By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
WWL Radio sports talk show host and NFL Draft expert Mike Detillier did not mince words on Tuesday night’s Tiger Rag Radio appearance when the subject of new LSU football coach Lane Kiffin came up.
“I think he’s the perfect coach, to be honest with you, in the era that we’re in today,” Detillier said to kick off hour two of the show, which can be listened to in its entirety by clicking here or the box above.
Tracking Lane Kiffin’s Tweets at Tiger Rag … https://t.co/tCXsSBCZX9
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) February 25, 2026
“He’s the perfect fit for today’s NIL, Transfer Portal era. He’s worried about today, OK, And you can only control 2026,” Detillier said. “You can have a plan for 2027, but you can only control 2026. I give him a lot of credit for his ability to find people that fit what he does.”
That last part – “ability to find people that fit what he does” – echoed nearly exactly what a long time LSU power broker in the business world said of Kiffin when LSU athletic director Verge Ausberry was in the process of hiring Kiffin last November from the Ole Miss head coaching job.
It’s over. Lane Kiffin is LSU’s next football coach. Press conference introducing him set for Monday at LSU.https://t.co/kTRsVE78Of
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) November 30, 2025
“Since Nick (Saban) retired, there’s been no one who can inventory talent and use it appropriately better than Lane,” the Tiger Rag source said.
And LSU fans will find out soon how true that will continue to be. Kiffin signed easily the best Transfer Portal class in the brief history of the immediately eligible portal that began in 2021. He signed 41 players out of the portal for the 2026 No. 1 ranking by 247sports.com. The most he had previously signed out of the portal in one year while at Ole Miss was 30 in 2025 when his class was ranked fourth by 247sports.com. He had the No. 1 class in 2024 with 27 and the No. 2 class in 2022 and ’23 with 20 and 23, respectively.
Kiffin made Ole Miss a power like it had not been since the days of coach Johnny Vaught in the 1950s and ’60s via the portal.
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Kiffin put up four 10-win seasons over the last five years of his six-year stay in Oxford – 10-3 and 6-2 in the SEC in 2021, 11-2 and 6-2 in 2023, 10-3 and 5-3 in 2024 and 11-1 and 7-1 last year. From 1972 until 2020 when Kiffin arrived Ole Miss had exactly two double-digit win seasons in 2003 and 2015.
“When has Ole Miss been relevant other than maybe a rocket shot year? Look at what he was able to do at Ole Miss – bring them to national acclaim,” Detillier said. “They really came close to playing in the national championship game.”
With the NFL Scouting Combine going on in Indianapolis this week in preparation for the April 23-25 NFL Draft, Detillier discussed the rise of former LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier. An abdomen-related injury in which he kept on playing in pain throughout the 2025 season hurt his draft status, which was that of a likely No. 1 pick had he entered the ’25 draft.
“I think the third quarterback to come off the board is Garrett Nussmeier in round two,” Detillier said.
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— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) February 24, 2026
Detillier, like virtually everyone else, has national champion Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza as the first pick of the 2026 draft by the Las Vegas Raiders. And he has Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson going in the middle to late portion of the first round. And that’s it until Nussmeier.
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“This is not a huge class, numbers and talent wise at quarterback,” he said. “Garrett’s got to prove that he’s healthy, and we saw it at the Senior Bowl. He was impressive throwing the football. And he looked pretty close to being back completely from the injury. The Combine will be an extensive medical, so everybody’s going to get a look at the abdominal injury and everything else that occurred with him. It’s supply and demand. I do not think gets out of round two.”
Detillier only sees two LSU wide receivers going as early as the second and third rounds – Barion Brown and Aaron Anderson.
“With Barion, right off the bat, he can help as a return man. He’s really good at that,” he said. “And Aaron Anderson. Not the biggest guy (5-foot-8, 188 pounds), probably not the fastest. But you talk about a little playmaker, and that’s Aaron Anderson – the slot, the jet sweeps, wide receiver screens. I get asked about him more than anyone.”
Anderson also is adept at gaining separation from cornerbacks and safeties.
“The one thing I didn’t see from Nic Anderson, Barion Brown, Chris Hilton – they did not get separation from defensive backs,” Detillier said. “They did not. They were stuck to them like they had Velcro. Chris Hilton is on the all-potential team. You didn’t have a lot of production there. The one guy who did get separation was Anderson. He’s the guy. He can play at the NFL level and return punts.”
Asked if former Tiger Mansoor Delane has a chance at being the first cornerback taken in the first round, Detillier said, “No question. He’ll go anywhere from probably pick number nine to number thirteen.”
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