Brian Kelly's recruiting success is proving he was right to leave Notre Dame for LSU

When Brian Kelly left Notre Dame to take the head coaching job at LSU, it absolutely shocked the College Football world. Kelly left Notre Dame with an 11-1 record while in contention for the College Football Playoff after making the Playoffs the year prior. From 2017 through the end of his time at Notre Dame Kelly had made the Fighting Irish a power going 54-9.

The biggest reason for Kelly's departure from Notre Dame while heading to the SEC was recruiting. Not only does Notre Dame have to comply with high academic standards but, the Southeast and Louisiana is a recruiting hotbed for talent especially when compared to Indiana.

Thus far, Brian Kelly has proven that his decision has been the right decision with his success on the recruiting trail. His first recruiting class has laid an incredible foundation for what LSU has become as he brought in Will Campbell, Harold Perkins, Emery Jones, and Mason Taylor along with massive transfers like Jayden Daniels, Kyren Lacy, and Mekhi Wingo. Notre Dame did finish higher in the team recruiting rankings but, Kelly signed only 15 recruits while Notre Dame brought in 22.

In the 2023 recruiting class, Brian Kelly signed the 5th ranked class while Notre Dame finished 10th. In the 2023 class, Kelly landed some of the pieces that will determine LSU's success in 2024 like Kaleb Jackson, Shelton Sampson, Javien Toviano, and Dashawn Womack.

LSU's 2024 signing class finished seventh beating out Notre Dame who finished 11th. During this span Marcus Freeman hasn't signed a five-star recruit while Kelly has signed four according to On3's Industry recruiting rankings.

We then get to the 2025 recruiting class where Brian Kelly is at the peak of his recruiting prowess. The LSU Football team currently hods the Nation's third-ranked recruiting class while Notre Dame's class is ranked 11th. Kelly holds commitments from the Nation's top quarterback, running back, and defensive player with seven commits inside the top ten at their position.

While Kelly holds a firm commitment from the Nation's top quarterback, Notre Dame is struggling to hold onto their quarterback commit as recruiting experts are predicting Deuce Knight will flip to Auburn.

Brian Kelly has been proven right on the recruiting trail

At this point, the Notre Dame fans who believed that Kelly wouldn't outperform his recruiting success at LSU were dead wrong. Louisiana has proven to be a better place to recruit from as he continues to stack impressive signing classes. Every five star that Brian Kelly has signed at LSU outside of Harold Perkins has come from Louisiana further proving Louisiana is the place to be. We're all waiting on Kelly's first playoff appearance at LSU but, its hard not to be optimistic with the job he's done on the recruiting trail.

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