By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
LSU fifth-year senior offensive lineman Bo Bordelon was recruited by then-offensive line coach James Cregg back in 2020 and ’21 out of Newman High in New Orleans.
But LSU fired Cregg in June of 2021.
Bordelon committed to then-LSU head coach Ed Orgeron on Jan. 31, 2021. … But LSU fired Orgeron midway through the 2021 season.
Bordelon signed with LSU on Dec. 15, 2021, less than three weeks after LSU hired Brian Kelly. … But LSU fired Kelly on Oct. 26, 2025, and replaced him with Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin last Nov. 30.
Through his first four seasons at LSU from 2022-25, Bordelon started exactly one game. He played in 39 games from 2023-25, playing a lot as a backup at every offensive line position in addition to tight end and special teams.
Another depth chart change at LSU spring practice:https://t.co/qKmZjuDLlt
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) April 16, 2026
But he never considered a transfer to another school where he could have possibly started. That may have much to do with the fact that his father, Ben Bordelon, was a three-year starter at guard and tackle for the Tigers from 1993-96 and an All-SEC second team choice in ’96 at a time when LSU was known as a dominant running team.
“They had a great offensive line,” Bordelon said when a reporter mentioned his dad during interviews on Thursday. In 1996, tailback Kevin Faulk led the league in rushing with 1,282 yards behind Bordelon at right tackle, guard Alan Faneca and center Todd McClure.
All three lineman played in the NFL as did Faulk. Faneca, who played for Pittsburgh for 10 seasons of a 13-year career, won Super Bowl XL and is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. McClure, who played for Atlanta from 1999-2012, is in the Falcons’ Ring of Honor and will be inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame this summer.
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Bordelon played for San Diego from 1997-99. A very successful businessman, Bordelon was on the search committee that aided LSU athletic director Verge Ausberry in the hiring of Kiffin.
Faulk won three Super Bowls with the New England Patriots.
“Yeah, I mean, playing at LSU, it means everything to me,” Bordelon said.
And in his last spring football drills, Bordelon has been the first team left guard since recently beating out highly-publicized transfer Devin Harper – the No. 3 interior offensive lineman in the 2026 transfer portal and No. 79 overall portal player by 247sports.com from Ole Miss.
“We just don’t make a depth chart and you stay there. If you get outplayed, we move the depth chart daily.” – Lane Kiffin https://t.co/eg3M9hP3uZ
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) April 15, 2026
If that holds up, Bordelon could be a regular starter for the first time in his college career. His only previous start was at right guard against Baylor in the Texas Bowl after the 2024 regular season.
“He’s just done a really good job,” Kiffin said. “We moved him into guard and had a competition going there, and as of Saturday, he won it, even though obviously we’re not playing a game. But we don’t just make a depth chart, and you stay there. I think a lot of people do that. If you get outplayed, we move the depth chart, you know, daily. And he’s been doing a great job and deserved the right to go in there and start and did a good job. He plays tackle and guard.”
Apparently, good things come to those who wait – the exact opposite of the instant gratification aspect of the no-sit-out transfer portal that began in 2021. Over the last five years, hordes of players enter the portal every year the moment something doesn’t happen exactly the way they want it to and/or they can make more money via Name, Image & Likeness. That also started in 2021 and has freed up colleges to pay players exorbitant amounts of cash in the millions.
“These three letters across my chest aren’t just something I transferred into, or got paid to do,” Bordelon said. “This is what I believe in, and this is what I want to do.”
Quick on his feet like the versatile offensive lineman he is, Bordelon adroitly softened that statement.
“There’s nothing wrong with the guys who transfer in,” he said. “I’m not knocking any of that. But I’m just saying, to me, this is something special. This is something I wanted to do. And I’m fighting my butt off for LSU.”
By staying at through a myriad of coaching changes, Bordelon has also seen the benefits of being a transfer without transferring. Kiffin has provided the new start instead of Bordelon seeking one elsewhere.
“Having a blank slate’s good,” Bordelon said of Kiffin and new offensive line coach Eric Wolford and James Cregg, whom Kiffin brought back to LSU as a run game specialist and offensive line assistant.
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Cregg, who successfully sued LSU for an unjust firing and eventually won and received approximately $500,000, was an offensive analyst under Kiffin last season at Ole Miss. He coached in the NFL in 2022 and ’23 for San Francisco and in 2024 for Las Vegas as an offensive line assistant.
“I had committed to him and coach O’s staff before the change had happened back then,” Bordelon said.
Now, he’s adjusting Kiffin and his staff.
“Getting a fresh start and just being able to move past everything that went good and bad in the past and just start new,” Bordelon said.
New, but at his same old, beloved school.
“I stayed committed with coach Davis (former offensive line coach Brad Davis, who replaced Cregg in 2021) and coach (Brian) Kelly,” Bordelon said.
And Bordelon has now meshed with the new coaches.
“They put a lot of faith in me, which I appreciated them for that. They let me learn their way of coaching,” he said. “And I’ve just been here my whole life. LSU is something I always dreamed of doing, so really wanted to stick it out.”
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