Inside LSU’s nutrition program, a key part of Brian Kelly’s plan for player development

Inside his office, Matt Frakes turned to his computer screens. One of them had a spreadsheet full of body weight reports highlighted in green and red. The numbers, compiled by members of the strength and conditioning staff, told him whether the LSU players fell within their predetermined weight ranges.

Another screen displayed hydration information, providing guidance on how many electrolytes players should consume based on their weigh-ins. Frakes checks the data every day. If a player falls below 5% of their target weight range, they receive an alert on their phone. You can then determine a plan.

“Everyone’s weight has fluctuated somewhat,” Frakes said. “We have to guide them back to make sure they stay consistent for weeks.”

The system helps Frakes, LSU’s deputy athletic director of sports nutrition, keep track of the entire football team. He has to make sure everyone eats and drinks the right way to perform at their best, especially as LSU heads deeper into the second half of the season. Saturday afternoon vs. No. 7 Ole Miss.

While some teams fade later in the year, the Tigers want to come out on top. Much will be invested in finishing strong. LSU needs to do defensive adjustments and become more consistent.

But players won’t be able to do it if their bodies can’t execute, a year-round responsibility that falls on themselves, the strength and conditioning department, athletic trainers and nutrition.

“We’re stuck right now,” senior linebacker Micah Baskerville said, “but it’s about hanging in there all season long.”

Brian Kelly values ​​all three areas in his approach to player development, a key to this season and the future of LSU’s rebuilding program. LSU already had sports medicine director Beau Lowery on staff when Kelly arrived, and he quickly hired strength and conditioning coordinator Jake Flint. Another of his first calls was to Frakes.

Kelly admired the nutrition center attached to the football operations building when evaluating LSU, something he asked for but didn’t get at Notre Dame. In addition to executive chef Michael Johnson, Kelly wanted a dedicated nutritionist on staff to maximize available resources.

He worked with Frakes, a former Bowling Green outside linebacker who earned a doctorate in hospitality and nutrition management last season.

“He’s a unicorn on the field in a sense,” Kelly said. “I felt that his reliability, his knowledge and the need for player development in that field were so important in the success that I’ve had that it was a must to hire.”

Frakes learned that Kelly was leaving Notre Dame on the same day his wife was scheduled for an induced labor. He attended a team meeting and went to the hospital for the birth of his daughter. Kelly called the next day. She congratulated Frakes and his wife, then offered him a job.

As Frakes considered the position, he weighed proximity to home against opportunity. Originally from Columbus, Ohio, he liked to live in the same part of the country as his family after his father died of cancer a couple of years ago. His wife also had her family in Cleveland and her son went to a good school.

But Frakes thought he could make a difference. Plus, LSU already had the infrastructure it needed.

“It’s all here,” Frakes said. “I just had to organize it.”

Frakes began by observing the players. He wanted to know about her past dietary mistakes and his preferences in order to shape his program around the team culture. He collected injury histories to examine if there were any ailments related to nutrition or body composition. At one point, he sent out a questionnaire to find out what food they liked.

“I have to guide them with the habits that I want them to develop,” Frakes said. “That means I also have to be patient with their palates. You are trying to change a lifetime of habits and choices.”

Once he had enough information, Frakes set individual weekly goals for weight and body composition. He worked with director of performance innovation Jack Marucci to base the ranks on the results of players at the same position in the NFL combine. Marucci, a longtime member of LSU’s athletic training staff, has been collecting data for years.

The players accepted the program when they saw the results on the field and observed the periodic tests conducted by LSU on their lean muscle mass, percentage of body fat and bone marrow density. They learned how certain foods affected them and realized they couldn’t necessarily eat what they used to before practice to meet Kelly’s expectations.

“I already saw that when you do it right, your body looks bigger,” Baskerville said. “When you don’t do it right, then your body doesn’t look right. Doing it his way, you’re going to get good results.”

Cornerback Colby Richardson underwent one of the most significant transformations on the team. After he transferred this summer from McNeese State at 167 pounds, Frakes helped develop a plan to get Richardson up to 190 pounds at the start of spring training camp.

While training, Richardson had to increase his protein intake by five grams per week, starting with his body weight all the way up to 190 grams. She ate four meals a day. Starting at cornerback, he now weighs about 200 pounds.

“I tried to apply the model that was given to me in my life,” Richardson said. “It worked.”

Outside his office, Frakes stashes supplements that players use every day. They take a base of 5,000 milligrams of vitamin D, 150 milligrams of magnesium, a probiotic to support gut bacteria, vitamin K, and a standard multivitamin. Frakes then adds supplements like collagen if someone has a particular injury or iron to address a nutrient deficiency until he can teach the player what to eat instead.

To make it work, Frakes works closely with strength and conditioning staff, athletic trainers and Johnson. The whole operation can go astray if they don’t communicate. Frakes needs to know if injury rehab can be helped through nutrition and what the next workouts are so players have enough energy to lift.

From there, Frakes and Johnson tailor the menu to the team’s needs. Midweek, Frakes asks for more foods with Omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants to help speed recovery from the last game. They try to incorporate Louisiana flavors.

Frakes can’t monitor all the players at once, so he uploads what they should choose within the nutrition center based on their body composition goals into an app on his phone. Players are supposed to log seven meals per week on the platform. They also have a card to guide them to local restaurants like Frutta Bowls and Torchy’s Tacos.

“They can start to visually see what it means to drive performance,” Frakes said. “They can choose the articles because sometimes it is a lot of information. You have to tell them exactly what they need to eat.”

It also tells them when to eat. Generally, Frakes asks the team to have breakfast before 9:30 am, a big lunch at noon, and dinner before 7:30 pm Timing is important, so he coordinates with academic staff to meet class schedules. He wants players’ energy to peak at the right times, and when someone’s weight drops, a change in his schedule often provides an answer.

Recently, midway through the season, LSU conducted another round of testing to assess players’ body composition. Frakes said the results will allow staff to re-evaluate them during next week’s opening date to make sure the players haven’t lost lean muscle mass between games, helping them prepare for the home stretch.

“If it is,” Frakes said, “we know to address it and tell them, ‘You’re not eating enough and you’re not eating enough quality protein sources. Therefore, we have to start over right now. You need to get back on it so you can stay healthy for the rest of this half of the season.'”

The longer your nutrition program exists, the more it will be integrated into the LSU routine. Frakes envisions a space with machinery, more staff and a bachelor’s degree in sports nutrition. He has big plans.

For now, Frakes wants players to understand their nutritional choices and the importance of consistency in what they consume. LSU is trying to change the way it operates in Kelly’s first season, and what they eat makes a difference.

Not only for the present, but for the future.