LSU Tigers head coach Lane Kiffin has always been one of the most innovative people in college football.

So it should be no surprise that he’s considering bringing an innovative, albeit controversial, method to LSU.

While speaking at the Rotary Club of Baton Rouge this week, Kiffin was asked if he’s considered using AI to evaluate players.

Kiffin acknowledged that it’s a conversation he’s had with his staff.

“We’re in conversations about that,” said Kiffin. “That probably sounds really strange to people. But that’s another thing when you talk about: do you embrace it? Or do you go like, ‘No, we’re not doing that because we’re coaches and they didn’t used to do that.’ The old coaches never did that. Well, that (mindset) passes you by. If you did that, you’d still be sitting in the I-formation and huddling.

“So, AI is a good example of that. We’ve been talking a lot about that. Jack Marucci (LSU’s Director of Performance Innovation) is an amazing resource when it comes to that. We actually had a meeting about [AI] yesterday, because we have started talking about using that when it comes to evaluating players. It blows my mind that it’s gotten that close to where we can put film into it and it can give an eval of the player. Now, I believe we’d still have many human elements in that eval, but it is a really amazing resource of what it’s able to do.”

AI is a controversial topic, and plenty of fans across the sport want nothing to do with it.

In this case, though, I think Kiffin is taking the right approach. It’s something that can help his coaching staff be more efficient in evaluating players (high school recruits, portal targets, and current players).

And as Kiffin said, there would be a human element heavily involved. Intangibles — work ethic, competitiveness, etc — are a very important part of any evaluation. AI will never be able to match a coach’s ability to evaluate intangibles.

Kiffin is one of the best coaches in the sport because he’s always willing to evolve. So even though AI may not be something that everyone embraces, it’s something that could possibly help the LSU football program be more efficient.