ALLEN PARK, Mich. — Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard poured some gasoline on the speculation that he could be interested in Louisiana State University's recently vacant head-coaching position by liking a photo on Instagram over the weekend that urged the college to "bring (Sheppard) home" as the team's next coach.

Sheppard, who's on a meteoric rise up the coaching ranks, has since removed his "like" from the post. Talking to the media on Thursday, he denied interest in the position at his alma mater, as well as any familiarity with the coaching search. Sheppard, 37, won a national championship as a linebacker at LSU in 2007.

"I can't be interested in something I have no idea about," Sheppard said. "I'm interested in beating the Minnesota Vikings. … It's a lot of things you can get into and speculate about, but the truth of the matter is nobody has contacted me about anything, dealing with a job outside of anything I'm doing right now, and that's the honest truth."

That said, Sheppard has been closely following the events in Baton Rouge. LSU fired head coach Brian Kelly on Sunday night.

And considering that the biggest knock against Kelly from jump was that he's an outsider and a poor fit, the pendulum swinging the other direction could result in LSU hiring someone like Sheppard, who spent five seasons with LSU as a player and spent one season as the team's director of player development in 2020. He joined Detroit's coaching staff the following season.

"That place molded me into the man that I am today and am still becoming. You cut me open, I'm a liger; I think that's what they call it — half lion, half tiger," Sheppard said. "That school expects championships, and they should. We hoisted a trophy when I was there. They hoisted one after I left there.

"The standard, just like we created the standard here, through hard work, through what you put out there, is championships. It's not just being around, it's not being competitive, and it's not winning — we should win. … And that school deserves that, that fan base deserves that, and I know the people down there in place will make sure that happens moving forward."

Sheppard is well on his way to becoming a viable head-coaching candidate. He joined Detroit's coaching staff in 2021 as an outside linebackers coach and was quickly promoted to linebackers coach the following year.

After three seasons as linebackers coach in Detroit, he was a slam-dunk candidate to take over as defensive coordinator for the departing Aaron Glenn, who received a head-coaching job of his own with the New York Jets.

Through eight weeks, the Lions' defense doesn't have the gaudiest marks — it's tied for 11th in points per game (21.6) and eighth in total defense (300 yards per game) — but it has played lights-out situational football for much of the season.

Sheppard's journey from college personnel director to NFL defensive coordinator has taught him that now is not the time to give attention to another matter. He never set out to be a defensive coordinator when he joined the Lions in 2021; he simply wanted to put his head down and be the best outside linebackers coach possible.

"It's kind of cliché, but being where your feet are — I'm very blessed and fortunate to hold the position that I do here as the defensive coordinator of the Detroit Lions, a soon-to-be championship organization, and I don't take that lightly," Sheppard said.

"This position comes with a lot, and … if you start to look out and stretch out, looking for other things, you will lose the things that you do hold onto currently, and I've seen that. … I got to this position by understanding you gotta put your head down and go back to work, whether you have success or failure. I'm gonna remain to do that, and whatever may lay out there for me, God willing, that's gonna happen.

"But that's gonna happen through success in my current position, not through anything else — not by politicking for anything, not by trying to set headlines a certain way."

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