By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
Next to wide receiver, the biggest restoration project that LSU coach Lane Kiffin and his staff broke ground on during the portal period last December and January was the offensive line.
Kiffin brought in nine wide receivers for a position that will usually have three to five on the field.
He added eight offensive linemen for the unit of five.
At first glance on Sept. 5 when the No. 10 Tigers host Clemson (6:30 p.m., ABC) in Tiger Stadium, the new quintet will be impressively tall and wide.
The starting five entering August practices is expected to be junior transfer Jordan Seaton (6-foot-5, 307 pounds) of Colorado at left tackle, returning fifth-year senior, but new starter Bo Bordelon (6-6, 305) at left guard, returning fifth-year senior starting center Braelin Moore (6-2, 301), who transferred last year from Virginia Tech, senior transfer Aliou Bah (6-5, 327) of Maryland at right guard and returning sophomore starter Weston Davis at right tackle.
That’s three holdovers, but the star is expected to be Seaton, the No. 1 tackle and No. 3 overall portal player when he signed with the Tigers.
“Jordan has done a phenomenal job,” Kiffin said. “His body’s changing. His work ethic is great. I’ll come here, it’ll be a Sunday at 9 p.m., and he’ll be out there doing his own stuff, working out. I’m happy that Jordan leads.”
Bordelon impressed the staff after playing as a reserve for most of his career.
“Our line coaches have been really excited about him from day one,” Kiffin said. “Sometimes new coaches come in and see different things in players, or a different system helps them.
Moore has started 36 games in three seasons. Bah was the No. 5 interior offensive lineman in the portal and No. 109 overall player.
Davis started 10 games last season at right guard, but the new staff sees him as a tackle with that size.
“He’s done a good job,” Kiffin said. “Trying to make him more consistent like any young player, and he has a high ceiling.”
Kiffin also has No. 6 interior offensive lineman and No. 112 portal player Devin Harper (6-4, 312) from Ole Miss, where he played in six games as a true freshman last season, but primarily at right tackle. He was the No. 15 offensive tackle in the nation coming out of Calvary Baptist in Shreveport in 2025, but he played guard during the spring. He closed spring as the No. 2 left guard to the surprise emergence of Bordelon.
Other significant depth like Harper will also come from the portal as Kiffin recruited linemen for now and the future.
No. 23 interior offensive lineman transfer William Satterwhite II (6-3, 293) of Tennessee is a redshirt sophomore and closed spring as the No. 2 center. Sean Thompkins Jr. (6-5, 300) was the No. 25 offensive tackle in the portal from Baylor and enters August as the No. 2 left tackle behind Seaton as a redshirt sophomore. Redshirt junior transfer Ja’Quan Sprinkle (6-4, 297) of North Carolina Central is behind Bah at right guard after signing ast the No. 61 interior offensive lineman. Behind Davis at right tackle is giant redshirt freshman Darrin Stray (6-7, 314), who played for new LSU offensive line coach Eric Wolford at Kentucky last season. Stray was the No. 41 offensive tackle in the portal.
Another transfer who will help with depth is sophomore Ja’Mard Jones (6-2, 312), a transfer from Nicholls State who was the No. 143 tackle in the portal.
“This is not normal territory that we’re going into,” Kiffin said of the eight transfer offensive linemen. “You can’t open the book of old coaching on how you do this, because rosters have never been turned like this.”
So, Kiffin added a second vastly experienced offensive line coach in James Cregg as a run game specialist. He was LSU’s offensive line coach from 2018-20 with a national title in ’19, and his unit won the award for best overall offensive line.
Cregg previously coached on offensive lines in the NFL at Oakland, Denver, Los Angeles (Chargers) and Las Vegas. He coached offensive line under Kiffin at Oakland in 2007-08 and under him in college head coaching jobs at Tennessee (2009), USC (2010-13) and last year at Ole Miss.
“I love the combination of those two guys (Cregg and Wolford) because they’ve done a lot of good things,” Kiffin said. “They’ve been at some great places with some tough offensive lines. Both have been in the NFL.”
Wolford coached on the offensive line at San Francisco in 2015 and ’16. He also coached the O-Line under coach Nick Saban at Alabama in 2022 and ’23 before going to Kentucky when Saban retired.
“That’s a great situation, and that is good timing because there is so much work to do there, because os much of the room is new,” Kiffin said. “And there was so much transition there from last year.”
Kiffin, Wolford and Cregg have tried to build the base entering preseason practice.
“We build that culture, and you’re an outlier when you just check the box and you’re normal,” Kiffin said. “That’s what we’re trying to build here – that the extra work becomes the norm. Building that mindset in the way that you work. We have some players that have that.”
Be the first to comment