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Brian Kelly's Million Dollar Match Challenge is paying off in the transfer portal
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BATON ROUGE - Soon after the NCAA transfer portal opened on Dec. 9, LSU head coach Brian Kelly and his wife, Paqui, announced the Million Dollar Match Challenge.
The initiative is to get more donations to Bayou Traditions, LSU's NIL collective fund. For every $1 donated to support the football program, Kelly will match it up to $1 million.
So far, the program has seen an up tick in donations to the collective and it could be a contributing factor into the big named transfers the Tigers have landed in the last few weeks.
It's no secret that money and NIL deals are a driving factor into a college football player's decision to commit to a school. LSU was scrutinized a year ago for not being aggressive enough in the portal and getting big name guys with experience.
Kelly said that he wanted to build the foundation and develop the guys already in the program, and now he feels they are in the position to build the roster worthy of championships.
"We needed more time to develop younger players in our program. They needed opportunity before we went in and brought in a number of veteran players, quite frankly, and the timing wasn't right. We needed to do a little bit of work just to compete in the SEC, which we did. But now it's time to to roster build. Foundation is solid, and the timing is right for us. Now. To add to that, we feel like we've we've put ourselves in a position with the change in the roster that we're going to be able put together an SEC championship roster," Kelly said.
Now that the message has been made clear to the Tiger fan base, donations have increased and Kelly has seen it in the players LSU has gotten from the transfer portal.
Within a week after announcing the Million Dollar Match Challenge, LSU has gotten six and expecting a seventh transfer. Seven of their possible 13 players from the portal so far are top 10 players in the portal.
It was reported that Florida State EDGE, Patrick Payton, is expected to transfer to LSU, but that has not been confirmed by the program. Payton is the top ranked defensive player in the transfer portal.
From the guys who have already put pen to paper, LSU has the No. 1 interior offensive lineman in Braelin Moore and the No. 2 corner back Mansoor Delane, both from Virginia Tech.
They've also landed the No. 5 wide receiver in the portal in Nic Anderson from Oklahoma, the No. 6 EDGE in Jack Pyburn from Florida, the No. 8 wide receiver in Barion Brown from Kentucky and the No. 8 corner back in the portal in Ja'Keem Jackson who is also transferring from Florida.
That is just seven of the 13 expected transfers the Tigers have landed in December, and Kelly expects around 15 total players.
While donations to the collective have been great from donors, Kelly is pleased with the response from the hundreds of thousands of fans that fill Tiger Stadium every Saturday.
"You know, our fans, those that come to see the games, those that follow LSU football, whether it's been $5 $50 or $500 we're seeing those kinds of contributions that we hadn't seen in the past. And you know, it's put us in a position where we can be aggressive on anybody that comes into the portal and that that simply wasn't the case before. I think it really sent a message to everybody that this is where we are today, and if we want to be where we all want to be in terms of putting our roster together, we all have to step up and and it started with me, and I think our fan base responded equally," Kelly said.
The transfer portal closes on Dec. 29, but players that have already entered can commit to a program at any time. Another portal window will be open from Apr. 16-25.
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