By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
The next NCAA Transfer Portal window does not open until Friday, but 17 LSU players are lining up at the door, so to speak.
The latest three are starting redshirt sophomore offensive guard Paul Mubenga of Buford High in Buford, Georgia, redshirt freshman offensive tackle Ory Williams of San Marcos High in San Marcos, Texas, and LSU athletic director Verge Ausberry’s son – junior reserve safety Austin Ausberry of University High in Baton Rouge.
Mubenga started for the sixth time this season and played in his 10th game Saturday night at the Texas Bowl in Houston in the Tigers’ 38-35 loss to No. 21 Houston (10-3) in Houston. Williams did not start but did play for the 12th time this season. He started against Arkansas and Western Kentucky late in the regular season. Ausberry did not play Saturday and played in only four games on the season after playing in 12, mainly on special teams, last season. He has one tackle in his LSU career.
New LSU coach Lane Kiffin has been reviewing LSU’s roster and preparing for the next portal window that runs from Jan. 2-16 after great success at it as Ole Miss’ coach from 2020-25. But the coach known as the “Portal King” told the LSU Radio Network in an interview during the Texas Bowl in the booth that the system is seriously flawed.
“There are some good parts of it as a first-year coach when you come in, and you’ve got to add some pieces,” he said. “And so the portal is a good thing in that way. But in general, it’s gotten out of control. It’s not good for college football. Something’s got to be fixed. Everybody around the country is just going in, and the portal’s not even open yet. Our coaches today were saying, ‘All these guys are in.’ I’m like, ‘It’s not even open. They’re not in. They’re just leveraging this.’ So, it’s just a bad system.”
This from a coach who mastered the portal at Ole Miss since the beginning with portal class rankings of No. 2 in 2022 with 20 transfers, No. 2 in ’23 with 23 additions, No. 1 in ’24 with 26 transfers and No. 4 in 2025 with 30 additions. Those classes largely were responsible for Kiffing going 55-19 (.743) at Ole Miss from 2020-25 with a 32-17 mark in the SEC (.653), including a 32-6 record (.842) the last three seasons with an 18-6 SEC ledger (.750).
His No. 6-ranked Ole Miss team (12-1) and the new LSU offensive coaches he brought from Ole Miss who are continuing to coach the Rebels in the postseason play No. 3 Georgia (12-1) on Thursday in a College Football Playoff quarterfinal in the Sugar Bowl (7 p.m., ESPN) on New Year’s night in New Orleans.
Kiffin understands why players are so portal motivated, and some or many of LSU’s 16 could stay at LSU, depending on his roster review.
“I don’t blame players, because they all have agents now,” he said. “And the agents want to make them the most money. So, what’s the best way to do that? Go in the portal. Even if you’re where you want to stay, you’re still seeing them go in. That’s kind of a newer thing. I tell fans, and I tell our own coaches, ‘You’re going to have to get used to being uncomfortable.’ Because these guys are going to go in or say they’re going in, and they still may re-sign.”
Players who enter the portal from Jan. 2-16 can exit the portal and return to their previous school.
Kiffin said he was taking calls from agents while watching the Texas Bowl from the sidelines with Ausberry, who hired him away from Ole Miss.
With the loss, LSU completed its season at 7-5 under interim coach Frank Wilson, who finished 2-3 and was not retained by Kiffin. Wilson was hired two weeks ago as running backs coach at Ole Miss, where Kiffin left after an historic six-season run on Nov. 29 and was introduced at LSU on Dec. 1.
Mubenga became the fifth LSU offensive lineman who has started this season to say he will enter the portal over the last week. Williams was the sixth.
“It is one of the good things about the portal – different chances that players have to get to go different places and get new coaching and a fresh start,” Kiffin said in general about the portal during an interview with ESPN’s game broadcast crew during the Texas Bowl Saturday night.
The previous four were redshirt sophomore tackle Tyree Adams, true freshman guard Carius Curne, redshirt freshman guard Coen Echols and sophomore center/guard DJ Chester. Adams and Echols started in addition to Mubenga in the Texas Bowl, and Curne played. Chester did not play.
BOTH VERGE AUSBERRY’S SONS GOING ELSEWHERE TO PLAY FOOTBALL – NOTRE DAME AND AUBURN
Ausberry could be on his third school, if he leaves LSU and doesn’t return to Auburn. He signed with Auburn out of U-High before the 2022 season. He played in four games that season with one tackle and again played four games in 2023 with one tackle before transferring to LSU.
Ausberry’s younger brother Jaiden Ausberry is a redshirt sophomore starting linebacker at Notre Dame.
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