SEC Media Days are about to put Lane Kiffin and LSU in the spotlight, and the Tigers’ coach will get his turn Thursday morning at the Marriott Water Street in downtown Tampa.
The SEC office is expected to announce three players from each of the league’s 16 football programs for the event, which runs next Monday through Thursday. With Kiffin’s move from Ole Miss to LSU after the 2025 regular season still carrying plenty of controversy and drama between the two schools, he figures to attract the biggest crowd of reporters on the final day.
That’s also the day Kiffin will be introduced after landing the No. 1 Transfer Portal class in the country.
Tiger Rag says LSU’s best trio for the trip to Tampa should be quarterback Sam Leavitt, left tackle Jordan Seaton and linebacker Whit Weeks.
Leavitt, the No. 1 overall player in the Transfer Portal last January, signed with Kiffin after a long pursuit from Arizona State. Kiffin brought him to LSU, then flew to Knoxville, Tennessee, to meet him again at the McGhee Tyson Airport before Leavitt headed to Miami for yet another visit.
The pitch worked, and Leavitt arrives as the biggest key to Kiffin’s first season with LSU. He will be a junior this fall.
Seaton gives LSU another major portal headliner. The Colorado transfer was the No. 4 overall player in the portal and the No. 1 offensive tackle, and he ultimately picked the Tigers over Oregon, Miami and Mississippi State.
He was another tough get, and the article points to the obvious question: what did he think about playing for Deion Sanders at Colorado, and what sold him on Kiffin and LSU? Seaton will also be a junior this season.
Weeks rounds out the suggested group. The senior linebacker was a star in 2024 before an injury cut into his 2025 season.
He also has a personal connection to Kiffin, having dated Kiffin’s daughter Landry since last season, which means he knows the LSU coach better than most players on the roster. He’s also been one of the Tigers’ most reliable interviews throughout his career, making him an easy pick for Media Days.
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The bigger picture is that Kelly was talking about more than one hire or one scheme. He also acknowledged the challenges that came with elevating Joe Sloan on offense after Mike Denbrock left, a reminder that staff continuity can be just as important as talent on the roster. Meanwhile, the two coaches Kelly once wanted beside him have gone on to build strong reputations elsewhere, which only adds to the what-if feel around how different LSUs arc might have looked. [Read more 🡒]
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Winston Watkins, the Ole Miss transfer and sophomore, has a built-in edge after following Kiffin and wide receivers coach George McDonald to Baton Rouge. He also turned heads during spring practice, which only added to the sense that LSU may have found a receiver who can quickly become central to what it wants to do. For a team still sorting out its passing-game hierarchy, that matters, especially with SEC expectations already placing LSU in the upper tier of the league race. [Read more 🡒]
LSU Just Got Hit With A Brutal Recruiting Reality Check
LSUs 2026 recruiting class took a hit in the latest Rivals update, and the timing makes it sting a little more for a program trying to build momentum early in the cycle. Several committed prospects slid in the rankings, while a few others held steady or nudged upward, but the overall takeaway was a class that got downgraded rather than strengthened. For a staff trying to sell progress and star power, that kind of movement changes the conversation fast.
The biggest concern is less about one individual ranking and more about what it says about the class as a whole. LSU still has talent committed and still has time to reshape the board, but the perception around the group has shifted, and those perception swings matter in recruiting. How the Tigers respond from here will say plenty about the urgency and polish of the first-year push on the trail. [Read more 🡒]