Lane Kiffin’s interest in Dae’Quan Wright was never just about having another familiar face around.
That much became clear once LSU’s tight end depth got tested in a 32-24 loss at Ole Miss on Saturday night, when Trey’Dez Green went down with a knee injury and the Tigers suddenly had very little behind him. Kiffin had pushed to get Wright and Zxavian Harris onto LSU’s roster after both had brief NFL stints over the summer, and even after a local judge ruled against the NCAA and Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey before the Clemson game, neither player ended up on the Tigers’ season roster.
After LSU’s opener against Clemson on Sept. 5, ESPN’s Heather Dinich asked Kiffin, “Is it still worth pushing for it?”
Kiffin shot back, “I knew you’d have something like that ready. Appreciate it.
I’m not getting into it. But I appreciate the question.”
A few weeks later, the answer looks obvious.
Wright, who practiced with the Cleveland Browns before being cut, and Harris, who was with the Saints briefly in camp, both remain listed as commitments on Kiffin’s No. 1 ranked 2026 portal class on 247sports.com. The NFL has barred both from returning this season, though as of Wednesday they can play in the United Football League when it starts in April, according to Front Office Sports.
Wright’s omission is still a little surprising. He was invited to the NFL Combine earlier this year, and he produced for Kiffin at Ole Miss: 39 catches for 635 yards and five touchdowns last season, plus 27 receptions for 394 yards and four scores in 2024 after transferring from Virginia Tech.
That’s why the idea of him sitting on the sideline while LSU searched for answers at tight end feels so costly now.
Green was the centerpiece LSU could not afford to lose. The 6-foot-7, 240-pound junior led the Tigers in receiving yards with 222 on 14 catches through parts of three games, and against Ole Miss he looked like the one mismatch the Rebels couldn’t solve.
On a third-and-11 play in the third quarter, he ripped off a 23-yard catch and run to the Ole Miss 23-yard line while defenders bounced off him. Three plays later, Leavitt hit Winnie Watkins for a 26-yard touchdown that trimmed LSU’s deficit to 24-21 with 3:05 left in the period.
Then Green took another short catch on the second play of the fourth quarter and turned it into a 19-yard gain to the Ole Miss 31 before the tackle that injured his knee. Trainers helped him off the field, and he will not play Saturday when No.
10 LSU (2-1, 0-1 SEC) hosts No. 23 Texas A&M (2-1, 0-1 SEC) at Tiger Stadium at 6:30 p.m. on ABC.
He is expected to miss at least a game or two beyond that.
Without him, the drop-off was obvious. Green’s replacements, Oregon transfer Zach Grace and Pittsburgh transfer Malachi Thomas, combined for no catches. Grace got one target and couldn’t haul it in.
“Well, you kind of saw what it looks like there,” Kiffin said after the loss when asked about his tight end depth without Green. “It’s different, obviously.
We even used Roman Mothershed (6-5, 212 receiver) a little bit. So, it is what it is.”
That is exactly the problem Kiffin was trying to avoid when he pursued Wright in the first place. As he put it after the Ole Miss game, “There’s a reason why we had Dae’Quan on our roster,” Kiffin said after the Ole Miss game. “Not on our roster - practicing, ready to play, knowing that this potentially could be an issue.”
He was right about that part. LSU found out the hard way.
The Tigers still had chances late. After Ole Miss moved ahead 32-24 with 6:14 left, Leavitt guided LSU to the Ole Miss 6-yard line, where a third-and-goal throw to Grace fell incomplete. On the next play, Leavitt was intercepted, and that was that.
The broader lesson is even less flattering for Kiffin and LSU. He signed 41 portal players in January, including Grace and Thomas, but the tight end room still ran thin when Green went down. The same goes for the star spot after Dashawn Spears was lost for the season with a knee injury, and for a wide receiver group that has not done enough beyond Watkins.
The portal can look like a shortcut until the injuries hit and the depth disappears. In LSU’s case, that truth showed up in a hurry.
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