much more on portals and revenue sharing and preparation for the season.”
Kelly and the LSU Tigers will begin Week 1 of Spring Camp on March 8th with the following weeks providing the coaching staff with an opportunity to evaluate the current roster in Baton Rouge.
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Follow Zack Nagy on Twitter: @znagy20 and LSU Tigers On SI: @LSUTigersSI for all coverage surrounding the LSU program.
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