The quotes in this story come from Jay Johnson’s sit down interview with WBRZ sports Director Michael Cauble. It can be seen in its entirety HERE.
Traditionally, LSU has celebrated huge wins in June.
Those have often come in the form of regional wins, Alex Box dogpiles, OMAHA signs and hoisting national championship trophies. This year, LSU didn’t throw a pitch in June.
That has given Jay Johnson some available time, and he’s using it to work the transfer portal successfully to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Twice in his five seasons, LSU has played the year’s final game. This is a change of pace.
“I’ve learned in the last month how different it is doing this while not playing versus playing until the last game of the season,” Johnson told Michael Cauble of WBRZ Channel 2. “And I never will ever make that an excuse. I think it’s the most first world problem ever. And sign me up for it. Sign me up for it every single year. But the thought power that I put into having our team prepared to play on gameday, that’s always going to be number one. And while you’re doing that to play at this program some of the most significant games that have ever been played in the history of the program while you’re trying to accrue what you need for the next season…I have learned how different it is to do this while you’re not playing versus while you’re playing. And the difference is significant.”
The results show it.
LSU has already landed the top pitcher and the top hitter in the portal in June’s first full week. Last season the Tigers were adding projected starters well into July. Those projected starters didn’t finish the season in the lineup.
Johnson admitted to some philosophical mistakes in last year’s cycle, and he’s changed the way he’s approaching roster composition this time around. What’s obvious is that LSU is looking for more athletic players who can help the pitching staff out on defense.
“You can only do that if they can make positive contribution on both sides of the ball, and I think that’s where we really nailed the ’25 team, and I think the ’23 team was much better defensively than maybe it has gotten credit for,” Johnson said. “So, we’re really looking for moving forward, making sure that players can contribute on both sides of the ball.”
LSU has already landed Dawson Park from Texas State who profiles as a strong defensive infielder. Notre Dame’s Bino Watters is a bat first, but he can also play the corner outfield. LSU’s portal additions last summer were all infielders, and none were strong defenders.
The three additions thus far have been huge for the program, but it doesn’t mean Johnson is glad he and the program are in this position.
“I don’t like the circumstances of it being around not playing,” Johnson said. “And so, I think having a process in place, which we’ve been pretty good at, I don’t want to forget the fact that we recruited Luke Holman and Gage Jump while we were winning the 2023 national championship. I don’t want to forget the fact that we recruited Michael Brazwell during that time, who then also became a national champion. So, it’s doable.”
It’s just tougher.
Johnson recalled last season’s phenominal run through the NCAA Tournament. LSU went 10-1 to claim a title. The first five wins came at home, and LSU was able to host visitors for the Super Regional round.
In what appeared to be a great move, he lured elite prospects to Baton Rouge as West Virginia arrived in a winner-to-Omaha series.
“I think about the super regional game last year against West Virginia at The Box, and this is one of the best atmospheres I’ve ever seen in my entire life,” Johnson said. “And, we had a couple really prominent recruits here during that time that did not pick us, you know, that posted at other schools in the SEC.”
Landon Mack, a Rutgers transfer at the time, was one of those prospects. He committed to Tennessee as LSU was celebrating national title No. 8 after two weeks in Omaha. LSU also courted Aiden Robbins who ended up at Texas where he’s hitting .342 with 23 homers for a College World Series team.
This time around, Johnson doesn’t plan on missing, and he’s got a more advanced evaluation model.
“I’ve really tried to advance myself analytically and built my own priority model to try to make sure we get more of a Major League Baseball type evaluation on the players but made it real specific on translating players from smaller schools to the SEC,” Johnson said. “It’s called Operation Danny Dickinson. And so I would never have had time to do that if we were still playing.”
Park comes from Texas State, and pitcher Landon Hood comes from Gonzaga. The model has already produced results.
The 2027 team will attempt to make life hard on Johnson again by making another run to Omaha. He’ll be fine with that. He’s not planning on as much office time this time next year.
He knows Tiger fans feel the same way.
“I know everybody wishes we were still playing, and nobody wishes we were still playing more than Jay Johnson,” he said. “It’s almost like I have to use this as a distraction. And if we lost in a regional final or a super regional, it would be the same way. So, this is this is my coping mechanism.”
