LSU’s officially filled out its on the field coaching staff
The final addition to Brian Kelly’s on the field coaching staff is complete and it’s a pretty big, splashy hire.
Reports Wednesday afternoon confirmed that former Florida State offensive coordinator Alex Atkins is joining the LSU coaching staff as the Tigers’ tight ends coach and running game coordinator.
The news was reported by Matt Zenitz of 247Sports and CBS Sports.
The position of tight ends coach at LSU was available because Slade Nagle left Baton Rouge to be the offensive coordinator at Houston. Enter Atkins. Atkins’s reputation was established more as an offensive line coach—in fact Ed Orgeron tried to hire him at LSU for the position in 2021 before landing on Brad Davis—but Atkins has experience coaching tight ends. He coached tight ends at UT Martin, his alma mater, in 2008.
From there the two-time All-Ohio Valley guard has made stops at Georgia Southern, Chattanooga, and Marshall; Atkins also spent three seasons at Tulane as the offensive line coach and associate head coach. He, like every other on the field coach for LSU this year, has ties to the state of Louisiana which ought to pay dividends in recruiting.
Atkins’s big break came as the offensive coordinator for Charlotte and the 49ers had one of the nation’s best running games in 2019; the 49ers ranked 32nd in the FBS in rushing with 203 yards per game.
Atkins was hired by Mike Norvell and spent four seasons with Florida State, including the past two as the offensive coordinator. The Noles had one of the best offenses in the country in 2023 and he was calling plays for that FSU team that went 13-1 and won the ACC.
In a roundabout way, Atkins helped LSU flip five-star offensive guard Solomon Thomas from Florida State to LSU. Thomas committed to Florida State because of Atkins and never wavered from that pledge despite the Seminoles disastrous 2-10 season this past year. It wasn’t until Atkins was fired by Norvell that Thomas began to explore his options and Atkins recommended he look at Brad Davis and LSU. Now Thomas and Atkins are reunited, and Atkins can hopefully help Davis, Kelly, and Joe Sloan get the LSU rushing game back to what we’re used to seeing.