By ANDRE CHAMPAGNE, Tiger Rag Staff Reporter
LSU just landed another top 10-ranked Transfer Portal player.
TJ Dottery, a starting linebacker at Ole Miss for 27 games over the last two seasons, committed to new LSU coach Lane Kiffin, who coached him for three seasons as Ole Miss’ head coach, late Friday night as the No. 9-ranked linebacker in the portal and No. 136 prospect overall by 247sports.com. He is Kiffin’s seventh top 10 portal player.
Dottery (6-foot-2, 230 pounds), a redshirt junior in 2025, made 98 tackles through 15 starts last season for the Rebels (13-2, 7-1 Southeastern Conference), who reached the semifinals of the College Football Playoff. He had 5.5 stops for loss with 1.5 sacks, two forced fumbles and two pass breakups. Dottery will be a senior for the Tigers in 2026.
Committed to The Boot
— LSU Football (@LSUfootball) January 17, 2026
Welcome to Baton Rouge TJ Dottery pic.twitter.com/FZQ5rEOJQ1
Dottery entered the portal just after midnight on Thursday and wasted little time deciding on his new school. He visited LSU on Thursday and Friday before making his pledge.
Lane Kiffin at Court To Table with Ole Miss transfer starting linebacker TJ Dottery 👀
— Andre Champagne (@andrechampagnee) January 16, 2026
Pickleball has been the secret recruiting tactic for Kiffin and Co. so far this portal cycle.
Will it work with Dottery? 👀@TigerRagMedia @Lane_Kiffin pic.twitter.com/cY0CBWNikw
Dottery had 174 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks, three pass breakups, three forced fumbles and one fumble recovery over the last two seasons.
When does this man sleep? After 5 portal commitments Friday, Lane Kiffin has 36. LSU had 40 portal additions combined in 2025 (18), 2024 (9) and 2023 (13).https://t.co/CZcgAIE8IH
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) January 17, 2026
A four-star prospect from Catholic High in Montgomery, Alabama, in 2022, Dottery signed with Clemson as the No. 37 linebacker in the country and No. 13 player in his state. He played sparingly in 2022 and ’23 and was red-shirted in ’23. He transferred to Kiffin and Ole Miss for the ’24 season.
Dottery is the third player on Ole Miss’ 2025 team, which set the school record for wins in a season, to transfer to Kiffin, who took the Rebels’ program to new heights since the 2020 season. The previous two were No. 3 guard/center Devin Harper and No. 27 wide receiver Winston Watkins.
Dottery will team up with LSU senior linebacker Whit Weeks, who has also been a starter the last two seasons and one of the SEC’s top linebackers like Dottery.
TJ Dottery and Whit Weeks are going to be one of the most exciting linebacker duos in all of CFB next season 👀🔥
— Andre Champagne (@andrechampagnee) January 17, 2026
Dottery and Weeks combine for
– 64 games of experience
– 381 tackles
– 26.5 TFL
– 8.5 sacks
– 7 PBU
– 5 FF
– 2 FR
– 1 INT pic.twitter.com/eZoULs10zk
Dottery is LSU’s 37th commitment to Kiffin’s 2026 portal class that is his largest and LSU’s largest in history.
LSU PORTAL COMMITS/SIGNEES (37) – No. 1 By 247Sports.com, No. 8 By On3*:
No. 1 Quarterback Sam Leavitt of Arizona State
No. 2 Safety Ty Benefield of Boise State
No. 3 Guard/Center Devin Harper of Ole Miss
No. 6 Quarterback Husan Longstreet of USC
No. 7 Edge Jordan Ross of Tennessee
No. 9 Linebacker TJ Dottery of Ole Miss
No. 10 Safety Faheem Delane of Ohio State
No. 11 Defensive Lineman Stephiylan Green of Clemson
No. 12 Wide Receiver Eugene “Tre” Wilson III of Florida
No. 13 Defensive Lineman Malik Blocton of Auburn
No. 16 Guard/Center William Satterwhite of Tennessee
No. 23 Offensive Tackle Sean Thompkins, Baylor
No. 26 Wide Receiver Jayce Brown of Kansas State
No. 27 Receiver Winston Watkins of Ole Miss
No. 30 Wide Receiver Tre Brown III of Old Dominion
No. 30 Offensive Tackle Darrin Strey of Kentucky
No. 39 Tight End Malachi Thomas of Pittsburgh
No. 40 Wide Receiver Jackson Harris of Hawaii
No. 49 Guard/Center Ja’Quan Sprinkle of North Carolina Central
No. 56 Quarterback Landen Clark of Elon
No. 67 Guard/Center Aliou Bah of Maryland
No. 82 Edge Jaylen Brown of South Carolina
No. 84 Running Back Raycine Guillory of Utah
No. 104 Running Back Rod Gainey Jr. of Charlotte
No. 124 Defensive Lineman Achilles Woods of South Alabama
No. 136 Wide Receiver Malik Elzy of Illinois
No. 154 Wide Receiver Tyree Holloway of West Florida
No. 205 Wide Receiver Josh Jackson of McNeese
No. 206 Wide Receiver Roman Mothershed of Troy
Unranked Wide Receiver/Defensive Back Mason Dossett of Baylor
Unranked Guard/Center Ja’Mard Jones of Nicholls State
Unranked Tight End Zach Grace of Oregon
Unranked Running Back Dilin Jones of Wisconsin
Unranked Safety Treylan James of Southern
Unranked Punter Hayden Craig of Florida
Unranked Long Snapper Mack Mulhern of Florida
Unranked Kicker Scott Starzyk of Arkansas
*On3’s Team Transfer Portal Ranking Index utilizes the On3 (P)erformance score to measure a team’s production during the transfer process, compared relative against its overall roster, not just portal additions. This proprietary algorithm determines if a school has improved its overall team talent, stayed the same, or declined in talent during the transfer window.
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