Brian Kelly elaborates on decision to bring John Emery Jr. back in 2024

LSU’s run game is the offense’s biggest question entering the 2024 season.

The Tigers lose their top running back in Logan Diggs and their leading overall rusher in Heisman-winning quarterback Jayden Daniels. His replacement, Garrett Nussmeier, is not nearly as much of a factor in the run game.

LSU is expected to rely much more heavily on its backs, which initially just featured Josh Williams and Kaleb Jackson as the top returning players at the position.

However, the Tigers got a nice boost in the return of John Emery Jr., who initially entered the transfer portal and briefly flirted with UCLA before opting to return to Baton Rouge.

Brian Kelly explained why Emery earned the opportunity to return to the Tigers.

“Well, there was a bit of uncertainty with Trey Holly’s situation, which opened up the opportunity at that position. I think that was one thing, I think the other was that he graduated, and we kind of put a mandate on that he had to do the work academically. And I think the third thing was that he really did an incredible job rehabbing from the injury, like compliance-wise. He was very committed to playing again.

“And so when we added all that up… we’ve got a kid here that a lot of things didn’t go his way, some of it was self-inflicted, but he’s really shown that he wants to do this one more time. So we sat down, we thought about it and we offered him the opportunity. He had other offers out there, and he felt like this was the best opportunity, and we’re glad he’s back.”

Kelly also explained that Emery earned a sixth year due to his medical history, though he couldn’t go in further detail and explained that it was separate from the knee injury that ended his 2023 campaign.

In four seasons with the Tigers, Emery has 1,062 yards and 14 touchdowns on 213 carries. He hasn’t emerged as the feature back to this point in his career, but he has the chance to do so this season.

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