LSU football’s transfer portal class is complete. Head coach Lane Kiffin promised and delivered, signing 40 players to form college football’s No. 1-ranked portal class.
Kiffin earned the “Portal King” nickname at Ole Miss and it’s followed him to LSU. This is what LSU envisioned when it hired Kiffin in November.
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A good transfer class doesn’t guarantee success, but in this era of college football, a team can be flipped in an offseason.
Suddenly, LSU’s roster is good enough to contend for the College Football Playoff in Kiffin’s first year. LSU retooled on both sides of the ball, signing veteran starters while adding quality depth.
Quarterback Sam Leavitt and offensive tackle Jordan Seaton are the headliners. Both figure to be impact players with All-SEC ceilings. On defense, pass rushers Princewill Umanmielen and Jordan Ross fill key needs at defensive end.
Here are five stats that define LSU football’s 2026 transfer portal class.
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1. 40 transfers
We’ll start with the sheer volume of players LSU added. 40 new players are a lot, and that doesn’t even count the high school recruits LSU signed.
LSU’s roster will look drastically different this fall with plenty of new faces. There are always questions of chemistry when there’s this much turnover, but Kiffin and Co. proved they can get a team to gel quickly at Ole Miss.
2. Three No. 1 players
LSU signed three transfers that rank No. 1 at their position, according to On3’s transfer portal rankings.
Three #1-Ranked Position Players in 2026 Transfer Portal
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#2
#1 QB
Sam Leavitt
RS-SO • 6-2 • 195
West Linn (Portland, OR)
98
Portal Rating
FROM: Arizona State
#4
#1 EDGE
Princewill Umanmielen
JR • 6-4 • 245
Manor (Manor, TX)
97
Portal Rating
FROM: Ole Miss
#8
#1 OT
Jordan Seaton
SO • 6-5 • 295
IMG Academy (Washington, DC)
96
Portal Rating
FROM: Colorado
Leavitt, Umanmielen, and Seaton were all tops at their respective positions, and all filled a major need for LSU. Leavitt gives LSU a bona fide QB1 and Seaton anchors the offensive line that will protect him.
On the other side of the ball, Umanmielen hopes to improve LSU’s four-man pass rush after the defense struggled to get pressure without blitzing in 2025.
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3. LSU signs three quarterbacks
Leavitt wasn’t the only quarterback LSU signed. Kiffin has to rebuild the entire room after the Tigers were left with zero scholarship QBs when the portal opened.
Along with Leavitt, LSU signed USC transfer Husan Longstreet and Elon transfer Landen Clark.
Few QBs in the portal could match Longstreet’s talent, a former five-star recruit who spent one year at USC. Longstreet will be content as LSU’s QB2, but Leavitt is coming off an injury, and having a backup of Longstreet’s caliber provides much-needed insurance.
Clark is an upside bet. The dual-threat QB put up big numbers at Elon in 2025, and we’ve seen Kiffin find success with QB transfers moving up a level before.
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4. LSU signs nine transfer wide receivers
Of LSU’s 40 transfers, nine were wide receivers. The position was left bare after the entire 2025 wide receiver room either hit the portal or declared for the draft. Phillip Wright is LSU’s only returning wide receiver who caught a pass in 2025, and he only tallied a single reception.
Just like the QB room, Kiffin’s staff rebuilt the position.
LSU’s top receiver signee was former Kansas State wideout Jayce Brown. A bona fide big play threat, Brown entered the portal after posting a wildly efficient year in the Big 12.
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WIDE RECEIVER
6-1 • 165 lbs
★★★★
93.34
Transfer Rating
FROM KANSAS STATE
2.93
Yards Per Route Run
#2 in Big 12 (2025)
17.1
Yards Per Catch
#4 in Big 12 (2025)
712
Receiving Yards (2025)
#12 in Big 12
72.4
PFF Receiving Grade
#12 in Big 12 (2025)
Career Stats
115
Receptions
1,969
Yards
13
Touchdowns
LSU also signed ex-Florida wideout Eugene Wilson, giving the Tigers a veteran pass catcher with SEC experience.
5. LSU added over 9,000 snaps of experience from 2025
LSU’s transfer class combined to play over 9,000 snaps at their respective schools in 2025. That’s a boatload of new experience coming to LSU.
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LSU signed several players who have already proven they’re contributors at the D-I level. It’s a new team, but it’s not a young team.
This article originally appeared on LSU Wire: 5 stats that define LSU football’s loaded transfer portal class
