LSU coach Ed Orgeron has continuously talked about sparking his run game and needing his backs to get going to power the offense, but the Tigers won't have any help from John Emery Jr. in doing so.
Emery is academically ineligible and has not played in the first four games of the season, and it doesn't seem like he will be playing anytime soon in Baton Rouge.
The NCAA denied Emery’s latest appeal to overturn his academic ineligibility, a TigerDetails source confirmed.
Sports Illustrated's Ross Dellenger had it first.
"Emery’s attorney plans to pursue other options, source says," Dellenger tweeted.
The Destrehan product entered this fall as Tigers' second-most experienced running back, behind fellow junior Tyrion Davis-Price, and a pivotal player from which the staff envisioned a breakout campaign.
Instead, Orgeron said he was informed the Friday prior to the season opener that Emery would be unavailable against UCLA — with sources citing an academic issue.
The issues stem from the fall of the 2020 season when Emery dealt with the death of his grandmother, his stepfather being hospitalized for months with COVID-19 and his mother testing positive for the virus.
LSU applied for a hardship waiver but was denied by the NCAA, which is when Emery and his family sought legal counsel from attorney Don Jackson, an Alabama-based lawyer who represented Kristian Fulton during his battle with the NCAA while at LSU.
As it currently stands, LSU is ranked last in the SEC in yards per carry with 2.86. The Tigers have a total of 320 yards on 112 carries and two rushing touchdowns.
Emery rushed 39 times for 188 yards and four touchdowns in 10 appearances as a freshman during LSU's national championship run.
He nearly doubled those opportunities to 75 carries for 396 yards and three touchdowns in nine games, including three starts, as a sophomore.
Emery also caught 14 passes for another 73 yards as the team's top receiver out of the backfield.