Brian Kelly and the LSU Tigers continue navigating a critical offseason in Baton Rouge with the program receiving significant national media attention prior to the 2025 season.
It’s been a five-month stretch of change in the Bayou State with Kelly and Co. reconstructing the roster ahead of year four of the “Kelly Era.”
LSU signed 18 newcomers via the NCAA Transfer Portal alongside a Top-10 Signing Class in the 2025 Recruiting Cycle.
The Tigers will have over 30 fresh faces on the 2025 roster headlined by the No. 1 portal class in the nation.
Kelly and the staff in Baton Rouge have added near double-digit Top-100 players that were in the free agent market.
Headlined by Floria State EDGE Patrick Payton, Oklahoma wide receiver Nic Anderson, Kentucky wide receiver Barion Brown and Houston safety A.J. Haulcy, there’s significant buzz in The Boot.
Now, anonymous SEC head coaches are buying into the Bayou Bengals heading into the 2025 season with a retooled roster, but there’s also caution.
Recently, Athlon Sports spoke to multiple head coaches in the Southeastern Conference to get their perspective on the Rebels.
One SEC shot-caller is buying stock in the Tigers with quarterback Garrett Nussmeier returning for his fifth season of college football and his second as the starter for LSU.
For Nussmeier, he will look to develop across the next few months after piecing together a 2024 campaign where he totaled 3,738 yards, 26 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in 12 games played.
“Nuss [Garrett Nussmeier] is a legit talent, and they did a really good job finally getting serious in the portal to put weapons around him.”
But there’s also caution on the Tigers heading into the 2025 season with the program set to have four new starters along the offensive line.
LSU saw Will Campbell, Emery Jones, Garrett Dellinger and Miles Frazier hear their names called in the 2025 NFL Draft in April.
“They’re going to take a significant step back on the offensive line, but they’re better at the skill positions.”
One of the main storylines is the roster reconstruction this offseason spearheaded by General Manager Austin Thomas.
Thomas has become a hot topic on across the college football landscape after strategically navigating the Tigers’ NIL approach and more behind the scenes.
“The big talk here is the way they’ve restructured. This isn’t an autonomous coaching culture anymore. [GM] Austin Thomas has a huge role building the roster, and it showed this offseason,” one anonymous head coach said.
“The internal evaluation of LSU football will look more professional; they’re going to build BK [Brian Kelly] the best roster possible to go out and win games.”
Most believe this is a “College Football Playoff or bust” season for the LSU Tigers with one SEC shot-caller echoing the same sentiment.
“They have playoff expectations here, and it’s a better depth chart than he’s had in Baton Rouge. If they aren’t in the CFP, I think there’s some serious pressure here.”
LSU will open the 2025 season at Clemson on Aug. 30 in one of the most anticipated Week 1 matchups of the season with Nussmeier and Co. looking to live up to the hype in 2025.
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LSU’s Joe Sloan Comments on One Wide Receiver to Keep Tabs on in 2025
Follow Zack Nagy on Twitter: @znagy20 and LSU Tigers On SI: @LSUTigersSI for all coverage surrounding the LSU Tigers.
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