LSU Student Says the University Protected a Football Player She Accused of Rape: “Football Matters More Than Anything”

An LSU student claims that the university failed her after accusing a sexual assault by an LSU football player in October 2025.

Kendall Francis, a first-generation college student, says she visited LSU’s dorm to meet a football player she met through social media in October 2025. Francis claims that the night when she met with a football player was a sexually assaultive one.

The identity of the football player involved in the case has not been revealed yet.

Francis says she returned to her apartment in shock after the incident. According to the report, LSU Police came to her apartment and took her to the hospital, where she spent seven hours. In January 2026, Francis submitted a formal Title IX complaint to LSU.

During the university’s investigation, Francis and the student-athlete provided contradictory statements on what really happened that night, including whether the victim gave her consent to sexual intercourse.

Francis first talked publicly about her allegations in a TikTok video published on September 14. In the video, she talks about the night when she was allegedly raped and how it affected her mental condition.

“Hello everyone. My name is Kendall and I’m here to speak on my story of what happened to me at LSU. So I was raped by a football player at LSU last year in October, um, October 18th to be exact, at around 4:30 in the morning. And that day basically changed my life. I developed pretty severe anxiety after that, which I was diagnosed with, and I had to take anxiety medicine for. And I also got an emotional support animal for which I love her so much. But I’m here to talk about the process of everything that I went through.”

Francis also tells about the hours after the alleged assault and the pressure not to contact the police.

“So after I was sexually assaulted, um, I was taken to the hospital where I was there for about 7 hours and I got a rape kit done and everything like that. And they asked me if I wanted to press charges. His mom had texted me that morning asking me to not press charges on him so that it didn’t ruin his career and everything like that. And then, um, yeah, and then he sent me $1,000 as hush money, um, so that I wouldn’t press charges on him.”

Instead of pressing criminal charges right away, Francis chose LSU’s Title IX process. She says that the process was taking a lot of time.

“However, um, I did go through the Title 9 process here with LSU, which took a really, really long time. I started this Title 9 process in December, and the process didn’t end until the second day of classes for this fall semester. The process was really elongated due to 1 him and 2 LSU. It was never elongated due to me. I was always on time with everything that I needed to turn in and everything I needed to do but they honest, they just kept um extending it due to him or to LSU.”

Francis says the university finally found the player responsible but wasn’t satisfied with the punishment he got.

“We had a pretty rough hearing. The hearing was not the best, and then LSU said that he was accountable for rape and then proceeded to suspend him for a year even though for rape the suspension is 2 to 3 years. Even with him admitting on the record that he did rape me, they still just gave him a lesser sentence, which he then appealed.”

According to Francis, the appeal changed the outcome of the case. She learned about the decision while being in class.

“During this appeal process, it took so long and they took a long, long time to give it back to me and I ended up coming back to LSU because at first he was suspended and I did not think that they would suspend him because they had already found or suspend him because they had already found him responsible for rape. After the appeal process, LSU decided to send me the email of the appeal process during my class. So I ended up reading the appeal in my class and during the letter it said that he was still responsible for rape but he’s able to play football, join origs and everything like that.”

Francis says that this decision worsened her anxiety and changed the way she takes classes. She ends her video by urging others who have experienced something similar to contact her.

“And so that made my anxiety really, really bad because I don’t want to face this person. So this caused me to go online full time and now I am Just trying to speak on my story because LSU does really protect their athletes, especially their football players. And I’m sorry for anyone else who has gone through something similar to this. My DMs are open. You guys are more than welcome to message me. I really just wanted to bring awareness upon this situation because I’m just dealing with a lot right now and I think that this story needs to be heard. Thank you, guys, for listening to my story, and I hope you guys all have an amazing day.”

@kenndanii

edit 9/16: this has been very difficult for me to even do, my comments are off due to the overwhelming amount of support and hate. i am taking time for myself because this is a lot. i am surround by many friends helping me through this time. Thank you all for listening to my story ! fyp lsu storytime

♬ original sound – KENDALL DANIELLE

A week later, on September 21, Francis posted another TikTok video. In this video, she says she decided to press criminal charges and describes how difficult it was to find the right agency to report the crime.

“Hello, everyone. I just want to first come on here and just clear up a few things of what’s been going on with this entire situation. So first, I just want to talk about the fact that there has been a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes, and I did decide to go press criminal charges. So first, we went to the Baton Rouge Police Department, which they then told us that where the rape happened, it was not in their jurisdiction. So we had to go through LSU police to file charges.”

In addition, the video mentions that the arrest could lead to prosecution.

“And I want to be straightforward with you. And just what I see, I see issues. And I just want to be honest with you. That doesn’t mean he’s not going to be arrested. But it means he could be arrested. And then it’s just, you want to talk about accountability, right? And you can ask Detective Brevet. We arrest people all the time. And what happens is they’ll just dismiss the case.”

Francis says that the clip is from a one-hour-and-a-half-long interview with LSU. She accuses the university of victim-blaming despite admitting guilt during the Title IX hearing.

“So in that clip, that short little clip of the, what, hour and a half long interview that I had with LSU, they basically just kept victim blaming me, even though that the person admitted to it on the record that he did it during the Title IX hearing. They still basically said that there’s possibly nothing that’s going to be done. I just seriously don’t understand how they could have someone here who has admitted to a crime and not pursue charges on them themselves. Or even when I came in to pursue charges, basically said that nothing was going to be done and pretty much that I’m wasting my time.”

Francis also tells about visiting the LSU Police Department and the lack of attention from the staff there.

“And that’s kind of what I did today. Even during the time that I walked into the LSU PD office, I was basically just dismissed. They took a long time to get to me. They didn’t even really try to help me out. They didn’t give me my file number or anything. I had to go up there and ask for it, even though the paper was sitting on the desk. Like, they allowed people to come in, get help before me, and I just basically wasn’t hurt at all.”

Francis argues that the university prioritizes athletics over students’ safety. She also mentioned the video screenshot that she says is from the Title IX hearing.

“Sexual assault and rape should matter more than football, and LSU is showing that football matters more than anything,” Francis said. “And that was a screenshot of the Title IX hearing of them putting on the record that he admitted to raping me.”

She ends the video by thanking her supporters.

“Lastly, I just want to come on here and say thank you to all the support and everyone who’s reaching out to me. And just know to keep your head up high if you’re dealing with something similar to this. Know that you know your truth, and you know what happened to you, and no one can take that away from you. Thank you guys all, and have a wonderful day.”

Francis later updated the video description to say that she pressed charges. In the September 24 edit, she says that she disabled the comments because of the negative feedback she got.

“update: i pressed charges #Isu #|sufootball #mystory edit 9/24: i just wanna first start off my saying thank you to all for the support i really do appreciate it! i have turned my comments off just due to the disgusting amount of hate i am getting for wtv reason. pls understand that i am human and i am not all knowing of everything. this situation has been very traumatic for me so im careful of how i am moving in this situation. I am not alone and i have the most amazing support system helping currently. i don’t owe any explanation of any details to any of you so please stop asking. the people that need the details have it! the point of my video was to raise awareness to the situation which it did. thank you!”

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The case moved beyond the university’s internal process. The East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney’s Office opened the criminal investigation of the accusations. District Attorney Hillar Moore confirmed the previous university process in his statement.

“We understand that the matter was previously addressed through a campus-level investigatory and review process and that the LSU Police Department and the Baton Rouge Police Department have information concerning the matter,” Moore said.

The criminal investigation is ongoing. No criminal charges have been announced against the football player.