LSU football expected to promote assistants Joe Sloan, Cortez Hankton to co-OC, per report
The biggest remaining piece to Brian Kelly's LSU football coaching staff appears to be situated.
Per 247sports' Matt Zenitz, Kelly is expected to promote quarterbacks coach Joe Sloan and wide receivers coach Cortez Hankton to co-offensive coordinators. The duo will replace Mike Denbrock, who left for the same position at Notre Dame.
Sloan and Hankton served in the co-OC role for LSU's 35-31 win over Wisconsin in the ReliaQuest Bowl and the offense, without Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels, lit up the Badgers for nearly 500 yards with Garrett Nussmeier at quarterback.
Leading up to the Tigers' bowl game, Kelly was excited to see what Hankton and Sloan could do handling the offense and said they would be in consideration for the open coordinator position.
"Joe and Cortez have hit the ground running. I'm excited about what they're going to bring to the offense," Kelly said before the ReliaQuest Bowl. "I know our players are excited.
"We'll look forward to getting their spin on it."
The past two seasons, Sloan has played a big part in Daniels' development at quarterback and also put Nussmeier in spots to succeed in the bowl game against Wisconsin. Sloan has previous play-calling duties at Louisiana Tech under former head coach Skip Holtz.
Hankton, who has served as LSU's pass game coordinator, coached two potential first-round 2024 NFL Draft picks in Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas.
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Nabers put up 1,569 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns on 89 catches in 13 games for the Tigers as his 120.6 receiving yards per game ranked No. 1 in FBS for the 2023 season.
Thomas caught 68 passes for 1,177 yards with a team-leading 17 touchdowns.
Kelly has had a busy offseason with hiring coaches, mainly on the defensive side of the ball. He's hired Missouri defensive coordinator Blake Baker to the same role, brought in Bo Davis from Texas to coach the defensive line, hired back Corey Raymond to oversee defensive backs, Kevin Peoples as edge rushers coach and Jake Olsen to handle safeties.
Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers and Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers and Cajuns coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU/UL athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: LSU football set to promote Joe Sloan, Cortez Hankton to co-OC
