LSU alumni take strong stance on expectations from Brian Kelly

Brian Kelly enters his fourth season at LSU in the 2025 college football season. The coach was brought down to Baton Rouge after a successful tenure at Notre Dame with the expectation of leading the program to the national championship. However, that hasn't happened yet.

It was a largely disappointing season for the Tigers in 2024 as they failed to make it to the inaugural edition of the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff. Nonetheless, the expectations remain high for the program among fans and alumni ahead of the 2025 season.

In a recent installment of the “Jacques Talk” podcast, a host of LSU alumni outlined what the expectations look like for Brian Kelly entering the 2025 season. Former quarterback Rohan Davey believes the coach now has things in place to aim for the national championship.

“I think realistically for him, going into year 4 and 5, now you understand the landscape of NIL, you understand the transfer portal, you got your guys recruiting well, you got your staff on the defensive side back together,” Davey said.

“I think going into 4 and 5, my expectation as well as none of these guys is, yeah, we should be taking a step closer to getting a national championship."

Former wide receiver Eddie Kennison III also made it known on the show that Brian Kelly now has a good understanding of the peculiarities of the environment ahead of the 2025 college football season.

“This place is a little different,” Kennison said. “This place is not like any other place that you can go and just think that you can just throw what you know into it and mix it up and it's going to be that.

“Nah, we got a little different type of season in here. He didn't really understand that at the beginning, when he first got here. He understands that now. That's why you see some of the guys he's trying to bring back in to try to bring that LSU family back together.”

Kevin Faulk explains what Brian Kelly's thought process should look like

Former LSU running back Kevin Faulk detailed what Brian Kelly's thought process should look like ahead of his fourth season in Baton Rouge. His opinion went in line with that of Davey and Kennison regarding aiming for the national championship in the 2025 season.

“I have to believe that Brian Kelly, his thought process is winning a national championship,” Faulk said. “I cannot believe that he is not saying national championship. That's what the head coach is supposed to be doing. That's the message he's supposed to be portraying, and we believe that he's doing that.”

LSU has yet to appear in the CFP under the leadership of Brian Kelly. The program last made the playoffs during the 2019 season under Ed Orgeron, when it last won the national championship. Without a doubt, the goal for the team in 2025 is to secure a spot in the playoffs.