Report: LSU is expected to hire South Carolina D-Line coach Jimmy Lindsey

Lindsey has been with the Gamecocks since 2020 and has had previous coaching stops throughout the South.

On Friday, FootballScoop reported that LSU is targeting South Carolina defensive line coach Jimmy Lindsey to fill the same position that was left open by the departure of Jamar Cain.

Lindsey has spent the last three seasons with the Gamecocks as their defensive line coach. Before his stop at South Carolina, he previously was the defensive line coach at Western Kentucky from 2017-19.

He also coached at Furman University, Tennessee-Martin and Georgia Southern before earning the defensive line coach job with Western Kentucky. Even though he hasn’t had any Power Five stops before South Carolina, he has coached in the South for most of his career and has a lot of experience which is something LSU head coach Brian Kelly wants in an assistant coach. Lindsey also coached with Matt House at Gardner-Webb

“I think one of the criteria is recognizing who they’ve recruited in the past and then their understanding of recruiting to LSU and the SEC,” Kelly said. “You’re talking to a number of different people that know them or have knowledge of that person. My conversations with that person in terms of the kind of character that is necessary for them to succeed here at LSU.”

Some other details that Kelly looks for are how a coach recruits and how that coach develops a player.

“I think if you just look at assembling a staff in the SEC, look at the position groups that make such an important impact on your team,” Kelly said. “You’d be hard-pressed to say the defensive line is not as important as any position. Recruiting and talent development have gotta be at the top of the list. It narrows your pool from that perspective. Experience then comes into being a part of that.

Kelly wanted to get through the spring first before focusing on hiring a new defensive line coach.