Lane Kiffin expresses desire for spring transfer portal window in first season at LSU

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With 15 practices in the books, Lane Kiffin’s first spring at LSU wrapped up last week. But unlike years past, there isn’t a transfer portal window following spring ball, meaning the roster is virtually in place.

As he looked ahead to the summer, Kiffin reiterated his stance in favor of a second window. He specifically said for first-year coaches, that extra time to add players makes a difference after spring practice.

Speaking with reporters on Tuesday, Kiffin cited conversations with other coaches when speaking in favor of another transfer period. While that’s his preference, he said the staff had a plan to focus on developing the players they had and maximizing their skill set, rather than focusing on what LSU doesn’t have.

“I’ve been very open about that,” Kiffin said. “I wish there was another one. I’ve talked to coaches about that and coaches that have been somewhere 2-3 years feel differently because they like that they have their whole roster and they’ve evaluated the whole time. So they knew what was coming back before they knew how it fit, how the players knew you. But in your first year, yeah. I don’t think many coaches would say that, but if they were honest, they’d probably say that they wish there was one. But there isn’t.

“You’ve got to look at it more like old college football, not the NFL. Which, otherwise, it’s become like the NFL, meaning you’re moving through free agency trying to improve your roster, where the old college way was this is what you had, period. There was no portal, and you’ve got to develop those guys. That’s our challenge to our assistant coaches is, hey, there’s nowhere to go, so let’s make sure we’re developing our guys as best we can and looking at what they can do, not what they can’t do.”

This offseason was the first for college football with only one transfer portal window, which opened after the national championship game. More than 3,600 FBS players entered the portal this past winter, while Lane Kiffin and LSU emerged as big winners.

The Tigers landed 40 commitments as part of the No. 5-ranked transfer class from the 2026 cycle, according to the On3 Team Transfer Portal Rankings. Former Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt was the crown jewel of the group as the No. 1 overall player in the On3 Industry Transfer Rankings.

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