LSU Football: Brian Kelly Provides Update on Tigers Running Back John Emery

Brian Kelly reacted to Emery's season-ending injury, set to begin rehab on his surgically repaired knee.

Sep 1, 2024; Paradise, Nevada, USA; LSU Tigers running back John Emery Jr. (22) carries the ball against Southern California Trojans cornerback John Humphrey (19) in the second half at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

LSU running back John Emery will miss the remainder of the 2024 season after suffering a torn ACL during last Tuesday's practice.

The sixth-year senior underwent surgery last week to repair the knee and has begun his rehab process as of Monday, a source confirmed to LSU Tigers On SI.

Emery tore his ACL at the end of the 2023 season, and after entering the NCAA Transfer Portal for his final season of eligibility, he elected to return to LSU. He ended the year rushing for 121 yards on 23 carries.

Now, he's suffered another ACL tear and will miss his final season with the Tigers.

“John, you know, I think it’s always about how you handle adversity,” LSU head coach Brian Kelly said Monday via The Paul Finebaum Show. “Unfortunately, he’s had this before. And I think he’s at a place in his life now that he knows he can do things outside of football. I think that’s what the trap is here, is that many of these young men sometimes didn’t know that they could do things outside of just football. And that’s a shame, right? I think building an identity outside of football with these young men is so crucial when you come into football programs. And we’ve done that.

“And John knows that he has a life outside of football… is he disappointed? Absolutely. We’re crushed for him. But he knows that he has a life outside of football and now he’s going to be working towards that.”

Emery rushed for 61 yards on 10 carries in LSU's Week 1 loss where he looked poised to take on a major workload for the Tigers in 2024.

It's been a tricky road for Emery, who was rated a Top-15 prospect in the 2019 recruiting cycle.

He elected to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal during the offseason with the intention to depart Baton Rouge in hopes of finding a place to close out his career after last season.

Instead, he made the return to LSU for his final season of eligibility.

Emery has totaled 1,062 career rushing yards and 14 touchdowns while starting in five games and appearing in 37. He saw most of his production occur in 2020 and 2022, logging 75 and 76 carries, respectively.

The former five-star prospect missed significant time with the program after sitting out the entire 2021 season due to academics as well as missing time in 2023 for the same reason.

The uphill battle continued towards the end of 2023 after Emery tore his ACL on a rushing play late in the year against the Florida Gators.

He announced he would not return to LSU after the 2023 season, and was not included in the postseason scholarship count. Many assumed he would either hang up his cleats or become an NFL free agent, but his next move was then locked in as a member of the 2024 roster.

After the highs and lows of his playing career in Death Valley, Emery returned to the program with one season of eligibility remaining.

Now, with his injury, LSU is left with three scholarship running backs in Josh Williams, Kaleb Jackson and true freshman Caden Durham, but there is hope on the horizon after freshman safety Ju'Juan Johnson made the move to running back last week.

Trey Holly, who had 110 rushing yards last season as a true freshman, remains away from the program after he was arrested in February. He was then suspended from the team indefinitely following his arrest. 

No. 16 LSU will head to South Carolina later this week for a showdown against the Gamecocks on ESPN with kickoff slated for 11 a.m. CT in Columbia.

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