2025 LSU = BRIAN KELLY'S GREATEST ROSTER EVER??? / EXPECTATIONS RISING AHEAD OF FALL CAMP
- Lonn Phillips Sullivan
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
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By LONN PHILLIPS SULLIVAN
FOLLOW @LonnPhillips
It's almost time....
Throughout these sweltering dog days of June, Brian Kelly's 2025 LSU Tigers are currently undergoing their intensive conditioning work under Head Trainer Jake Flint, but rapidly approaching on the horizon is late July- early August Fall Camp practices....the culmination of an offseason that's mostly formed behind the scenes, featuring new faces, new characters, and the return of familiar Tigers to the forefront.
Unlike Brian Kelly's first three LSU teams, his 4th Tigers squad remains more of a mystery to many fans or media, with Kelly intentionally limiting media access around this year's group, including the banishing of a Spring Game altogether, plus the addition of 18 new transfer players (with 50-70% of these newcomers likely to start for LSU this fall).
Because of these hazy factors, plus the mass arrival of high pedigree transfers, the O-line losing 4 of their 5 starters, the Garrett Nussmeier rollercoaster either bringing in scores of supporters ready to anoint him as the next Heisman winner or fearful detractors begging to be let off the ride, a perceived lack of physicality becoming a trademark of Brian Kelly-era LSU, let alone the fact Harold Perkins, Whit Weeks, and Jacobian Guillory all return from serious injuries....there are reasons to be excited as much as there is to be hesitant....
However, when you dive deep beneath the surface of a team now costing just shy of $10 million (some estimations report $8.5 million, our sources report future payments on existing contracts will extend the total cost), when you cut through the brush and look through some of the easy, lazy narratives, you find a team that is not only Brian Kelly's most talented during his time at LSU (which he agreed with publicly on The Paul Finebaum Show), the 2025 LSU Tigers are the best group of players Kelly has ever coached over his entire 40 year career.
You can say the same for his staff, anchored by Frank Wilson, Joe Sloan, Cortez Hankton, Brad Davis (all entering their 4th or 5th season at LSU), and now 2nd year defensive coordinator Blake Baker firmly entrenched alongside longtime DBs Coach Corey Raymond and Broyles Award nominee Kevin Peoples, there is strong continuity & proven player development among Kelly's All-Star staff.
First year Special Teams Coach Aman Anand will have a mighty big task: constructing a whole new battery after years led by stalwart long snapper Slade Roy. Will Grant Chadwick become LSU's future punter? How seriously will LSU rely on Damian Ramos' right leg to win games???
Everyone & everything, every major or minor coaching decision, it will all be tested right out of the gates in a top 10 showdown @ Clemson, a primetime rematch between the 2019/2020 CFP National Championship Game participants, squaring off within the confines of the Fake "Death Valley", with Kelly and Co hoping to erase a 5 year-long Week 1 losing streak, LSU's battle royale @ Clemson could decide everything from the Heisman race to final CFP 12 team playoff standings...
That game is fast approaching....as the pressure begins to heat up in synchronization with the intensifying Baton Rouge summer, Fall Camp beckons on the horizon...the McClendon practice facility & Ponderosa both now cast as the stage where a championship team may just be conjured....
Coach Kelly is eager to identify his best XI on each side of the ball, something Spring wasn't going to offer (missing such sure starters as Whit Weeks, Harold Perkins, Jacobian Guillory and Jardin Gilbert), but Kelly and his staff must allow competition to test every single Tiger, no matter how likely a player may start.
Kelly and his staff will be chomping at the bit looking for impact contributors from their deep reservoir of Tigers, aiming for more rotation on defense and at offensive skill positions.
There is plenty of significant competition all across the roster, from edge rusher, receiver, tight end, defensive tackle, even the QB room has solid options after Nussmeier (red shirt sophomore Colin Hurley, transfer Michael Van Buren, and dual threat wildcat weapon Jujuan Johnson).
This is a different type of squad than Kelly's first three teams...more seasoned, more professional, even as the core depth of Kelly's roster is marked by youth & inexperience, there is a dominant & outspoken group of vocal veterans leading the way. Through these veterans like Nuss, Weeks, even new transfers Bauer Sharp, Barion Brown & Jack Pyburn, there is an infectious, palpable edge to this group that separates 2025 from past Kelly LSU teams.
Simply put, whether it's any of their 18 transfers or numerous returning players, there are 2 common threads for so many 2025 Tigers:
A. they all overcame terrible adversity in their past & present.
B. 2025 is now a make or break season for their NFL futures...
No longer a roster containing positions where anyone from the portal would do, no longer a squad lowering their standards concerning who they pursue on the trail, LSU's General Manager & NIL kingpin Austin Thomas delivered dawgs via the transfer portal this offseason, numerous top 5 players in their position, most importantly adding major heft for Corey Raymond's secondary & Kyle Williams' D-line, as well as upgrading Cortez Hankton's receiving corps.
But because of that kind of cash investment ($26.5 million allocated for 2024, 2025 & 2026) within the 2nd poorest state in the country, expectations will be bigger than they've ever been during the entirety of the Kelly era....
The financial investment has never been greater...
The roster, under Brian Kelly, has never been better...
LSU will start one of the top 2 or 3 most gifted & game ready quarterbacks in the country...
The 12 team playoff expansion will give LSU a chance to grab a spot on the bracket even without playing in the SEC title game, and maybe even with 2 losses...
Every single one of LSU's main offensive coaches has remained on staff for at least 4 years....
From a personnel standpoint, at least on paper & in most people's theories, Blake Baker's defense is a massively upgraded unit; Plus, Baker has a second bite at the apple coaching Harold Perkins to his optimum, three Weeks Brothers for the world to contend with, more depth to rely upon, and a strong staff around him....
There is really no excuse....there are no ifs, ands or buts: Brian Kelly's LSU Tigers must qualify for the 12 team College Football Playoff and more than that, I think this squad must go on a deep run...
Every key to the championship door is here, but instead of thinking about what is ultimately possible, I only hear LSU fans and media folks asking "How could Brian Kelly screw this up?" instead of constructively wondering "How is Brian Kelly going to put the pieces together to make it happen?"....
....the latter question is what all of us will be spending this offseason trying to answer.
By LONN PHILLIPS SULLIVAN
©️ 2025 Uninterrupted Writings Inc
I haven’t liked everything CBK has done, but I have supported him and continued to believe he can bring a championship to LSU. At the same time, this is the year I feel vindicated or the year I jump ship with CBK. If he doesn’t make a deep run with this team and coaching staff, when will he? I honestly believe this is his coronation as a great coach or his Waterloo.