LSU football sees transfer portal exodus on offensive line

When it was announced that LSU Football was hiring the best head coach on the market, Tigers fans all assumed things would be perfect. The new staff would build a roster to rival the top teams in the nation, and 11 wins in 2026 would be the standard.

Ever since it was announced that the team wouldn’t retain former offensive line coach Brad Davis, those dreams of immediate success have wilted and Kiffin will have to do his fair share of rebuilding.

Six LSU offensive linemen have announced plans to enter the NCAA transfer portal: OT/OG Carius Curne, OT Ory Williams, OL DJ Chester, OG Coen Echols, OT Tyree Adams, and OG Paul Mubenga.

Although LSU’s offensive line was in no way a good group in 2025, half of the players listed above were young, high-upside building blocks for the future. Here’s what the impact of this mass exodus might be.

Adams, Chester and Mubenga have all spent a fair amount of time in Baton Rouge, and barring a serious spike in development, it didn’t seem likely that they would develop into high-level starters. However, the other three—Echols, Williams and Curne—are younger players who flashed in their limited snaps in 2025.

Curne was a true freshman thrust into a starting role early on in 2025. A former highly-touted recruit, he took time to adjust to the college level, but still flashed plenty of potential. It was assumed that a potential switch inside—along with an offseason of development and strength training—could lead to Curne taking a real step forward in year two.

Echols, a redshirt freshman, was in a similar situation to Curne. He was the fifth-ranked interior offensive lineman in the 2024 class and one of the better pass protectors on the line in 2025. Despite run blocking being less of a strength for him, plays like the one below had fans excited about what he could become in that area as well.

Nothing spectacular here, but I continue to be high on Coen Echols future. Definitely a guy LSU needs to hold on to. pic.twitter.com/mJnMKeJr4N

— Will Rosenblatt (@rozenwill) November 23, 2025

Based on his ranking out of high school, along with his performance when he took the field, Williams doesn’t stack up with the other two. While that may be true, given what’s happened to the Tigers’ offensive line over the past few weeks, it would have been nice to keep him in town.

LSU is now completely out of depth on the offensive line. Assuming all six linemen who have announced their plans to transfer will in fact leave, only two of the Tigers’ top eight snap-getters on the offensive line will be on the team in 2026. The transfer portal typically isn’t the place to look for starters on the offensive line, and especially not more than one. That’s what LSU is, though, with only two offensive linemen signing with the team as part of its 2026 class—only one of whom could even consider taking snaps early on.

Kiffin and LSU’s new offensive line coach, Eric Wolford, will need to do a great job of attacking the portal to find replacements—and potentially convince Echols and Curne to stay in Baton Rouge.

This article originally appeared on LSU Wire: LSU football sees transfer portal exodus on offensive line