{"id":84067,"date":"2025-12-20T11:13:36","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T16:13:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=84067"},"modified":"2025-12-20T11:13:36","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T16:13:36","slug":"ranking-the-most-critical-lsu-portal-needs-on-offense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/12\/20\/ranking-the-most-critical-lsu-portal-needs-on-offense\/","title":{"rendered":"Ranking the Most Critical LSU Portal Needs on Offense"},"content":{"rendered":"

Newly acquired LSU coach<\/a> Lane Kiffin is known mostly for two things \u2013 offensive acumen and transfer portal success. Considering the holes in the roster for the Tigers, we took on the task of evaluating and ranking LSU\u2019s portal needs on offense by position. As of now, the cupboard isn\u2019t bare for Kiffin\u2019s squad. But multiple position groups must be addressed to see the improvement LSU expects in 2026.<\/p>\n

LSU’s Portal Needs by Position<\/h2>\n

4) Wide Receiver<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Tigers are losing a minimum of four receivers in Zavion Thomas<\/a>, Aaron Anderson<\/a>, Barion Brown, and Chris Hilton<\/a>. This quartet brought experience, versatility, and deep speed to the room. LSU\u2019s broken offense led to pedestrian production and mixed reviews from this group. However, Last Word is confident that the NFL draft will dispel any misconceptions regarding its talent level.<\/p>\n

The most proven returning wideout is sophomore Kyle Parker, who operates primarily out of the slot. Parker was a reliable replacement for Anderson when injuries kept him off the field. He showed the ability to get deep as a freshman and flashed the ability to run after the catch. Junior Nic Anderson<\/a> gives LSU a big target on the outside at 6\u20194\u201d. Anderson\u2019s health hasn\u2019t allowed him to be the force he was as a freshman for Oklahoma.<\/p>\n

New Orleans native Destyn Hill was the talk of fall camp, but his impact was limited in 2025. Freshmen Taron Francis<\/a> and Philip Wright will have four years of eligibility after a redshirt year. Francis is a physical, impressive athlete who will challenge for a starting role in 2026. Wright has the deep speed to stretch a defense. This position group isn\u2019t devoid of talent, but it\u2019s mostly unproven talent.<\/p>\n

Top target: Michigan State\u2019s Nick Marsh<\/a> will be one of the most coveted wide receivers on the transfer market. Marsh has prototypical size at 6\u2019-3\u201d, 200 pounds, with an impressive catch radius. He was a go-to guy for the Spartans and one of the best wide receivers in the Big 10 as a sophomore. While not a burner, he does flash the ability to make plays downfield.<\/p>\n

3) Running Back<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The fourth most important need for LSU in the portal is running back. Not-so-surprising declarations from Ju\u2019Juan Johnson<\/a> and Kaleb Jackson have left LSU with only two scholarship running backs at the moment. Even after the departure of running backs coach and recruiter extraordinaire Frank Wilson, LSU has closers who can recruit the position. With no running backs in the current signing class, it\u2019s even more important for the Tigers to find success in the portal.<\/p>\n

The good news is the returning backs are very talented. Caden Durham<\/a> grabbed the starting job as a freshman in 2024 and looked to be the future at the position. Former five-star Harlem Berry was too dynamic to keep off the field this season and ended the season as the starter. Both are talented enough to carry the load. It will be intriguing to see how they can perform in a functional offense.<\/p>\n

Top target: Kewan Lacy<\/a> of Ole Miss is in the middle of a playoff run and has not announced intentions to enter the transfer portal. Of course, that doesn\u2019t mean we can\u2019t speculate. We expect current Ole Miss running backs coach Kevin Smith to join Kiffin in Baton Rouge. Smith has been with Kiffin since his Florida Atlantic days, and there\u2019s an obvious comfort level for both parties with each other. We could easily see Lacy entering the portal and maintaining continuity with his position coach and former head coach.<\/p>\n

2) Offensive Line<\/strong><\/h3>\n

We could have easily listed the offensive line as the most critical need, but a quarterback\u2019s skill set can influence the importance of the line. Either way, LSU\u2019s offensive line play in 2025 was embarrassing and unacceptable. The most routine stunts caused mass confusion. The edges were burnt toast. And as if missed assignments and physical domination weren\u2019t enough, the pre-snap penalties were endless.<\/p>\n

To make things worse, one of the few young building blocks on the line, freshman Carius Curne, recently announced his intentions to enter the transfer portal. Besides left tackle Tyree Adams<\/a>, no returning offensive lineman appeared to be an adequate SEC starter in 2025. That doesn\u2019t mean guys like Weston Davis and Ory Williams won\u2019t grow into quality starters, but the jury is still out.<\/p>\n

Top target: Long-time starter Josh Atkins<\/a> has announced that he will be entering the transfer portal from Arizona State. Atkins has started every game in the last two years, anchoring the left side of the line for the Sun Devils. The former three-star recruit has developed into a reliable player and has the experience that LSU lacks sorely in the group.<\/p>\n

1)Quarterback<\/strong><\/h3>\n

There\u2019s a mentality among some that the offensive line could be more important than the quarterback. We\u2019re not saying that opinion is wrong. But a line can protect a bad quarterback all day long, and he\u2019ll still be a bad quarterback. The most important portal need for LSU to address is quarterback, and we expect the Tigers to sign more than one.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll refrain from judging sophomore Michael Van Buren<\/a> too harshly after getting thrown into action. But the starting quarterback at LSU must play at a higher level than what we\u2019ve seen in 2025. Protection issues or not, Van Buren and Garrett Nussmeier<\/a> missed routine throws and reads<\/a> repeatedly in 2025. It\u2019s important to note that the Tigers didn\u2019t sign a quarterback from the high school level in the early signing period. Consequently, LSU won\u2019t even have a backup quarterback on scholarship if Van Buren enters the portal.<\/p>\n

Top target: Arizona State\u2019s Sam Leavitt leads an extremely deep and talented group of quarterbacks in the transfer portal. The position group gets deeper by the day and loaded with proven production and former five-stars. Leavitt has shown the ability to escape the pocket, make all the throws, and elevate his team. His skill set would mesh well with Kiffin\u2019s offensive approach, and he could be the next Arizona State quarterback to strike fear into opponents at LSU.<\/p>\n

Main Image: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Newly acquired LSU coach Lane Kiffin is known mostly for two things \u2013 offensive acumen and transfer portal success. Considering the holes in the roster for the Tigers, we took on the task of evaluating and ranking LSU\u2019s portal needs on offense by position. As of now, the cupboard isn\u2019t bare for Kiffin\u2019s squad. But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4690,"featured_media":83091,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,35584,3],"tags":[495,4516],"class_list":["post-84067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-lsu-tigers","category-sec","tag-lane-kiffin","tag-transfer-portal"],"modified_by":"Tony Siracusa, CFB Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4690"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84067"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84099,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84067\/revisions\/84099"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}