BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) —
LSU running back John Emery Jr. is expected to miss the remainder of the season for academic reasons, coach Ed Orgeron said Monday.
Emery, a junior, was expected to compete to be the Tigers’ starting running back this season, but has been ruled academically ineligible.
“Right now, he’s unavailable,” Orgeron said, stopping short of saying Emery would definitely miss the entire season. “Things could change. If they do change, we’ll play him … but that’s out of my control.”
Emery already had missed LSU’s first two games — a 38-27 loss at UCLA and a 34-7 win over McNeese State — but Orgeron until Monday had expressed hope that Emery might be cleared to play.
Emery rushed for 378 yards and three touchdowns in nine games as a sophomore in 2020. He and Tyrion Davis-Price were LSU’s top returning rushers heading into this season.
LSU (1-1) next plays at home game against Central Michigan on Saturday night.
Orgeron said he wants to see more from freshmen running backs Corey Kiner and Armoni Goodwin, although Goodwin’s status was uncertain this week after he appeared to hurt his ankle on Saturday night.’
“You saw two freshmen running backs that I thought were outstanding” against McNeese, Orgeron said. “Those guys are dynamite ,man, and I think that both of them are going to be great backs.”
LSU also expects running back Tre Bradford, who re-enrolled at LSU after briefly transferring to Oklahoma, to be eligible to play this weekend.
“Hopefully we can play him this week,” Orgeron said.
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