LSU has spent the offseason in the spotlight, and that attention has come with a new kind of status: the Tigers are being treated like the program everyone else wants to copy.
A year removed from a 7-6 season that included one of the worst offenses LSU has produced this century and ended with Brian Kelly getting fired, the Tigers have flipped the script fast. Now they’re back in the national conversation, and they have decent odds of reaching the College Football Playoff in 2026.
The turnaround started with a clear plan. LSU promoted Verge Ausberry to athletic director in October, and he landed the program’s top head-coaching target in Lane Kiffin. From there, Kiffin built quickly, bringing several of his sharpest assistants from Ole Miss while also keeping Blake Baker and Corey Raymond, LSU’s defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach.
That mix of continuity and import gave LSU something rare. Kiffin was able to assemble an elite staff using the best pieces from both LSU and Ole Miss in 2025, a move that not every coach or school can pull off. Kelly may have been onto something when he said LSU was spoiled; the brand and the money clearly help keep top-end talent in Baton Rouge.
The same approach showed up in the transfer portal. LSU didn’t just add bodies. It went after the best available talent and landed some of the biggest names in the cycle, including the No. 1 and No. 3 players in the portal, quarterback Sam Leavitt and left tackle Jordan Seaton.
The Tigers also brought in Boise State safety Ty Benefield and Ole Miss edge Princewill Umanmielen. Those four are only part of a transfer haul that helped build a $40 million roster, and LSU’s resources have set a bar plenty of other schools simply can’t match.
By the numbers, LSU was the clear winner in the portal. 247Sports rated the Tigers’ class at 81 points, a score measuring transfer class strength, and no other team came within 20 points.
The momentum has carried into high school recruiting, too. Kiffin’s first full cycle at LSU is the 2027 class, and it currently sits 16th. Even so, the Tigers believe several of their top recruits are rated lower than they should be.
That group is headlined by five-star edge KJ Green, five-star tight end Ahmad Hudson and four-star quarterback Peyton “Pop” Houston. The class has 16 commitments, with 12 added since the start of June.
Kiffin and his staff have been on a heater with high school recruits, even while LSU continues to land some of its biggest names through the portal. Right now, the Tigers are getting the best of both worlds - and they still look like the program that can outspend almost anyone.
In Other News...
Brian Kelly Is Suddenly Making LSU Fans Revisit Everything
Brian Kellys LSU run ended without the kind of breakthrough the program expected, but his record in Baton Rouge still leaves enough behind to make people pause. He won nearly 71% of his games there, which is not nothing in a league that chews up coaches quickly, and it is part of why his name still carries weight whenever the next opening starts to take shape.
What makes the conversation more interesting now is the way Kelly has kept himself visible since leaving. He has been talking publicly and signaling interest in getting back into coaching, and that alone is enough to make some schools look twice at a veteran who has proven he can win games, even if the ceiling at LSU never quite matched the hype. For programs trying to climb without demanding a national-title guarantee, that kind of fit can be tempting. [Read more 🡒]
Nick Saban Weighed In On Lane Kiffin's Loaded Oxford Return
Lane Kiffins first trip back to Oxford as LSUs head coach is already drawing plenty of attention, and Nick Saban has seen enough of these homecoming-type scenes to know the temperature can rise fast. Saban, who once faced his own return to Baton Rouge after leaving LSU for Alabama, offered Kiffin some perspective on what it can feel like to walk back into a place where the fans still remember exactly how you left.
Kiffin spent six seasons at Ole Miss and helped turn the program into a playoff team before moving on to LSU, so the backdrop for this game is obvious even before kickoff. Still, Kiffin has tried to keep the focus on the season in front of him rather than the reception waiting in Oxford, leaving the biggest question around this matchup hanging until he actually gets there. [Read more 🡒]
Lane Kiffin Just Put A Massive Label On LSUs New QB
Lane Kiffin has seen enough from LSUs new starting quarterback to put a serious spotlight on him before the season even gets rolling. The Ole Miss coach drew a familiar comparison when talking about Sam Leavitt, pointing to the same kind of playmaking traits that helped define one of his best quarterbacks in Oxford, while also suggesting the Tigers may have landed a passer with real NFL upside.
Leavitt arrives in Baton Rouge after transferring from Arizona State, where he helped push the Sun Devils into the College Football Playoff quarterfinals last season. Kiffin also sounded encouraged about where Leavitt stands physically after missing part of last year with a foot injury, and that combination of recovery, production and projection gives LSU plenty to watch as fall approaches. [Read more 🡒]