By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
When it comes to recruiting for LSU coach Lane Kiffin, “No” means it’s time to schedule a flight. And fast.
That is what the first-year Tigers’ coach did when No. 1-ranked Transfer Portal quarterback Sam Leavitt of Arizona State left his visit to Baton Rouge after saying no to signing with the Tigers before departure to Knoxville, Tennessee, with scheduled visits at Tennessee and then Miami.
So, Kiffin flew to Knoxville and touched base with Leavitt before he boarded a flight to Miami. And eventually Leavitt touched down at LSU.
“He has a super powerful arm and is extremely confident. And he can run. What he’s really good at, too, is deciphering a lot of information in half a second.” LSU QB Sam Leavitt’s coach at West Linn High in Oregon – Jon Eagle. https://t.co/RoUUULDayE
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) January 13, 2026
Kiffin also flew to Atlanta for one more face-to-face with No. 1-ranked portal offensive tackle Jordan Seaton of Colorado while Seaton was being courted by Oregon coach Dan Lanning in Atlanta. And Kiffin got Seaton to LSU, too, over Oregon, Miami and Mississippi State.
Call it Lane Kiffin Express Airlines – “When you absolutely, positively have to be there by tonight.” And come back with a portal signature.
Leavitt and Seaton were two of the most glimmering jewels of Kiffin’s No. 1-ranked, 41-man portal class by 247sports.com.
“I don’t know. I just know how I do things,” Kiffin said at an LSU press conference Wednesday when asked about his two 11th hour flights, which is a rarity even in the wild world of college football recruiting.
“I will never say anything about the last staff and how they did things, because it doesn’t mean our way’s better or worse. #Itsjustdifferent.” … Lane Kiffin yesterday. https://t.co/iAnLxb9gJT
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) February 5, 2026
“There’s good and bad to it,” Kiffin said. “I’m competitive, and I don’t really do well with, ‘No.’ That just makes me more competitive when someone says, ‘No.’ Sometimes that happens in recruiting – they say, ‘No.’ But I think that’s my job. That’s my job to LSU. Everything I do is for the place of where I coach at. That school, for those players and those fans. And that makes me not very liked a lot of times by others.”
Kiffin’s maverick ways are particularly not liked by the fan bases at schools who loved that about him … until he caught a flight out of town for good. Fan bases and some media members like at Tennessee, where his 7-6 campaign in his lone season there in 2009 before flying to USC was the Volunteers’ only winning ledger in a six-year stretch from 2008-13 that featured four head coaches.
And butt-sore fan bases and media members like at Ole Miss, which had exactly one 10-win season between 1972-2000 before Kiffin went 10-3 in 2021, 11-2 in 2023, 10-3 in 2024 and 13-2 in 2025. He flew from Oxford to Baton Rouge last Nov. 30 – two days after finishing off the Rebels’ best regular season at 11-1 and 7-1 since a 10-0 and 6-0 mark in 1962.
“My job here is to go sign the best players, regardless if that means I’ve got to go get on another plane or find a plane and show up somewhere and walk through Knoxville Airport to find a guy,” Kiffin said. “And that’s just kind of how I work. And I Iike that. Because I think that wires in with Louisiana people.”
Like Louisiana people who somehow find airline tickets and hotel rooms for Omaha, Nebraska, for the College World Series the night before the Tigers play in another national championship game or series.
“Because I think that’s how they think,” Kiffin said. “Like, no job’s too small, and find a way to go get it done.”
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