Brian Kelly has his offense’s back. He proved that with a stern defense of the unit in his post-game press conference on Saturday night after No. 3 LSU downed Florida 20-10 with just 13 offensive points in a game when the Tigers’ defense provided five interceptions of DJ Lagway. For fifth-year senior wide receiver Chris Hilton Jr., trust goes both ways.
“That means everything,” Hilton said of Kelly’s postgame tirade in an exclusive interview with FanSided promoting his NIL partnership with Popeyes. “He has our back and we have his… that’s what you want to see from your coach.”
Kelly’s antics may draw ire from the media, but they’re perceived much differently in the locker room.
This wasn’t Kelly’s first outburst at the podium in his now four-year tenure in Baton Rouge. Last season, it came after a Week 1 loss to USC, Kelly’s third-straight season-opening defeat. That problem was rectified this season in “Death Valley Jr.” as LSU got the best of Clemson in the opener to get to 1-0 for the first time since the 2019 National Championship season under Ed Orgeron.
The difference this time, however, is that Kelly had to come to the support of his offense. From Jayden Daniels to Garrett Nussmeier, LSU’s offense has had no trouble putting points on the board in recent seasons, but three games into Nussmeier’s fifth-year senior season with the Tigers, they rank 99th in yards per play, 101st in EPA/play, and 108th in offense success rate.
Chris Hilton Jr. and the LSU offense, not feeling the pressure after slow start
Typically, the weak link holding Kelly’s Tigers back from the College Football Playoff has been the defense, but steady improvement from 108th in total defense in 2023 to 61st in 2024 has crescendoed into a dominant start under second-year defensive coordinator Blake Baker, with an influx of transfer portal talent in 2025.
So has that shifting dynamic added any pressure for Hilton and Nussmeier, two of the longest tenured Tigers who pre-date Kelly’s arrival in 2022, and the rest of the LSU offense?
“It’s really just football, you know, sometimes that’s just how the game goes,” Hilton said. “You can say that the offense is struggling or the defense is carrying the offense right now, but at the end of the day, we’re 3-0,” echoing the sentiment of his head coach.
Hilton, finally healthy after battling injuries throughout much of his five-year career at LSU believe he, along with a wide receiver room that got an influx of talent through the Transfer Portal this offseason, can be part of the solution offensively.
“Somebody asked me this at media day,” Hilton said. “Do you think having all those guys in one room is it gonna cause any problems?’ And I was like, no, it's not gonna cause any problems. If anything, it's gonna make the room better. One, it's gonna enhance the competition in the room, and that's what you want when you come to a place like this. And two, when it comes to like just the offense as a whole, you can't like pick and choose who you want to focus on.”
Through three games, Aaron Anderson has been the focal point of offensive coordinator Joe Sloan’s passing attack, leading the team with 18 catches for 247 yards. However, first-year transfers, Barion Brown from Kentucky and tight end Bauer Sharp from Oklahoma, have played major roles.
Hilton has played the fifth-most offensive snaps at wide receiver (76), but has one reception for one yard. The 6-foot-tall Zachary, Louisiana native, posted nine catches for 243 yards and three touchdowns while battling injuries last season, and led the team with four catches for 113 yards and a touchdown in the Texas Bowl win over Baylor.
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