John Emery makes decision on LSU vs. NFL Draft
LSU senior running back John Emery will remain on the roster for the 2023 season, passing up the chance to enter the NFL Draft.
College players had until the end of the day on January 16 to enter their name into the NFL Draft. Multiple sources tell The Bengal Tiger that Emery did not enter his name into the draft pool.
Emery’s return bolsters an LSU running backs room that moves into the offseason with every scholarship running back on roster now set to return.
Emery missed the entire 2021 season and the first two games of the 2022 season as a result of a 15-game academic suspension, but he stepped into a big role for the Tigers across Brian Kelly’s first season in Baton Rouge.
Emery appeared in 11 games after serving out his suspension, making starts against UAB and in the SEC Championship Game against Georgia.
He finished the season with 77 carries for 380 yards and six touchdowns. He also contributed in the passing game, hauling in 13 passes for 129 yards and two touchdowns. Emery was the lone running back on roster to catch a touchdown pass during the 2022 season.
Emery originally signed with LSU as part of the 2019 class, where he was ranked by the On3 Consensus as a five-star and the No. 2 running back prospect in the country.
In his senior season at LSU, Emery was part of a running back room that – thanks to some help from quarterback Jayden Daniels – set the program record for most rushing touchdowns in a single season.
Daniels led the way with 11 rushing touchdowns, while backup running back Noah Cain finished the season with 10 rushing touchdowns. Emery and Josh Williams had six touchdowns each, while Armoni Goodwin finished with five touchdowns. Derrick Davis Jr., who moved from safety to running back at the end of the season, had a rushing touchdown in the Citrus Bowl. Davis, a Pennsylvania native, later transferred to Pitt.
Williams led the way in LSU’s running back room with six starts in 11 appearances, while Cain had three starts in 13 games played. Goodwin started in three of the first four games of the season, but a pair of injuries eventually sidelined him for the season.
Daniels led all LSU rushers with 885 yards in 2022, while Williams led the running back room with 536 yards (5.5 yards per carry). Cain finished with 405 yards (5.4 yards per carry), Emery with 380 yards (4.9 yards per carry) and Goodwin finished with 267 yards (5.9 yards per carry).
LSU signed two running backs out of high school during December’s Early Signing Period, and both are from Louisiana.
Trey Holly, the state’s all-time rushing yards leader at the high school level, heads to LSU after a record-breaking stretch at Union Parish when he logged 1,228 carries for 10,523 yards and 146 touchdowns across his career.
While Kaleb Jackson was injured as a senior, he turned in a great junior season with 138 carries, 2,031 yards and 29 rushing touchdowns to go with 21 catches for 394 yards and four touchdowns.
