The college football transfer portal is now officially open and LSU head coach Brain Kelly only has one thing on his mind: bringing in defensive tackles.
Kelly has repeatedly mentioned the defensive tackle position as the main area concern for the Tigers and has been doing everything he can to address the lack of depth there.
“I don’t see any other positions that we need to be in the transfer portal for other than the defensive tackle position,” Kelly said.
Players have a 15-day window to enter the portal starting today and ending on April 30. They won’t have to decide on a school in that period, they just have to decide to enter the portal in that timeframe.
LSU’s current defensive tackle room is made up of Shone Washington, Jalen Lee, De’Myrion Johnson, Kimo Makane’ole, and incoming freshman Dominick McKinley. McKinley is a five-star signee and the No. 1 player in Louisiana. LSU managed to flip from Texas A&M during the last recruiting cycle. He will join the team in the summer.
Makane’ole is a converted offensive lineman that made the move to the defensive side of the ball. LSU’s defensive line coach Bo Davis has spent spring practice teaching Makane’ole how to adjust to the new position.
“This new defensive staff, they’ve been helping me a lot,” Makane’ole said. “Coach Baker, especially coach Bo Davis helped me with the techniques and especially the fronts too.”
Davis has also already added a transfer to the defensive tackle room in Gio Paez. Paez played for Wisconsin last season and committed to LSU in March to help with the defensive tackle depth. He recorded a pair of tackles last season against LSU for the Badgers in the ReliaQuest Bowl.
“We need to get some help at the defensive tackle position, which we will,” Kelly said. “We’re addressing it.”
Former Indiana and Texas tech lineman Philip Blidi visited LSU last week on an official visit and could be a potential addition for the Tigers’ line. LSU will have competition for Blidi though as he has also paid visits to Washington and Auburn and has a scheduled visit to Oklahoma.
The Tigers currently have 88 scholarship players on the roster and the limit is 85. That means they will have to make room for any arriving players before the season starts. Jaxon Howard has already announced his intention to transfer away from LSU.
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