"Brian Kelly left Notre Dame because he didn’t think he could win a national title there in the current CFB landscape. He thought LSU would be a better path. His replacement has

The Orange Bowl was a huge win for that program. The fact that they made it all this way — against Penn State, no less — speaks to the job Freeman has done. To go from losing to Northern Illinois at the beginning of the season to playing for a national championship is unheard of.

Harris is the top-rated transfer signee of the Kelly era at LSU. He arrived in Baton Rouge with a lot of hype. He was a five-star recruit who had a strong freshman campaign with Texas A&M in 2022. He was expected to be an immediate difference-maker with the Tigers.