LSU Football has made expected addition to Brian Kelly’s staff

LSU football head coach Brian Kelly has reportedly finalized his inaugural Tigers coaching staff.

According to a report from 247Sports, Kelly is hiring Cortez Hankton away from Georgia to serve as LSU’s wide receivers coach.

This is a move that had been expected for the last couple of weeks. But LSU had to wait until Georgia beat Alabama in the national championship to proceed with the hire.

Hankton is a New Orleans native who played high school football at St Augustine before playing college football at Texas Southern. He spent six seasons in the NFL, playing for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Minnesota Vikings, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

At Georgia, Hankton served as the Bulldogs’ passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach. He joined Kirby Smart’s staff before the 2018 season.

Hankton also spent three seasons at Vanderbilt and three seasons at Dartmouth.

Landing Hankton will give Kelly another assistant coach with extensive SEC experience. He also gives the Tigers another key recruiter in Louisiana — something that will be critical for Kelly.

LSU football’s full coaching staff for 2022

With Hankton on board in Baton Rouge, it means that Kelly has his full coaching staff in place.

And here’s how it looks:

Offensive coordinator/tight ends: Mike Debrock

Running backs: Frank Wilson

Wide receivers: Cortez Hankton

Offensive line: Brad Davis

Quarterbacks: Joe Sloan

Defensive coordinator/linebackers: Matt House

Defensive line: Jamar Cain

Defensive backs: Kerry Cooks

Defensive backs: Robert Steeples

Special teams: Brian Polian

For now, it’s unclear which secondary groups Cooks and Steeples will coach.

It’s also unclear if Polian will focus exclusively on special teams. Polian hasn’t coached a position other than special teams since 2012 when he also coached tight ends at Texas A&M. He’s also coached safeties and linebackers previously in his career.

So far, it looks like Kelly hired a very solid staff.