GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
Should LSU football coach Brian Kelly call Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin soon?
“Transferring a call from Brian Kelly to you, Coach Kiffin,” Lane’s secretary might say.
“I don’t want to talk about transfers,” Lane might say. “I’m busy on my Twitter anyway.”
So, maybe Kelly should just tweet Kiffin.
“Hey, Lane, I see where you had the No. 1 transfer portal class last year. We have it now. So, uh, Wha’ Happuned last year? I need some advice.”
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Ole Miss’s No. 1 transfer portal class of 2024 by 247sports.com numbered 26 players, including five-star defensive lineman Walter Nolen of Texas A&M, and edged No. 2 Oregon, which had 14 portal signees. But the Rebels finished 10-3 overall and 5-3 in the Southeastern Conference and did not make the first year of the 12-team College Football Playoff after expansion from four.
The Rebels lost to Kentucky, which had the No. 21 portal class in the country in 2024, last season, and the Wildcats finished 4-8 overall and 1-7 in the SEC. Ole Miss also lost to LSU, which had the second-to-last-ranked portal class in the SEC and 43rd nationally. And Kiffin’s krewe lost to No. 6 portal class Florida, which finished 8-5 and 4-4.
Oregon, meanwhile, finished 13-1 and won the Big Ten in its first season in it at 9-0. The Ducks lost in the quarterfinals of the playoffs to Ohio State.
Ohio State had the No. 9 portal class, but finished as 14-2 national champions with a 4-0 run in the playoffs.
Where will LSU and Kelly land in 2025? No. 1? Somewhere in the playoffs for the first time since 2019 when the Tigers won it all pre-NIL and pre-wholesale immediate portal transfers?
On paper, LSU will land closer to Ohio State and Oregon than to Ole Miss because of the numbers associated with their portal entries. Kiffin hates to recruit the old-fashioned way. He’s all in on the portal, but he bottom feeds too much.
Last year, for example, of Kiffin’s 26 portal additions, 17 were three-star prospects. He was shopping at Dollar General.
Ohio State, on the other hand, picked carefully at Neiman Marcus. Buckeyes coach Ryan Day signed only seven players out of the portal, including five-star prospect Caleb Downs, the No. 1 player in the portal overall and No. 1 safety from Alabama, and three four stars. No program in the country signed as few out of the portal but got ranked nearly as high as Ohio State.
Oregon, too, was high end shopping as it signed just 14 with six four stars and one five star.
The wholesale dive into the portal, unless you’re at Whole Foods Market throughout, is not that prudent, as Kiffin learned.
So did Deion Sanders in 2023 when his portal class at Colorado finished No. 1 with a whopping 52 transfers in his first year as coach. He was gutting and running and signed 43 three stars. And he finished 4-8 overall and 1-8 in the Pac-12 with a 56-14 loss to Washington State, which finished 5-7. But he recovered, signed 43 out of the portal in 2024 (33 three stars) and finished 9-4 and 7-2. He’s down to 26 portal signees in 2025, but 22 are three stars. All that luster may be off.
Kiffin is still doing most of his recruiting out of the portal instead of a more high end approach. His portal class of 2025 is ranked No. 4 by 247sports.com, but he has another 19 three stars.
Kelly is more balanced. Of his 18 portal players that has the 247sports.com No. 1 ranking and No. 2 ranking by On3.com, only six are three stars. The other 12 are four stars.
Ohio State won the national championship mostly because of Day’s returning roster with some key glitter from the portal. Downs, for example, was a key addition with 81 tackles, 48 solo stops, two interceptions and six pass breakups. Oregon also had a great season, which included a home win over Ohio State, because of its returning roster.
And if LSU wins the national championship in the 2025-26 season, or comes close to it, it will mostly be because of its returning roster. Returning players such as quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, wide receivers Aaron Anderson and Chris Hilton Jr., running back Caden Durham, tight end Trey’Dez Green, offensive linemen Tyree Adams, DJ Chester and Paul Mubenga, defensive tackle Ahmad Breaux, defensive end Gabriel Reliford, linebackers Whit Weeks and Harold Perkins Jr. and defensive backs Dashawn Spears and PJ Woodland will likely be more important or as important as the best portal newcomers.
LSU’s best portal players will undoubtedly make a difference. Among the players who could make major impacts are No. 6-ranked portal safety AJ Haulcy, a senior and All-Big 12 player from the Houston Cougars, No. 3 sophomore safety Tamarcus Cooley of North Carolina State, No. 16 sophomore cornerback Ja’Keem Jackson of Florida, No. 2 senior edge Patrick Payton of Florida State, No. 15 senior cornerback Mansoor Delane of Virginia Tech, and No. 10 senior wide receiver Barion Brown of Kentucky.
Maybe some others like No. 2 senior interior offensive lineman Josh Thompson of Northwestern and No. 4 interior offensive lineman Braelin Moore of Virginia Tech could be significant additions as well.
Some of the above may not pan out, though, like five-star cornerback Denver Harris of Texas A&M did not out of the 2023 portal class. Others may just be backups.
The funny thing about the portal is how major programs like LSU flock to sign portal prospects who were three-star high school prospects whom it would not have recruited. There are quite a few of those in LSU’s portal class. Several players in LSU’s portal class have also been career backups – hence the name the NCAA Backup Portal. This portal business is largely a crap shoot, as Kiffin knows all too well.
If too many of them need to make a significant impact, you’ve got problems.
“If everybody you bring in from the portal has to come in and play for you, that’s not a great place to be,” Kelly said. “You want to be in a position where you bring in portal players to build off of what you already have. And that’s why this roster is the best roster we’ve had, because we’re building depth, and we’re bringing in veteran players. So that mix is the best mix that we’ve had since I’ve been here.”
So, it’s great that LSU’s money people have made a newfound commitment to the portal, but Kelly and company better keep Old School recruiting the high schools well as much as they have, if not more. The Tigers’ Class of 2025 ranks No. 10 with 23 commitments. Don’t be surprised if a handful out of that class has as much of an impact on this season as a handful out of the portal class, or close to it. The Class of 2026 is No. 6 with 10 commitments. That’s the future of your base. Don’t get blinded by the shiny and new portal.
Even if LSU wins big in 2025, don’t be surprised if most of its portal class ends up being shiny and new on the bench.
Deciding who the best players are in August will be key for Kelly and his staff. In the past, the Tigers’ brain trust has often not realized who their best players are until it’s too late, and after they’ve lost another opener. A few of LSU’s new portal players did not even play last year. There is fool’s gold in this class in addition to the jewels. They need to be sorted out and quick.
Another issue for Kelly and staff may be the fact that of the 18 portal players, most come from programs that either lost last season or in recent seasons.
Haulcy, for example, is coming off two 4-8 seasons at Houston and a 2-10 mark at New Mexico. Edge rusher Patrick Payton was on the Florida State team that fell to 2-10 and 1-7 last year. Delane and Moore went through multiple losing seasons at Virginia Tech. Edge rusher Jack Pyburn and cornerback Ja’Keem Jackson tasted losing at Florida. Quarterback Michael Van Buren was on a Mississippi State team that was 2-10 and 0-8 last year.
Tight end Bauer Sharp was on Oklahoma’s 6-7 and 2-6 team last year and a 3-8 and 3-4 team at Southeastern Louisiana. Brown went through a 4-8 and 1-7 season at Kentucky last year. Thompson experienced one winning season out of four at Northwestern, and edge rusher Jimari Butler went through four straight losing seasons at Nebraska before a breakthrough 7-6 season last year.
Since many of LSU’s new portal players may feel like they’ve died and gone to heaven on the bayou at LSU, it will be up to the returning veterans to set them straight, as if to say:
“This ain’t heaven yet, pal. And it’s going to be hell if we don’t make the playoffs.”
Especially for Brian Kelly.
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