The “Portal King” and new LSU head coach Lane Kiffin dominated the offseason by reshaping his program. But one troubling statistic could haunt the veteran coach when his team takes the field this upcoming season. At the moment, the Tigers boast the No. 1 ranked transfer portal class, with elite talents like Sam Leavitt headlining the program’s $40 million roster.
According to senior sports columnist Glenn Guilbeau, who appeared on a recent episode of “The Paul Finebaum Show,” LSU has enough talent to make a deep postseason run. However, there remains a fair amount of skepticism about Kiffin’s ability to build a stable roster.
Lane Kiffin Predicted to Have a Hard Time in Year 1 at LSU
Guilbeau reflected on Ole Miss’ 2024 season, when Kiffin assembled the nation’s No. 1 transfer portal class but failed to capitalize on it.
Despite the talent, the Rebels suffered disappointing losses to Florida and Kentucky, two teams that struggled with roster depth.
“There’s going to be a while where he has to kind of figure the team out,” Guilbeau said on “The Paul Finebaum Show” on Tuesday.
“They have five SEC road games for the first time ever. Tennessee might be really good. Ole Miss is going to come. I mean, he left a great team at Ole Miss, so that’s going to be a difficult game. And they have Texas at home, they have Clemson at home, so they could be really good, but have a few losses,” he added, while explaining Kiffin’s career trajectory after taking over at Ole Miss in 2020.
Kiffin led the Rebels to a 5-5 record in his first season. From there, the program went on an upward trajectory, culminating in an 11-1 campaign last year before he decided to leave for LSU. Although he requested athletic director Keith Carter to let him coach through the postseason, his abrupt decision to leave reportedly frustrated the top brass, and the request was denied.
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With a landmark seven-year, $91 million deal, Kiffin arrived in Baton Rouge looking for a fresh start. Guilbeau argued that the dynamics at LSU might have been different had former head coach Brian Kelly shown the same level of urgency after taking over a struggling Notre Dame program and turning it into a title contender.
“I think he thought that it wouldn’t be that difficult to do that, and at first it looked like he was right. He beat Alabama and Nick Saban in his first year. He won the West in his first year, but you know, he didn’t have the edge and the hunger, like Lane Kiffin has, and like Nick Saban had,” the veteran columnist added.
The road ahead will be a challenging one for Kiffin, with expectations already hitting the rooftop. LSU opens its 2026 season at home against Clemson on Saturday, September 5.
