Copyright Baton Rouge Advocate
In the LSU football team room on Tuesday, a large drum was perched in the front of the small auditorium. Plastered across the instruments face was a single phrase: "ALL IN." "When he beats that drum, it's kind of like a sets the tone for the day," fifth-year senior linebacker West Weeks said. "Whatever's happened the previous day, whatever happened early in the day, that kind of goes out the window and helps us lock in for the day." LSU interim coach Frank Wilson introduced the drum to his team before Tuesday's practice. He said he adopted the motivational tactic from former Southern Cal coach and current Las Vegas Raiders coach Pete Carroll, and it's something former LSU coach Ed Orgeron used to do. Its purpose? To represent the heartbeat of the team. "I wanted to bring that symbolism, if you will, the heartbeat," Wilson said. "So we could charge our special teams. We could charge our team that when the ball goes in play, life has been injected into us." The drum is one of many changes Wilson has implemented since being appointed as interim coach following coach Brian Kelly's firing on Oct. 26. Ahead of his first game in charge, Wilson hopes his adjustments will inspire the Tigers to pull off an upset victory over No. 4 Alabama this Saturday in Tuscaloosa (6:30 p.m., ABC). "I know everything on social media is going crazy. Like, people saying whatever they want to say about this team and kind of how this season has turned out," Weeks said. "But at the end of the day, when we come in here and hear that (drum), it just reminds us of the brotherhood we have." The revisions Wilson has made to the way LSU operates have come amid a myriad of changes within the program and athletic department. After Kelly's firing, offensive coordinator Joe Sloan was let go the next day. Tight ends coach Alex Atkins assumed playcalling duties in his place, but Atkins' promotion was just the tip of the iceberg. Two days after Sloan's firing, Gov. Jeff Landry declared last Wednesday that athletic director Scott Woodward would not choose LSU's next coach. The school then parted ways with Woodward the following day and appointed executive deputy athletic director Verge Ausberry as interim athletic director. The interim tag was eventually taken off Ausberry's title on Tuesday, just hours after LSU president Wade Rousse was appointed by the LSU Board of Supervisors as LSU's next president. "I think (Ausberry) is detailed. I think he's professional. I think he has a view holistically of what it takes to run an athletic program, and he's he's done his due diligence," Wilson said. "He's put in the work. I think it's a position that he has earned over the years." With a president and athletic director in place, LSU can now focus its attention to finding its next coach. Could that be Wilson? He has deep recruiting ties within Louisiana as LSU's recruiting coordinator, served as LSU's running backs coach for nine seasons across two difference stints and has experience as a head coach, working in the role at UTSA (2016-19) and McNeese State (2020-21). But the odds of him earning the head job in Baton Rouge full-time are still slim. Wilson went just 19-29 at UTSA before going 7-11 at McNeese State. After his second season with the Cowboys, he left to become the running backs coach at LSU again. A successful final four weeks of the season could boost his candidacy. After this Saturday, LSU faces Arkansas, Western Kentucky and another College Football Playoff-contending team in Oklahoma. But anything short of three or four wins would almost certainly mean that LSU will turn elsewhere in its coaching search. "We didn't indulge too much into it," Wilson said when asked if he'd discussed the possibility of becoming the head coach full-time with Woodward. "... When mother university calls for you, you answer. You pull up your bootstraps and you do what's required and asked of you to represent our university." Wilson has answered the call in a variety of ways, most notably with how he's emphasized the importance of special teams and the Tigers' run game. LSU has struggled in both aspects for stretches of this season, but were especially porous on special teams in Kelly's final game against Texas A&M. In the Tigers' 49-25 loss at home, LSU allowed 68 kick return yards and 137 punt return yards, including a 79-yard punt return for a touchdown in the third quarter that helped seal the blowout defeat. The introduction of the drum was in part to help emphasize the importance of LSU's kick return and kickoff teams as tone setters to start each game. On Tuesday, the first meeting LSU had after banging the drum was about special teams. "(Wilson) just has such high energy, and it gets everybody ready, especially the special teams," sophomore tight end Trey'Dez Green said. "Special teams is a big part of the game, so he just comes in and he harps on it." Meanwhile, LSU's rushing attack has steadily improved as the season has worn on, but with Sloan, it was never an integral part of the offense. The Tigers are last in the Southeastern Conference in rushing attempts despite averaging at least 5.5 yards per carry in each of their last two games when adjusted for lost sack yardage. But under Wilson and Atkins — who was the run game coordinator prior to his promotion — running the ball will become a priority. That was already evident during practice Tuesday when the Tigers ran a nine-on-seven drill, where nine LSU defenders would be tasked with stopping various running plays against a seven-man offense. "Obviously the advantage is towards the defense. So if you can split something or get a 4-yard gain, that's a win for us," senior center Braelin Moore said. "So to go out there and hear all the pads popping and all the energy flying around, it was fun." By incorporating the drum, continuously harping on the importance of special teams and committing to the running game, Wilson is establishing a culture based around energy, enthusiasm and togetherness. Moore, who transferred to LSU this past spring after three years at Virginia Tech, said Tuesday that the biggest difference he's seen since Wilson's promotion has been the energy he's brought to the table. He added that prior to Wilson's promotion, the team's energy was consistently lacking as it trudged toward a 5-3 start to the season. "He'll come in here calm and collected going through what we have for the day of the schedule, and then just flip a switch and just start screaming and getting people excited," Moore said. "... He's trying to bring that swagger back and that juice that LSU was known for." Whether that enthusiasm translates into wins is anybody's guess. But after three and a half seasons of falling short under Kelly, perhaps a change in leadership is exactly what this program needed. A new drumbeat to follow. "When they started smacking it, like, it's just energy," Moore said, "like you just feel the room is different."
