Marietta's Jared Jones and his top-ranked LSU team are not looking back

The 3 1/2-hour flight from Raleigh, N.C., to Baton Rouge gave Louisiana State sophomore infielder Jared Jones a headache. Sitting back in his seat, he reflected on LSU baseball’s tumultuous 2024 season. It took the Tigers a while to build continuity. They had 12 different players with over 20 starts. Halfway through the season, they were 3-12 in SEC play. After getting dismantled and swept by Tennessee in mid-April, the future looked grim.

The turnaround began gaining steam when LSU beat Texas A&M and swept Ole Miss at home, ultimately reaching the SEC championship game. The Tigers were hot heading into Selection Monday and exited as the scariest two-seed in the tournament. They almost handed UNC back-to-back losses on the Tar Heels' home field for the first time this year, which would have ended UNC's season and advanced the Tigers. The then-reigning national champions fell short in the Chapel Hill Regional, losing in extras to North Carolina.

“I was a little bit of an emotional train wreck,” recalled Jones. “It was really tough just because I didn't know anything at the time of whether or not I had played my final college game.”

Jones, a draft-eligible sophomore, had begun to weigh his options for the future upon the conclusion of his season, deciding to test the waters of the draft. However, when the monetary offers didn’t seem to align with his self-perceived worth, Jones decided to come back for his junior year. Making him one of the eight players from that 2023 national championship team who are back in Baton Rouge.

It had all led him back to make even more memories down in Louisiana.

“I was spoiled my freshman year because we didn't end on a loss. So everybody was happy and you know, it leaves a bit of a bad taste in your mouth,” said Jones.

That bad taste—like drinking orange juice after brushing your teeth—ultimately drove head coach Jay Johnson to be extremely aggressive in the off-season. Jones, who spent most of his summer after the Draft at LSU, saw Johnson 'two or three times' during that period.

“He's crazy in my opinion for some of the stuff that he does, with how much he travels and the lifestyle he lives,” said Jones. “I respect the hell out of it because he does a great job.  He's the hardest working coach I've ever played for. I don't know if he ever sleeps.”

The stories surrounding Johnson during his young tenure at LSU in the off-season are nothing short of legendary. Three years ago, after losing in the Hattiesburg regional in his first year as head coach, Johnson returned to his hotel, opened his laptop, and saw Paul Skenes in the transfer portal. The same night, after losing to Southern Mississippi, Johnson was on the phone with Skenes. Two years ago, after winning the national championship, he immediately flew to Cary, N.C. to visit Luke Holman, who had entered the portal while he was playing for Team USA. This year, with nine players drafted and seven out of eligibility, LSU again looked to the portal and traditional signees to fill the gaping holes left in their roster.

This time around, the decisions and drive of both Jones and Johnson would ultimately position LSU as the preseason No. 1 team.

The Tigers added projected first-round pick infielder Daniel Dickinson from Utah Valley, who batted .363 for the Wolverines with 18 homers and 53 RBI. (He also stole 32 bases.)

Right-handed pitchers Anthony Eyanson and Deven Sheerin from UCSB and Mount St. Mary's, respectively, also joined LSU.

Johnson snagged a commitment away from Texas A&M in high school infielder Ethan Clauss, who will be joining the Tigers for the 2025 cycle. Clauss joins three more signees who withdrew from the draft to come to Baton Rouge: catcher Cade Arrambide, right-handed pitcher William Schmidt, and outfielder Derek Curiel.

The Tigers will also have Chase Shores back in the lineup after missing the 2024 season due to Tommy John surgery. On paper, LSU’s roster is built for Omaha. With deep pitching and power hitting mixed with some veteran leadership, this team should be one of the best in college baseball.

“Our mindset for this year is like, hey, last year's over. Two years ago is for sure over,” said Jones. “It's about this year and moving forward.”

At the heart of the optimism is Jones, the player who thought at one point he’d put on purple and gold for the last time.

During his freshman year, he was a consistent player for the Tigers with 47 starts. As the season progressed, he fell out of his starting role and played as a reserve during the NCAA Tournament. While personal goals aren’t at the forefront of Jones’ mind, he does envision himself back in the national championship game—but this time, in a different role.

“I wasn't really at like the forefront of the team at that point,” recalled Jones. “Being able to come back and kind of be a leader and be somebody that can kind of be at the top of this thing and get us back.”

LSU had its first team meeting five days ago. With no official full-team practice yet, this was solely about acquainting the old and new while figuring out who this team is and what they could be. After a proclaimed “disappointing” season, the Tigers are aware of the players they have and even more aware of the hype surrounding this team.

“You know, just kind of assumed, defending national champs, we've got the LSU brand across our chest, so we're just gonna win. I think you gotta want it a little bit more than that this year,” said Jones. “We gotta make a statement just because of the way things happened last year. Everybody's always gonna talk about LSU baseball, but it’s not in the same way that we were talked about my freshman year.”