LSU coach Lane Kiffin tempers expectations for 5-star freshman

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When LSU football fired Brian Kelly as its head coach midway through the 2025 season, its ability to keep a loaded 2026 signing class with multiple top-20 in-state commitments intact fell into question. Lane Kiffin came in and kept the group together.

Five-star prospects Lamar Brown and Richard Anderson, both of whom hail from Louisiana, stuck with the Tigers and headline a class with 10 in-state players. There is no questioning the high ceiling of the class, but Kiffin tempered expectations for the group ahead of their first season of college football.

"Freshmen now, if you look at it, are not impacting quite as much as they used to before," Kiffin said. "I think everybody expects all these freshmen to just, you know, have these elite freshmen years and that's not really what's happening a lot around the country."

Most programs opt to fill positional needs with experienced players out of the transfer portal rather than developing high school signees. It makes carving out an early role harder for incoming freshmen.

"Rosters don't have as many holes because they're filled by portal players, you know, so where before, players were forced to play a little more as it," Kiffin said. "I might just temper some expectations on all these freshmen that, you know, every one of them is going to, you know, start and be All-American."

LSU signed two veteran defensive tackles in the transfer portal, Malik Blocton and Stephiylan Green. If the freshmen aren't ready to go, Green and Blocton will see plenty of run. LSU also returns veteran defensive tackle Dominick McKinley.

It's worth noting, despite Kiffin's comments, the young defensive tackles are seeing time with the starters at practice.

This article originally appeared on LSU Wire: LSU coach Lane Kiffin tempers expectations for 5-star freshman

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