While the class of 2025 isn’t finished, and spring practice has still yet to occur, Brian Kelly has LSU football already looking like one of the top teams in the country ahead of this coming college football season, ranking No. 7 overall in the latest ESPN way-too-early top 25 rankings.
LSU football projected as top 10 team in ESPN’s way-too-early top 25 preseason rankings
With the conclusion of one season, comes the projections of another, and LSU football is already being tabbed as one of the top programs to watch heading into the 2025 college football season.
Finishing the 2024 campaign with a disappointing 9-4 (5-3 SEC) final record, there was little doubt that something needed to change for Brian Kelly and the Tigers. After all, heading into year-four of the BK era, we’re starting to get a good feel for what can truly be expected from the former Notre Dame head coach during his time in Baton Rouge.
In short, the 2025 season needs to be a good one for the purple and gold, and after making some of the most inspired transfer portal efforts in the country this past month or so, things are starting to move in an encouraging direction.
In turn, more and more respect is beginning to flow towards the LSU football program on the national level, and it’s primarily showing up in the latest way-too-early preseason rankings, with ESPN most recently slotting the Tigers in as the No. 8 team in their top 25.
Adding likely immediate impact players such as former Florida State edge rusher Patrick Payton, former Oklahoma wide receiver Nic Anderson, former Virginia Tech cornerback Mansoor Delane, and rising freshman running back Harlem Berry, among many others, there are bound to be a lot of new names that LSU fans will need to learn before things get started this coming fall.
That said, it might be the returning talent that has the national media particularly intrigued by the 2025 version of Brian Kelly’s squad.
Getting things started with quarterback Garrett Nussmeier and linebacker Harold Perkins Jr, leadership should be a strength. Additionally, with proven, young talent like linebacker Whit Weeks and running back Caden Durham also staying put in Baton Rouge, this is an all-around roster that could prove incredibly dangerous in a somewhat wide open SEC.
Outside of LSU landing at No. 8, the SEC and Big Ten should once again prove to be the main two conferences of note as far as championship contenders go. Out of the top 25 teams in ESPN’s way-too-early rankings, 15 reside in those two conferences, while eight are sitting pretty in the top 12.
Furthermore, it will be interesting to watch and see how the rankings change over these next seven months. As of right now, LSU is set to face six top 25 teams in their 12 games during the 2025 season. With that, it won’t be an easy road for the purple and gold, but considering just how much talent is set to call the LSU campus home this coming fall, Brian Kelly at least has good reason to feel confident about his group with a little more than half a calendar year remaining, until things kick off in August.
Full top 25
- Ohio State Buckeyes
- Texas Longhorns
- Penn State Nittany Lions
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish
- Georgia Bulldogs
- Oregon Ducks
- Clemson Tigers
- LSU Tigers
- BYU Cougars
- South Carolina Gamecocks
- Iowa State Cyclones
- Alabama Crimson Tide
- Illinois Fighting Illini
- Arizona State Sun Devils
- SMU Mustangs
- Kansas State Wildcats
- Indiana Hoosiers
- Florida Gators
- Tennessee Volunteers
- Louisville Cardinals
- Michigan Wolverines
- Texas A&M Aggies
- Miami Hurricanes
- Boise State Broncos
- Ole Miss Rebels
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