Barion Brown realized he was fast as a sophomore at Pearl-Cohn High in Nashville, Tennessee.
Why then?
“Uh, I won state in the 100-, 200- and the 400-(meters),” Brown said.
That speed helped make Brown one of the best kickoff returners in the country at Kentucky. In three years, he scored an SEC-record five touchdowns and set the school mark for career kickoff return average at 30.33 yards.
“I’m fast, but you’ve gotta have a little patience,” Brown said. “Then hit the hole, and see daylight.”
Brown’s arrival has given LSU another accomplished kickoff returner, and it already had a productive one in senior Zavion Thomas. With the two of them, plus redshirt junior Aaron Anderson, LSU may have an advantage on special teams.
“I will tell you that we are working diligently with the knowledge that we have game breakers,” LSU coach Brian Kelly said. “We know that they can flip the field.”
That’s not the only reason why Kelly thinks LSU could improve on special teams.
After another season with special teams problems in 2024, LSU made a few changes. It parted with analyst Lester Erb, who Kelly had credited with designing schemes on special teams for the past three years, and defensive analyst Bob Diaco became UNC’s defensive line coach after helping with special teams during his two seasons.
LSU then hired Grambling special teams coordinator Aman Anand as a senior analyst. Last year, Grambling tied for second in the FCS with seven blocked kicks and four blocked punts. It finished 14th nationally in kickoff coverage at 16.75 yards allowed per return.
“Whatever coach double-A got for me, I’ve just been taking the coaching, listening,” Brown said. “But any opportunity that I get to take it out, best believe I’ll be taking it out.”
Anand does not have the title of special teams coordinator, but that is essentially his job. And Kelly said he changed how LSU has coached special teams.
It now organizes players into specific position groups, so gunners and upbacks get individual coaching. Then, the pieces are reassembled to practice an entire unit.
“I think he breaks special teams down to its fundamental form,” Kelly said. “Many coordinators that I’ve had at the position were much more unit-driven. Meaning, you send your 11 guys out on punt and you work on punt. Or you send your 11 guys out on kickoff return, and all you do is kickoff return. We’re much more in pods.
“It has really resonated with our players in the sense that they really feel like they’re being coached from a technical standpoint.”
LSU needs the changes to work.
Some parts of its special teams improved last season. LSU had an actual threat in the return game for the first time in Kelly’s tenure with Thomas, who finished second in the country with 633 kickoff return yards and scored a touchdown in the Texas Bowl. Anderson also returned a kickoff for a touchdown, and kickoff specialist Aeron Burrell was an almost automatic touchback.
But, once again, LSU had other issues.
It ranked 112th in the FBS in punt return average with no touchdowns, unable to spring Thomas loose. When Burrell did not kick a touchback, LSU allowed 22.38 yards per return, which ranked 103rd in the country. There were multiple malfunctions with the field goal team, and LSU was last in the SEC with an average of 39.6 yards per punt.
“Other than a couple of returns we had, we didn’t flip the field with our feet,” Kelly said. “In other words, we didn’t flip the field very often with the punt game. We need to flip the field, and put the pressure on offenses. We didn’t do a very good job of that last year.
“So, as much as it is about returns, we gotta flip the field, too. And then let our defense get the ball back for our offense on a short field. Those are some of the things we’re really focused on.”
LSU tried to address its punting issues by signing Grant Chadwick, who averaged 43.4 yards per punt as a freshman last season at Middle Tennessee State. Kelly said Chadwick "has been really good all camp," adding he thinks Chadwick will be able to pin offenses deep the way LSU needs him to.
Chadwick also has a role on a field goal unit with two new players. Chadwick replaced Peyton Todd, who transferred to UL-Monroe after spring practice, as the holder. And LSU has a new long snapper in fifth-year senior Jonathan Ferguson.
They have to make things smooth for senior kicker Damian Ramos, which did not happen in a few critical moments last season. Using a Trackman simulator, director of performance innovation Jack Marucci helped Ramos increase his leg speed from 67 mph to 71 mph, trying to improve his distance.
At the root of everything, Kelly thinks the specialists will be helped by the way new coaching improves the rest of the players around them.
“Then, plug in some playmakers, right?” Kelly said. “They all become, now, better because we’re so much more technically sound in all those areas.”