The LSU football team is heading into another busy transfer-portal stretch after losing a major piece up front, with left tackle Tyree Adams entering the portal, per Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports. Adams started 11 games and, according to Hayes Fawcett of Rivals and On3, did not allow a sack, leaving new head coach Lane Kiffin with an immediate hole to patch on the offensive line.
That roster churn also sits in the background of a bigger quarterback storyline. On3 reports that in conversations around Florida quarterback DJ Lagway, LSU is one of three schools “being mentioned,” alongside Baylor and Louisville.
For LSU, that matters because portal season rarely moves in straight lines. When you lose a starting tackle, it can change the urgency level across the entire offense, from protection planning to how you sell stability to potential additions.
If Lagway is truly being discussed in the same breath as LSU, the Tigers are at least in the mix in a recruitment that will draw serious attention.
Adams, meanwhile, is the type of portal lineman who won’t linger. He’s listed at 6-foot-7 and 310 pounds, is from Marrero, Louisiana, and still has two years of eligibility.
That combination of size, SEC experience, and remaining runway usually turns into a fast market, and LSU will have to replace the snaps quickly, either internally or with a portal addition of its own.
One early staff move shows how Kiffin is trying to build the offense around him. Zenitz reported LSU finalized a deal to hire Ole Miss assistant Kevin Smith as running backs coach, a hire expected to pay close to $1 million per year and put him among the nation’s highest-paid RB coaches.
Smith’s track record includes working with Kewan Lacy and Quinshon Judkins at Ole Miss.
With the portal taking away a starting tackle, and On3 linking LSU to Lagway chatter, the Tigers’ next few weeks look like a tightrope act.
