There are high-profile college football jobs already open at USC and LSU, and more could be available by season’s end or shortly thereafter.

That can create distractions for coaches being mentioned as candidates for those jobs, but when it comes to coaches’ denials about other jobs at this time of year, Fox Sports Analyst Joel Klatt said to take them with a grain of salt.

“Don’t listen to head coaches,” said Klatt while appearing on The Herd with Colin Cowherd. “They will go to the best possible situation for them.”

Klatt then reference Mel Tucker as one example of a coach who offered a strong denial about a job only to later accept it.

That happened in February of 2020 when Tucker tweeted his loyalty to Colorado only to take the Michigan State job 4 days later.

Tucker has the Spartans sitting at 7-0 and ranked 9th in the country, and he is now being mentioned as a candidate for the LSU opening.

What does Klatt think about the prospect of Tucker leaving for LSU?

“Mel [Tucker] has SEC ties right,” Klatt said. “This is where his nature is. He cut his teeth under (Nick) Saban and then he was with Kirby (Smart) at Georgia. There is a lot there.”

Klatt added that you have to be impressed with what Tucker is doing this season.

“Mel has done a great job this year, and he did it in a year that no one really expected Michigan State to be good because he had to do this with string and bandages,” Klatt added. “Lots of transfers in. Kenneth Walker is one of those transfers, gets there in December, and is the nation’s leading rusher.

“But it’s that presence and toughness that you’re talking about that was starting to help Colorado become a tougher team. And then he goes to Michigan State, he’s done that there. We haven’t really seen him win as a head coach. He’s doing it now and we’ll see how this November winds up.”

You can check out the complete interview with Joel Klatt and Colin cowherd in the video below: