QBs Coach Joe Sloan Joins The Jordy Culotta Show: “It's an Honor and a Privilege to Play Quarterback at LSU…”

by LONN PHILLIPS SULLIVAN

@LonnPhillips

In one of the Jordy Culotta Show's more humorous & engaging interviews, LSU Quarterbacks Coach Joe Sloan made it to the "undisclosed location" for a special sit-down with Jordy and the crew.

For more than thirty minutes, Coach Sloan supplied the inside scoop behind the Tigers' eternal quarterback race, life on the Kelly staff, recruiting quarterbacks, his long-time experience coaching within the state and plenty more.

Hitting the ground running with a question about his first few months at LSU, Coach Sloan's chill yet intense demeanor flew out of the traps:

"It's definitely been quick....I mean it seems like just yesterday we were getting down here, I think it was the 4th or 5th and it's been rolling since. Had a bunch of guys on campus....either second or third day, something like that, a bunch of guys who we ended up getting out of the transfer portal and it's been rock and rolling...it's been fun....just putting a staff together of that size, I think Coach Kelly did an awesome job of that....and just the blend of type of people, some different backgrounds, it's been fun getting to know all of 'em. The transition...it's been a while since I've went through that, but when you get an opportunity to kind of re-energize and re-focus and set down a new foundation for moving forward, so it's been great."

On how he came to know Coach Kelly:

"So I met Coach Kelly three or four years ago at a conference, got a chance to spend 20 or 30 minutes with him and get to know him a bit. As soon as you meet him, and I know a lot of people around town as they get an opportunity to get around him, he's so down to earth. He's just very engaged, very present when he's talking to you. Fast forward, he obviously gets the LSU job, was a surprise to everybody.....I was fired up. I knew a few people who worked for him at Notre Dame and...just had always spoke highly of him: the organization, how he approached things, the professionalism, so I was obviously excited for LSU. There were some connections there that we had and I think some people, maybe, that we knew rekindled a little bit, talked on my behalf a little bit. As we moved along, got an opportunity to get on the phone, maybe a Sunday afternoon, Monday morning, spoke for a while....(there was an) opportunity to come visit in person for a bit, just he and I, to see if we were in alignment...and we were. I think the rest is history after that, I mean it fit really well in terms of me being a guy who can recruit Louisiana and had different relationships in Louisiana...."

Speaking about the offensive staff around him, Coach Sloan analyzed his Offensive Coordinator Mike Denbrock:

"Mike is awesome. He does a great job of allowing everybody to be themselves and bring out the best in themselves. He sets a great tempo for our room. We have a blast in there, we got a lot of great personalities and he wants guys to bring the different positives that they have to the room. I think that's what he's been able to do so far with the different guys that are in there. So that's what's been fun, I think we all bring different things to the table, but he makes sure we're all pushing in the same direction..."

Of course, Jordy had to ask the question on every LSU and college football fan's mind: How is he evaluating each quarterback heading into fall camp?

"All four guys made some strides and showed a lot of positives, which you guys get to talk about all the time, all four have done a great job. They did a really nice job in Spring; I love the way they're working right now with Coach Flint. In Spring....everything was new for everybody, so especially at the beginning there wasn't as much evaluation, say the first few days....get into the flow and then I think we got some good opportunities for guys to get some reps and I think we had some positives. Now moving into the fall, it's going to be exciting first little bit of August, we'll be able to narrow in and decide on who gives us the best opportunity...but that'll be a collective conversation between a few guys on staff."

LSU's Quarterbacks Coach continued to delve into the "establishment" he wanted his QB room to "create" throughout Spring camp, for both the identity of the offense & the position itself.

"They got to understand the offense and they got to understand what they're going to be asked to do. All of 'em have strengths and weaknesses...and talking to them before I coached any of 'em, so we got to sitting down and talking and I leaned on them a bunch to say 'alright, I want you to think back to the last year or last 2 years of your college career’ and we gotta lay out their strengths and weaknesses and why...and I had those conversations so I knew what they felt like they needed to work on. Then having constant conversations throughout Spring. I want them to be aware of themselves...I think that's so, so important when it comes to helping a guy develop....that they're aware of what makes them special and they're aware of some things they need to improve on. I felt like, as we went through the Spring, that everybody in that room understands where they're at and what kind of work they needed to do this past month and these next few months heading into August...."

Lauding his QB room, Sloan said, "I can't say enough about that room and their approach. They have fun together, they work hard together, you know if you come visit with all of 'em, you wouldn't know they were all in the middle of battling out to see who can be the quarterback at LSU."

Staying specific about sixth year senior veteran Myles Brennan, the Tigers' QB Coach kept it real: "His consistency and leadership has been great, he's been fun, just being around this area I've had different run-ins with Myles that go all the way back to high school. He's an awesome individual and definitely fun to work with. He shows up every single day and you know what to expect."

Bringing up one of the more talked about names and stories surrounding college football's 2022 off-season, LSU QB Jayden Daniels arriving from Arizona State, Jordy asked Coach Sloan how he views the dual threat slinger:

"For Jayden, he's been great....it's been an opportunity for him to re-define himself a little bit. Sometimes when you're in a program and you've been there for multiple years and you leave and you come in, you kinda know who you are but nobody else does. So you have an opportunity to really set the stage for what you want to be as a football player and who you are as a person. I think he's done a great job of that. You know he's a calm, cool and collected guy. He's come in and not tried to overpower anything and not tried to be too over the top in terms of things with 'Oh, this is me', 'I'm this' and 'I'm that'. He's just been coming to work and I've been very pleased with that of him. He's another guy that's got a great personality."

Referencing Garrett Nussmeier's NFL "bloodline" and pedigree, Jordy asked Coach Sloan about LSU's hungry red shirt freshman:

"Again, this is kind of repetitive, he's just an enjoyable guy to work with. He can be challenged, he loves to respond to challenges and I think, obviously, just coming in, as a young guy you have a lot of things you're trying to create...what you're going to be as a college quarterback. And that's where a lot of your growth takes place. So, he's looking at that, we're working together on that...as to what he needs to improve on. He's done a great job of studying, listening and then going back and correcting some of those things he needs to continue to get better at....and I love the way he's attacked that. He's got a ton of talent, he's got a great energy and passion. It's definitely enjoyable to watch him go out and practice every day. He just loves football."

Asking about elite-level debutant QB Walker Howard and the possibility of the 5 star freshman red-shirting, Sloan delivered an intriguing response, revealing his appreciation for "all four guys that we have in the room":

"I'm excited to see Walker's growth, I think the most growth comes from out of Spring, Walker comes in, working through some injuries moving into Spring, Gets back, he's ready to rock and roll on the first day, didn't have an opportunity to throw much before Spring. All of a sudden, he's back, he's learning, he's drinking through a firehose when it comes to that. I'm excited to see what he was at the end of Spring vs what he is at the beginning of August. Walker, he's just a magnetic personality, he's got a calm presence to him but yet he's energetic, he's passionate. He's fun to be around, it's obvious why he won a lot of football games, it's obvious he's someone when people talk about him they light up. So I'm excited to watch his growth now that he understands what college football is all about and really got a true taste of it...and he can walk into August and get after it a little bit."

Asked about Kayshon Boutte and LSU's wide receiving corps, Coach Sloan spoke of his desire to see LSU's deep wide receiving corps unleashed by his quarterbacks room. Listing through almost every name in the room, the former Louisiana Tech QBs Director (and one time interim Head Coach) went on to point out the shared commonalities between LSU's juggernaut 2019 unit and Cortez Hankton's current group: cutting edge Louisiana talent.

"Cortez has done a really good job, again of getting those guys to work together, working around each other, holding them accountable....and they're holding each other accountable and they're pushing it. It's been fun to watch 'em work, but it was definitely...man....it was great in Spring where it seemed like every day there was somebody else making a play. There was somebody else who was doing something on the perimeter, that's what it creates...and that's what we need, we need explosives....right, we need explosives and a lot of those come from those guys. So I'm definitely excited to watch those guys in Tigers Stadium."

After practicing against LSU's deep and talented defensive front, you could tell Coach Sloan had a deep appreciation for what Jamar Cain is building:

"Man, you look across...just the length, physicality, speed and just the depth, cause that's what you need. We've got some people over there who can create some explosive...really create some havoc. At times, they can really ruin a practice in a heartbeat."

As the engrossing chat continued, Sloan discussed LSU's young offensive line, the state of Louisiana from a recruiting standpoint, joked around with Lloyd about Will Campbell "walking Jack Bech's dog", and touched on recruiting quarterbacks.

"I feel great about where we're at in that position, in that room...It's an honor and a privilege to play quarterback at LSU...to represent LSU football and lead this team into Tigers Stadium, that's a privilege. And we'll continue to put guys in that room who understand what that means, who understand how important that is and understand what kind of opportunity they have to develop here and to become the best version of themselves and have an opportunity to win national championships."

Describing LSU's place in college football, Joe Sloan was emphatic:

"It's the best job in America...this is the best place in America to play and coach college football....you can feel that passion every day. Louisiana is a unique place in this country, it has a unique culture. The community we are as a state is special. They talk about.....the talent here matters...you have to have local talent to be a consistent college football program, year in and year out. You have to have a group of people and a community that cares deeply about success....and putting our guys in that position, year in and year out..."

Over 35 minutes filled with personality, funny back and forth banter, clue-filled answers, and the Culotta Show's trademark relaxed vibe, Coach Sloan's conversation on the Culotta show was yet another installment in the program's voluminous, must-see assistant coach interviews.