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BATON ROUGE — In today's era of college football, team rosters have become fluid.
With the advent of the transfer portal, players come and go at a rapid pace and a shroud of unpredictability has permeated throughout the sport the last handful of years.
This, for coaches, has been the stuff of nightmares as they never know who will be on their teams before and after spring practices as well as before and after seasons.
As LSU football looks to put the final stamp on its spring session with its last practice Thursday morning. If Brian Kelly has his choice, the team he's punctuating spring with is a group that he would love to take into offseason conditioning and as close as possible to fall camp.
WHAT STOOD OUT FROM LSU'S OPEN SCRIMMAGE Pass rush shines as LSU football conducts open practice. Here are seven takeaways
NO BUYER'S REMORSE No buyer's remorse for LSU football's transfer portal class. Brian Kelly's early thoughts
"I like our roster right now," Kelly told reporters following LSU's penultimate practice Tuesday morning. "It wouldn't surprise me if we didn't have anyone in the portal on either side, either leaving our program or adding.
"If you asked me right now, I would be happy to take this roster right into May on both sides of it. Maybe that's fool's gold, maybe that's wishing more than anything else."
The Tigers return roughly a dozen starters from the 2024 season. Kelly and his staff signed a top 10 recruiting class in 2025 while also welcoming college football's top-rated transfer portal class with plenty of those players factoring into starter roles and the two-deep this upcoming season.
Immediately following last year, there were a few positions of need and LSU did well in bolstering those spots. Virginia Tech transfer Mansoor Delane has all but nailed down a starting cornerback spot. The addition of Braelin Moore and Josh Thompson along the offensive line has been beneficial and brought out the best in returning center D.J. Chester, as well as guards Paul Mubenga and Coen Echols this spring.
At defensive end, Florida transfer Jack Pyburn has had a great spring while others like Jimari Butler and Patrick Payton are developing in Blake Baker's scheme. North Carolina State transfer Tamarcus Cooley looks poised to start at either nickel back or strong safety.
Obviously, it's hard for Kelly to predict that there won't be any portal movement among his team when the next transfer portal window officially opens Wednesday and runs through April 25.
But what he has seen from the players over the last month leads him to believe the needs LSU had before spring have been met and there's far less now.
"I like what we've done with this roster. I like the development of it. Not all of that is in my control obviously. I can tell you we're not actively saying, 'we got to have this, we got to have that,'" Kelly said. We feel good about our roster. If something shows itself that is an incredible opportunity, we're certainly going to investigate any time that we can help our football team. But it's not like it was in January."
KYREN LACY Former LSU football wide receiver Kyren Lacy has died
COLIN HURLEY REJOINS TEAM LSU football QB Colin Hurley has rejoined team, making full recovery after car crash
Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Why LSU football's Brian Kelly expects quiet transfer portal window
Continue reading...
With the advent of the transfer portal, players come and go at a rapid pace and a shroud of unpredictability has permeated throughout the sport the last handful of years.
This, for coaches, has been the stuff of nightmares as they never know who will be on their teams before and after spring practices as well as before and after seasons.
As LSU football looks to put the final stamp on its spring session with its last practice Thursday morning. If Brian Kelly has his choice, the team he's punctuating spring with is a group that he would love to take into offseason conditioning and as close as possible to fall camp.
WHAT STOOD OUT FROM LSU'S OPEN SCRIMMAGE Pass rush shines as LSU football conducts open practice. Here are seven takeaways
NO BUYER'S REMORSE No buyer's remorse for LSU football's transfer portal class. Brian Kelly's early thoughts
"I like our roster right now," Kelly told reporters following LSU's penultimate practice Tuesday morning. "It wouldn't surprise me if we didn't have anyone in the portal on either side, either leaving our program or adding.
"If you asked me right now, I would be happy to take this roster right into May on both sides of it. Maybe that's fool's gold, maybe that's wishing more than anything else."
The Tigers return roughly a dozen starters from the 2024 season. Kelly and his staff signed a top 10 recruiting class in 2025 while also welcoming college football's top-rated transfer portal class with plenty of those players factoring into starter roles and the two-deep this upcoming season.
Immediately following last year, there were a few positions of need and LSU did well in bolstering those spots. Virginia Tech transfer Mansoor Delane has all but nailed down a starting cornerback spot. The addition of Braelin Moore and Josh Thompson along the offensive line has been beneficial and brought out the best in returning center D.J. Chester, as well as guards Paul Mubenga and Coen Echols this spring.
At defensive end, Florida transfer Jack Pyburn has had a great spring while others like Jimari Butler and Patrick Payton are developing in Blake Baker's scheme. North Carolina State transfer Tamarcus Cooley looks poised to start at either nickel back or strong safety.
Obviously, it's hard for Kelly to predict that there won't be any portal movement among his team when the next transfer portal window officially opens Wednesday and runs through April 25.
But what he has seen from the players over the last month leads him to believe the needs LSU had before spring have been met and there's far less now.
"I like what we've done with this roster. I like the development of it. Not all of that is in my control obviously. I can tell you we're not actively saying, 'we got to have this, we got to have that,'" Kelly said. We feel good about our roster. If something shows itself that is an incredible opportunity, we're certainly going to investigate any time that we can help our football team. But it's not like it was in January."
KYREN LACY Former LSU football wide receiver Kyren Lacy has died
COLIN HURLEY REJOINS TEAM LSU football QB Colin Hurley has rejoined team, making full recovery after car crash
Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Why LSU football's Brian Kelly expects quiet transfer portal window
Continue reading...
