By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
Maybe, LSU coach Lane Kiffin sees something here that others do not.
Kiffin added commitments Friday from two bottom of the barrel wide receivers in the NCAA Transfer Portal, as far as recruiting service rankings go, in unranked Malik Elzy of Illinois and No. 174 receiver in the portal in McNeese State’s Josh Jackson.
Elzy (6-foot-2, 215 pounds) caught 16 passes in three seasons at Illinois. After failing to have much of a playing role for the third straight season in 2025, Elzy quit the team on Sept. 27 after making seven catches for 84 yards through four games. That’s the maximum number of regular season games a player can log without losing that year of eligibility. So, Elzy comes to LSU with two years of eligibility remaining, barring any fashionable requests to the NCAA for another year.
Elzy caught five passes for 52 yards and a touchdown in 2023 as a true freshman in nine games. In 2024, he caught four passes for 77 yards and a touchdown in nine games. A four-star prospect from Simeon High in Chicago in 2023, Elzy was the No. 48 receiver in the nation by 247sports.com and the No. 4 prospect in Illinois.
“We started this year with a roster that we felt really strong about, and if someone doesn’t want to be a part of that, wants a redshirt, then I can’t keep them,” Illinois coach Bret Bielema said after his team’s 34-32 win over No. 21 USC on Sept. 27 when he announced Elzy leaving the team. “Love the kid to death. I’m actually leaving that conversation pissed, because I couldn’t get him to be successful the way he wanted. I just want him to be successful.”
Bielema said he would recruit Elzy 100 more times.
“It was a strategic move to fully develop and prepare to maximize his potential for the rest of his college career,” Elzy’s agent Aaron Garland at the time said to On3.
Jackson (6-2, 205) caught 20 passes for 258 yards in six games for FCS school McNeese State. A three-star prospect from St. Augustine High in New Orleans, Jackson signed with Alabama-Birmingham in 2024, but was red-shirted. He is the No. 1,198 player in the portal by 247sports.com.
Kiffin now has six wide receivers among 18 players for his portal class of 2026 with a week left in the only portal window of 2026.
Last year, then-LSU coach Brian Kelly signed 18 players from the portal in all, but their rankings were much better than what Kiffin has attained so far, and Kelly’s class finished No. 1 in the nation. Kiffin had four top four portal classes at Ole Miss from 2022-25 – No. 2 in 2022 with 20 players, No. 2 in 2023 with 23, No. 1 in 2024 with 26 and No. 4 in 2025 with 30.
LSU TRANSFER PORTAL COMMITMENTS AND/OR SIGNEES (18)
No. 2 Safety Ty Benefield of Boise State
No. 9 Defensive Lineman Stephiylan Green of Clemson
No. 10 Wide Receiver Eugene “Tre” Wilson III of Florida
No. 11 Defensive Lineman Malik Blocton of Auburn
No. 14 Edge Jordan Ross of Tennessee
No. 22 Wide Receiver Jayce Brown of Kansas State
No. 25 Wide Receiver Tre Brown III of Old Dominion
No. 34 Tight End Malachi Thomas of Pittsburgh
No. 35 Wide Receiver Jackson Harris of Hawaii
No. 79 Running Back Raycine Guillory of Utah
No. 174 Wide Receiver Josh Jackson of McNeese
Unranked Wide Receiver Malik Elzy of Illinois
Unranked Offensive Tackle Ja’Quan Sprinkle of North Carolina Central
Unranked Defensive Lineman Jaylen Brown of South Carolina
Unranked Running Back Rod Gainey Jr. of Charlotte
Unranked Punter Hayden Craig of Florida
Unranked Long Snapper Mack Mulhern of Florida
Unranked Kicker Scott Starzyk of Arkansas
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