LSU Tigers have emerged as a top dark horse contender for the upcoming season. Brian Kelly’s roster appears ready for a resurgence after several challenging years in Baton Rouge.
SEC rivals believe the Tigers are “playoff ready” this season.
“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,” an anonymous SEC head coach told Athlon Sports.
“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. 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.”
Garrett Nussmeier, one of the top-ranked quarterbacks in college football entering 2025, deserves significant credit for elevating expectations around the program.
Kelly has assembled the top transfer portal class to surround Nussmeier with weapons.
“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,” another anonymous SEC coach said.
ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg believes this could be Kelly’s strongest roster in recent years.
“Kelly could have his best team as quarterback Garrett Nussmeier stayed, and LSU made a strong transfer portal push. He needs a good start at Clemson, though, after dropping his first three season openers with the Tigers,” Rittenberg wrote.
Expectations for Kelly’s Tigers remain divided heading into the season.
