The remaking of LSU‘s football program — and roster — under Lane Kiffin has been a massive one since he took over at the beginning of December. He pieced together a coaching staff, despite some of those coaches remaining at Ole Miss through the end of the Rebels’ College Football Playoff run. And they quickly […]
The remaking of LSU‘s football program — and roster — under Lane Kiffin has been a massive one since he took over at the beginning of December. He pieced together a coaching staff, despite some of those coaches remaining at Ole Miss through the end of the Rebels’ College Football Playoff run.
And they quickly went to work not only closing out the 2026 high school recruiting class, but also landing more than 40 transfers to help speed up the roster makeover in Baton Rouge. With the signing of Ole Miss star defensive end transfer Princewill Umanmielen early Wednesday morning, that number was officially up to 43 new additions.
And on the high school side, they signed 14 players during the Early Signing Period and added three more commits since then who will sign in February or later this spring. The class will be small by the standards of previous head coach Brian Kelly, but Kiffin — dubbed as the Portal King — takes a different approach to roster-building.
He has relied heavily on the portal since he took over in Oxford, regularly bringing in top-5 transfer classes. With the access to talent he’ll have at LSU in the high school ranks though, his strategy could change a bit. For BengalTiger.com insider Shea Dixon, he thinks Kiffin will begin his tenure attack roster-building similarly to how he did at Ole Miss.
Tigers staff already recruiting for 2027, 2028
“When I look back at what he did at Ole Miss, he was so well-known for the portal and they went heavy into it,” he said Wednesday during On3’s Inside Scoop YouTube show. “But every year, they still signed about 20 high school guys, sometimes more. So I think that 14 number (how many LSU signed this cycle) was more of just the circumstance they were in.”
Despite coming in just over seven weeks ago, the Tigers’ staff has been busy recruiting the high school level, in addition to their portal work. They held onto a commitment from top-100 quarterback Peyton Houston out of Evangel Christian Academy (La.), a big win for their 2027 class.
And just a few weeks ago, they beat out a host of other powerhouse programs for Rivals’ No. 1 edge rusher in the junior class, Jaiden Bryant. The level of talent can Kiffin can attract to Baton Rouge will be a step up from Ole Miss, and Dixon thinks he fully plans to take advantage of that.
Not only can they land elite players in the portal, but they can also sign some of the nation’s best at the high school level.
“They’ve handed out 2028 offers in the past couple of days. So it’s going to be a blend [of transfers and high school recruits],” Dixon said. “I would be floored if you and I are sitting here a year from now talking about another Lane Kiffin portal haul that is 40-something guys deep.”
Inside the state in 2027 alone, six players are ranked among the top-100 nationally and 13 are considered blue-chip recruits.
Category: General Sports
