Brian Kelly addresses John Emery's announcement to play seventh year: 'We don't know where it came from'

LSU Tigers running back John Emery Jr. announced on Thursday that he’s planning on returning to college football for a seventh season. That was evidently a surprise to Brian Kelly and his coaching staff.

It doesn’t seem as if Emery’s seventh season will be taking place in Baton Rouge. During a press conference on Saturday, Kelly addressed the announcement, and stated that it was the first he’s heard of the running back returning to college football for another go-round.

“No, we haven’t talked to John about it. It was the first that we’ve heard,” Kelly stated. “We love John, but sometimes, you know, things happen. We don’t know where it came from. But we’ll be supportive in any way we can.

“We are set with where we are with the running back position, but love John, and we will be here to help and support him. If he’s given a 7th year, he is certainly a young man who can help somebody in the Power 4 (conferences).”

That’s classy of Kelly and the LSU staff to offer to help Emery, even if there’s not exactly a place for him on the Tigers this coming season. Where will be be suiting up then? According to Emery’s agency via The Advocate he’s still “early in the process.”

That means that the actual team he chooses to play for is still up in the air. It could be with LSU, but it doesn’t sound likely. It seems as if it’ll have to involve him entering the Transfer Portal and looking for a new home.

“One last ride! @johne4_ is returning to college football for his final season. Can’t wait to see him leave it all on the field. Let’s get it,” the post announcing his return read. “Contact @ypmsports for all NIL inquiries”

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Moreover, Emery had his last two seasons cut short by ACL tears. In the case of his 2024 season, he suffered the injury during a non-contact drill in practice after playing in just one game. He was also forced to miss the entirety of the 2021 season. On top of that, his junior year of high school was also cut short by an injury.

After playing his high school football at Destrehan in Louisiana, he became a five-star recruit in the Class of 2019, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, Emery was the 12th-ranked player and the second-ranked running back overall in his recruiting cycle. Expectations were always massive for Emery to live up to with that recruiting pedigree.

Early in his career at LSU, Emery flashed his talent. That included playing in 19 games over the course of the 2019 and 2020 seasons with three starts. In the first of those seasons, LSU won the national championship. The next year, the season was shorted by the pandemic. That pandemic-impacted season also saw Emery finish second on the team in rushing yards before he was forced to miss the 2021 campaign.

2022 saw a coaching change in Baton Rouge and Kelly took over as the program’s head coach. Since then, Emery was only able to play in 19 games, dealing with those injury issues.

Emery, for his career, has 1,123 yards and 14 touchdowns on the ground. He also has 37 receptions for 330 yards and another two touchdowns through the air. He only has one career game where he’s rushed for better than 100 yards on the day.

Spring practice is already underway around the country. If Emery does make the decision to transfer out of the LSU program for his seventh season, then he will be able to do so when the next portal window opens this spring.

— On3’s Dan Morrison contributed to this article.