BATON ROUGE — Despite their struggles this season, LSU football coach Brian Kelly is happy with his cornerback room heading into the 2024 season.

With freshmen Javien Toviano, Jeremiah Hughes and Ashton Stamps returning, Sage Ryan taking his name out of the transfer portal, starter Zy Alexander coming back from injury and a new crop of high school signees, Kelly said he was confident that the unit can play championship level football moving forward.

"There's depth there, there's athleticism. That was not the case obviously over the last couple of years," Kelly said on Wednesday. "So what we're starting to see is a stabilization and depth within the program that really was devoid of that.

"I think that's why you didn't see us jumping into the portal. We really want to be able to develop these younger players."

The freshmen signees LSU inked on Wednesday were four-star recruit Ju'Juan Johnson and three-star prospects PJ Woodland, Wallace Foster IV and Bernard Causey III. The four Class of 2024 signees were part of LSU's 27-man early signing period class on Wednesday.

Of the four latest cornerback signees, Johnson in particular stands out for Kelly.

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"He broke every record," Kelly said. "You watch him and you're like 'Well, he's gonna play this position,' and then you watch him again you go, 'Maybe he can play this position,' and then you watch them again you go, 'No, he can play this position.'

"So if any of you guys know what positioning he could play, just let (LSU spokesperson Michael Bonnette) know and we'll take it under advisement because he can play anywhere. He's remarkable as a player and he's been fun to watch."

After Wednesday, LSU had the No. 11 class in the nation and the No. 4 class in the SEC, according to 247Sports Composite.

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Koki Riley covers LSU sports for The Daily Advertiser. Email him at kriley@theadvertiser.com and follow him on Twitter at @KokiRiley

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Brian Kelly trusts LSU football cornerbacks entering 2024 season