Joel Klatt addresses LSU's ranking in Way-Too-Early Top-10

Joel Klatt sees an important season ahead for LSU in placing them in his Way-Too-Early Top-10.

Klatt put the Tigers at No. 9 in that ranking during his show last week. He did so ahead of the fourth year for Brian Kelly down in Death Valley.

“I think this is a critical year, obviously, for Brian Kelly,” said Klatt. “They’ve got to show a — I don’t want to call it dramatic — I would call it significant. They need to show a significant step in the right direction and I don’t think that’s out of the question”

Kelly is 29-11 (.725) through three seasons in Baton Rouge. He has had success there with at least nine wins in each but still taking enough losses to not accomplish much else with one appearance in the SEC Championship in 2022 and no berths in the College Football Playoff. That includes this past one where he didn’t reach double-digit wins for the first time while tying for his most losses while there.

Now, going into 2025, Klatt listed three reasons why LSU made his Top-10.

For one, the Tigers brought in a whole new class of players through the transfer portal. Their 16 additions rated them at No. 5 in On3’s 2025 Team Transfer Portal Rankings. A dozen of those ranked in the Top-200 of On3’s Top Transfer Portal Players over this cycle.

“They have been active, certainly in the portal…They have replenished their wide receiver group and their offensive line through the portal,” said Klatt. “They’ve hit the portal really hard and I think that their portal additions are going to be huge for LSU.”

For two, LSU, which improved back on defense last fall, has players back on that side of the ball for the second season under their defensive coordinator.

“I think the defense has got to be improved and it should improve,” Klatt noted. “Blake Baker had a good first year as defensive coordinator, still needs to continue to grow. They get Harold Perkins back. He’s had an up and down career after being really good as a true freshman and then he dealt with kind of the position issue and an ACL injury. Whit Weeks – he’s a tackling machine, he’s back.”

Finally, for three, the Tigers return the most key thing for any team looking to have success right now in the sport. Garrett Nussmeier (64.2% for 4,052 yards, 29 TDs, 12 INTs), one of the better quarterbacks in the country last year, will be back for his fifth year and give their team what all the contenders have had at that position as of late.

“More so than anything, they get Nussmeier back. You know how I feel about experienced quarterbacks. Whether they’re transferring in or they’re staying put like Nussmeier at LSU? Experienced quarterbacks are running college football,” said Klatt. “We’re seeing that time and time again. We saw it with Penix and J.J. McCarthy two years ago in the national championship. We saw it on Monday night with Will Howard and Riley Leonard. These experienced quarterbacks are the ones having all the success. Now LSU is going to have that so that’s huge for them.”

LSU has accomplished things during this tenure but not enough considering the standard there, at least for their last three coaches, are national titles. That jump is what they’ll try to do going into next season with them likely to have one of their highest preseason ratings under him yet in the Top-10 or so.

“I’ve got LSU at number nine,” said Klatt. “LSU is in my Top-10. Big year for Brian Kelly. They’re at number nine.”