By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
New LSU football coach Lane Kiffin held his first press conference on Wednesday afternoon since his introduction on Dec. 1, and he explained his flurry of roster activity over the last two months.
“We had a lot to replace,” he said shortly after 2 p.m. at the LSU football operations building of the more than 30 LSU players from the disappointing 7-6 team of 2025 who entered the NCAA Transfer Portal quickly as the portal window opened on Jan. 2.
Complete Lane Kiffin press conference from today. Story coming shortly.https://t.co/F6Xi4JBS5r
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) February 4, 2026
“Part of that was some players’ decisions to move on because they felt a certain way with the previous staff versus the direction we were going,” he said. “Part of that was our decisions, too. I will never come up and say anything about the last staff and how they did things, because it doesn’t mean our way’s better or worse. It’s just different. So, in those evaluations, you usually come in and make a lot of changes. And especially if the program made a change and hired a new staff, because they didn’t like the direction of the football team, which is what happened.”
Initially, LSU fans and media were surprised at some of the players leaving LSU via the portal, especially several starting offensive linemen, particularly promising true freshman Carius Curne.
“I know at first there was a lot of skepticism about so many players going into the portal,” Kiffin said. “But I just looked at it and was like, ‘Ok, what’s my answer to you as the fans and media, too, if we just kept the same players?’ I mean, we are good coaches, I think, but we also don’t have magic dust, too.”
Translation: Kiffin was not impressed with the talent on LSU’s roster from last season. This is why he let so many leave without argument and signed 41 new players from the transfer portal that was ranked No. 1 in the nation by 247sports.com and was easily the most he ever signed since the portal began in 2021-22.
“We changed a lot because they needed to be changed,” he said. “Same within the building. Our specialty is our evaluation.”
OMG! Lane Kiffin will enter the building today at LSU … And it’s going to be like a game. Column:https://t.co/i81pXnpgM5
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) February 4, 2026
But Kiffin cautioned LSU fans and media to not assume the Tigers are going to automatically win the national championship next season or automatically qualify for the playoffs for the first time since the 2019 season because of the new, 58-man scholarship roster of college transfers and junior college and high school signees.
That features the aforementioned 41 portal signees who were at four-year colleges, 15 high school signees with 14 of those from the Dec. 3-5 early period and one on Wednesday in Shaw safety Jackson Williams and two junior college signees in offensive tackle JaKolby Jones of Copiah-Lincoln Community College in Wesson, Mississippi, on Jan. 9 and offensive tackle Adrian Lamb of Georgia Military College on Wednesday.
“Where that puts us now is that we have a really talented roster,” Kiffin said. “Does that mean we’re going to win games? Not necessarily. Does that mean they’re going to be a great team? No. But we have a lot of work to do now. We had a team meeting this morning right here a few hours ago and talked a lot about that. ‘You all came together and came from all these different places, Ok. But now you’ve got to put all that aside, and you’ve got to work for the betterment of the program and the team and put all that together.’ That will be a ton of work for a long time now in this off-season. Excited about the work ahead.”
Not quite as much as he has now, but Kiffin is used to roster turnover. He regularly had that after annually signing top portal classes at Ole Miss from 2022-25 on and produced four 10-win seasons in the last five years. That included the Rebels’ first College Football Playoff in history this past season as they reached the semifinals of the 12-team playoff.
“It is a big challenge to be able to say, ‘Ok, can we put them all together, so they play really well?’ And we’ve been able to do that really the last couple of years at the previous place after a ton of turnover, especially last year,” he said. “And we were able to do what we did, so.”
Kiffin was asked about his comment on Jan. 20 at the Baton Rouge Business Report’s leadership breakfast that his 2026 portal class is the best in portal history (2022-26).
“Well, I think talent-wise, probably,” he said. “Now, a lot of that, too, is the numbers and the volume when I make that statement. Probably would be the best ever on paper, buy part of that is the numbers.”
Kiffin’s previous No. 1 portal class in 2024 had only 26 signees. Former LSU coach Brian Kelly had the No. 1 class last year, but with only 18.
Kiffin’s portal class is built for the now with such players as No. 1 portal quarterback Sam Leavitt, a junior from Arizona State, and No. 1 offensive tackle Jordan Seaton, a junior from Colorado. But also for the future because of the 21 players in the class who are sophomores or younger.
“One of the mistakes that have been made over time is people’s portal focus is so top heavy that they go get these top players, but then they don’t really do a good job of necessarily having really good evaluations of the twos and threes that make your program better by how you practice,” he said. “But also eventually playing.”
QUARTERBACK SAM LEAVITT INJURY UPDATE
Kiffin commented on Leavitt’s foot injury from last season that will make him miss much of spring practice.
“Sam will be able to throw some and participate in the seven-on-seven stuff this spring (in mid-March),” he said. “Probably not the team stuff.”
LANE KIFFIN PRAISES BATON ROUGE FOR HELPING WITH RECRUITING PROCESS
Kiffin said the LSU campus and the city of Baton Rouge helped attract his all-star portal class.
“The whole town was amazing,” he said. “The people at the restaurants, the hotel, the campus – it was unbelievable. And the players could feel that.”
LSU TRANSFER PORTAL SIGNEES (41)
– No. 1 By 247Sports.com
– No. 4 by On3.com, but its ranking is of the entire roster
Position Ranking … Name … Previous School … Size … 2026 Class
No. 1 Quarterback Sam Leavitt of Arizona State, 6-2, 205, Redshirt Junior
No. 1 Edge Princewill Umanmielen of Ole Miss, 6-5, 245, Senior
No. 1 Offensive Tackle Jordan Seaton of Colorado, 6-5, 330, Junior
No. 2 Safety Ty Benefield of Boise State, 6-2, 205, Senior
No. 3 Guard/Center Devin Harper of Ole Miss, 6-4, 315, Sophomore
No. 6 Edge Jodan Ross of Tennessee, 6-5, 246, Junior
No. 7 Quarterback Husan Longstreet of USC, 6-0, 200, Redshirt Freshman
No. 8 Linebacker TJ Dottery of Ole Miss, 6-2, 230, Fifth-Year Senior
No. 10 Safety Faheem Delane of Ohio State, 6-1, 210, Sophomore
No. 12 Defensive Lineman Stephiylan Green of Clemson, 6-4, 290, Redshirt Junior
No. 12 Wide Receiver Eugene “Tre” Wilson III of Florida, 5-10, 194, Redshirt Junior
No. 18 Defensive Lineman Malik Blocton of Auburn, 6-3, 291, Junior
No. 21 Guard/Center William Satterwhite of Tennessee, 6-3, 305, Redshirt Sophomore
No. 23 Offensive Tackle Sean Thompkins, Baylor, 6-5, 300, Redshirt Sophomore
No. 26 Wide Receiver Jayce Brown of Kansas State, 6-0, 179, Senior
No. 28 Wide Receiver Winston Watkins of Ole Miss, 5-11, 185, Sophomore
No. 31 Wide Receiver Tre Brown III of Old Dominion, 6-2, 180, Redshirt Junior
No. 37 Offensive Tackle Darrin Strey of Kentucky, 6-7, 322, Redshirt Freshman
No. 40 Wide Receiver Jackson Harris of Hawaii, 6-3, 205, Redshirt Junior
No. 48 Tight End Malachi Thomas of Pittsburgh, 6-4, 240, Junior
No. 58 Guard/Center Ja’Quan Sprinkle of North Carolina Central, 6-3, 295, Redshirt Junior
No. 61 Quarterback Landen Clark of Elon, 6-0, 186, Redshirt Sophomore
No. 72 Guard/Center Aliou Bah of Maryland, 6-6, 327, Fifth-Year Senior
No. 73 Running Back Dilin Jones of Wisconsin, 6-0, 208, Redshirt Sophomore
No. 89 Edge Jaylen Brown of South Carolina, 6-5, 265, Redshirt Sophomore
No. 93 Tight End Zach Grace of Oregon, 6-3, 238, Redshirt Junior
No. 95 Running Back Raycine Guillory of Utah, 5-9, 190, Redshirt Freshman
No. 114 Running Back Rod Gainey Jr. of Charlotte, 6-0, 175, Redshirt Sophomore
No. 121 Running Back Stacy Gage of Central Florida, 5-11, 210, Redshirt Sophomore
No. 128 Offensive Tackle Ja’Mard Jones of Nicholls State, 6-4, 295, Sophomore
No. 141 Wide Receiver Malik Elzy of Illinois, 6-2, 225, Redshirt Junior
No. 156 Safety Mason Dossett of Baylor, 6-1, 194, Redshirt Sophomore
No. 158 Defensive Lineman Achilles Woods of South Alabama, 6-3, 289, Redshirt Sophomore
No. 174 Wide Receiver Tyree Holloway of West Florida, 6-0, 180, Redshirt Junior
No. 187 Safety Treylan James of Southern, 6-3, 190, Redshirt Junior
No. 225 Wide Receiver Josh Jackson of McNeese, 6-2, 205, Redshirt Sophomore
No. 226 Wide Receiver Roman Mothershed of Troy, 6-4, 208, Redshirt Junior
Unranked Linebacker Theo Grace of North Dakota, 6-1, 230, Redshirt Freshman
Unranked Punter Hayden Craig of Florida, 6-1, 208, Redshirt Freshman
Unranked Long Snapper Mack Mulhern of Florida, 6-0, 225, Redshirt Freshman
Unranked Kicker Scott Starzyk of Arkansas, 5-10, 172, Sophomore
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