BATON ROUGE, La. – Brian Kelly made no guarantees, but he also didn't backtrack.

Last summer, Kelly said he thought LSU football could seriously contend for a national championship in 2024. He's sticking to that timeline. Although he's making no promises or grand predictions, LSU's third-year coach says he sees enough development on defense that he expects the Tigers to be in national championship contention this season.

"I think we’ll be a much more balanced football team going into Year 3," Kelly told me.

I sat down with Kelly in early April for a wide-ranging interview to discuss his Year 3 expectations, how Nick Saban's retirement at Alabama affects LSU, and whether he considered the Michigan job after reports surfaced his name last winter as a potential heir for Jim Harbaugh. (Michigan promoted from within and made Sherrone Moore coach.)

Here is a portion of that interview. Questions and answers are lightly edited for brevity and clarity.

After losing the talent that you lost, including Jayden Daniels and two star wide receivers, how can this team be better?

Kelly: The sum has to be greater than any one of its parts. You’re not going to replace those guys individually. You have to replace them collectively. So, let’s say the quarterback position, Jayden Daniels and his ability to run, we’re not going to replace that. We’re going to have to lean on our offensive line, our running back and our quarterback and our receivers to do a great job on the perimeter blocking to have a more effective running game. So, it’s a collective approach in that respect.

We’re going to rely on seven receivers to make up for the loss of two. The sum will have to be greater than any one of the parts, because you’re not going to replace individually three first-round draft picks. Could we have some guys that have individually great performances? Yeah. I think Kyren Lacy is pretty good. I think there’s some guys that are evolving into a bigger role. Chris Hilton looks like he’s got what it takes.

What makes you think the defense can improve?

Kelly: On the back end of our defense, we played a lot of young players. There’s certainly some maturity there. There’s some growth. They were all tested under fire last year as young players, and we lived with some young players playing before they were ready to play. I think those growing pains are going to show dividends. They’re going to have to. Those are the kids that we’re recruiting and have been developing. Based upon what I’ve seen thus far, we’re going to be better back there.

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I think our edge presence is really good. I really like our linebacker situation. We have to evolve up front. In particular, the tackle position is one that we’re still addressing, but I think it’s an SEC defense that can be certainly competitive. It won’t be elite yet, but I think it’s getting to the point where it can complement our offense. It didn’t complement our offense last year. That was the issue.

Fair to say you think you’ll be better in the secondary and at linebacker?

Kelly: I know we will be. I’m very confident in that. Just another year of development with those guys and playing in the SEC has given them the confidence that they can go out and be successful. That, coupled with some guys we brought in, like Jardin Gilbert, who played a lot at Texas A&M.

Throughout your career, Year 3 has been a big breakthrough season. Going back to Central Michigan, then Cincinnati, and then Notre Dame, Year 3 was the season you reached the national championship game. Why do you think that’s been your breakthrough year, and can Year 3 be a breakthrough here at LSU?

Kelly: I think you build habits. You build routines. You build a level of what’s acceptable in how you do things on a day-to-day basis, and by the time you get to Year 3, your players are beginning to coach themselves in a sense of holding each other accountable.

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The third year has been much more of a player-led team for me throughout my career. I think the third years just mark that. Because of that, it has put those teams in a really strong foundational point. They’ve still had to go out and play the game, but I think they come from it at a position of strength, because they’re leading. It’s not the coaches leading in Year 3. They know what is expected of them. They hold each other accountable. And, when you have that, when you have a locker room that has that dynamic going, that’s a leg up on your competition.

And you feel that this year?

Kelly: Oh yeah. That’s in place.

At Central Michigan and Notre Dame, you had a new starting quarterback in Year 3.

Kelly: And we’ve got a new starter here.

Interesting parallel.

Kelly: There’s a lot of parallels. There’s no doubt.

I asked you last year: When do you think this program will be positioned to seriously contend for a national championship? A lot of coaches would dodge that question. You didn’t. You said: Year 3. I want to revisit that. Do you think that this program is in a place, as we discussed a year ago, to contend for a national championship?

Kelly: It’s in a better position in the areas in which I believe you compete for championships. You have to have depth within your program. We’re closer to that level of having the depth in our program. I think that there are some areas where I felt like we would be deeper. I didn’t expect to lose a couple of defensive tackles to the draft, which put us in a bit of a deficit, but I think we’re going to be able to address that in short order.

We’re in a position now where I know what it looks like. I’ve played Alabama and went to Alabama. I know what Michigan looks like. I’ve played Michigan enough. I know what the teams look like. Structurally, would we like a piece here or there? Sure. But, I think the program is now built on a foundation that they can go compete for a championship. I don’t know that we were solid enough in all areas to do that in Year 2. We took 15 guys out of the portal. That’s a red flag. We didn’t have to do that this year. I think that’s a measure of, when you’re building a program like we are, through freshmen and developing freshmen, you need some time to develop them.

If you’re just saying, ‘Listen, I’m a portal guy, and all I’m doing is going through free agency,’ well, you don’t have to worry about development. You just have to assemble the best roster possible. We’re not doing it that way. That’s why I say Year 3 is a better indicator of playing for a championship.

Now we’re at Year 3, do you think this team can contend for a national championship?

Kelly: I do. I think it can contend. There’s no doubt. I think it’s in a better position than it has been at any time.

If we could’ve played any semblance of defense last season, we’re in the playoffs. Any semblance of defense. How close is it? We were pretty darn close in Year 1 and Year 2. And, I think we’ll be a much more balanced football team going into Year 3.

After you took this job, you said you welcomed the SEC's challenges. One of those challenges was playing Nick Saban. What thoughts do you have about his retirement, especially knowing that you wanted to challenge yourself against him?

Kelly: Nick is certainly, to me, the bar, but it’s now the entire top end of the SEC. It’s Kirby Smart. It’s every school now in the SEC that you play, week in and week out. That challenge is still there when you play in the SEC.

I’m sorry to see Nick go. I think he represents what is good about college football, for me. But, look, I think everybody comes to a time and a place where they go, you know what, all the championships that he’s won, he can name his time and place.

For me, he wasn’t the singular reason that I came. I wanted the SEC challenge, and Nick was the face of that.

Can you put a new face on that challenge?

Kelly: I think Kirby does an incredible job – in recruiting, outside of the coaching, representing the program. I think the mantle has been passed to him in a lot of ways, but there’s so many talented coaches in this league.

Do you see Saban's retirement creating any sort of power vacuum or new opportunity for LSU?

Kelly: Kalen DeBoer is an outstanding football coach. His success is real. They hired somebody that, I think, creates the same kind of expectations at Alabama. I don’t look for a vulnerability or an opportunity because Nick is gone. Certainly, his success is unprecedented, but I don’t think we walk around going, ‘Hey, hey, we got Alabama now.’ That’s a fine football coach and he’s put together a great staff, and they’ve got incredible resources through all the success they’ve had. I think more than anything else, it just allows us to stay much more focused on what we do and not have to worry about who’s outside.

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You had to have heard the noise speculating whether you'd leave for Michigan. What did you think about all of that?

Kelly: I really didn’t think much about it. I think if my ears were interested in listening to that stuff, maybe it would affect me, but I have no interest in that. I have great respect for what Michigan has accomplished as a football program. They’re the all-time winningest program, but I knew that when I was at Notre Dame. So, it wasn’t anything new. This was a conscious decision to come to LSU because I wanted to be in this conference. It was much more than an individual school as much as it was, collectively, I wanted to play in the SEC and play the competition that’s here.

After being at Notre Dame and playing Michigan and playing in the Midwest and playing those schools, it was a great experience, but it would almost be reliving it again, you know what I mean? It was déjà vu for me to think about in any other way. So, it wasn’t something that, really, I gave much thought to.

No serious thought to Michigan?

Kelly: No. No. Not at all.

Do you think you’ve convinced people that you want to be at LSU. Does that matter?

Kelly: I have committed myself to living here. Our family is here. We run our foundation through the state. We’re totally committed to LSU and the state of Louisiana and want to finish our career here. I don’t want to coach anywhere else. That’s why we’ve been so focused on the job at hand and getting the job done here.

Les Miles and Ed Orgeron won national championships in Year 3. Do you see what’s come before you as pressure or opportunity? How do you look at it?

Kelly: I really don’t, because really it’s not material to what we’re trying to put together. If they could give me Marcus Spears to play 3-technique, I’d say, ‘I’m all in.’ It’s really about what I have to develop and the players I put out on the field, the leadership and all those things. It’s a nice way to talk about Year 3, but it’s really about the focus on the day to day and developing the players.

What do you like about Garrett Nussmeier?

Kelly: He loves to play football. He just eats this up. He eats it and drinks it and sleeps it. The players love him. He’s committed. He’s got leadership capabilities. More than anything else, you have a guy that loves the big moments. He relishes this opportunity to be here at LSU. He loves LSU. He had a chance to be probably the most sought-after quarterback last year, and he turned that down to stay here.

So, when you have a guy who loves to be where he’s at, and he’s committed himself, and now you see how he goes out and plays this game with such a passion. That’s exciting for a coach to see a guy that’s all in. In this world of, ‘What’s in it for me?’ he’s in it because he just loves to play the game.

What’s the missing piece for him?

Kelly: Just go play. He just needs to keep playing, and it will work out well for him.

Is there a position group that’s going to define your direction this year?

Kelly: I really think that we’re going to need our best players to play their best football. Harold Perkins is going to have to be an impact player. Guys that have experience and have played a lot of football are going to have to make an impact.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's SEC Columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer.

A digital subscription unlocks access to all of his coverage. Also, check out his podcast, SEC Football Unfiltered, or access exclusive columns via the SEC Unfiltered newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: LSU football: What Brian Kelly thinks of Nick Saban's retirement