GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
The college football team with the No. 1 ranked NCAA Transfer Portal class begins spring practice on Saturday at LSU with those 16 new players.
Unless you are on or associated with the LSU football team, though, your eyes can’t be upon them. LSU’s first practice open to the media will be on Wednesday for 20 minutes, and coach Brian Kelly will speak to reporters after the workout.
So, you’ll just have to wait for that short and sweet sneak peek.
LSU MAY NEED TO DO SOME BACKGROUND CHECKS ON ITS BACKGROUND CHECKS
Until then, here are five factors to think about and then keep an eye on during spring football practice, which will run from March 8 through April 10 with the spring game – or variation thereof – on Saturday, April 12.
1. GARRETT NUSSMEIER
LSU returns one of the best quarterbacks in the nation this season in Garrett Nussmeier, who will be a fifth-year senior. Nussmeier finished fifth in the nation in 2025 in passing yards with 4,052 and tied for 10th with 29 touchdown passes. But he was a lowly 42nd and 10th in the Southeastern Conference in passing efficiency at 142.7 on 337-of-525 passing with 12 interceptions.
He started fast, grew erratic, then got better, but he did not have a lot of help as a decent, consistent running game never fully developed under first-year offensive coordinator Joe Sloan, who called plays for the first time in big time college football.
If LSU can produce a better running game and Sloan and Nussmeier grow from last year, look out.
2. NEW WIDE RECEIVERS
Nussmeier has already been throwing with his new receivers, and he should be throwing with them morning, noon and night around practices from now until August. There are a lot of them.
-Senior Barion Brown (5-foot-11, 176) could be the most exciting addition to the Tigers. His wide receiver numbers are not the greatest, but the thing to remember about him is his kickoff returning prowess. He is the Kentucky career record holder for kickoff return touchdowns with five from 2022-24 and in a season with three in 2023. He also holds the Kentucky record for career kickoff return average at 30.3. In his three seasons at Kentucky, he garnered 3,274 all-purpose yards with 1,528 receiving with 11 touchdowns, 195 rushing and 85 on punt returns.
After catching 50 passes as a freshman in 2022 for 628 yards and four touchdowns, he decreased each season to 43 for 539 and four touchdowns to 29 for 361 and three touchdowns last season. But that was under old school head coach Mark Stoops – not exactly a progressive aerial programmer.
-Junior Nic Anderson (6-4, 208) was the No. 10 overall ranked player in the voluminous Transfer Portal and No. 5 wide receiver out of the portal from Oklahoma. But those rankings did not have a lot to go on. He has a lot to prove, mainly because he played in only one game last season and recorded no statistics. He missed the rest of the season because of an upper quadriceps injury in his leg. He caught 38 passes for 798 yards and 10 touchdowns for the Sooners in 2023, which is decent, but not great.
-Signee TaRon Francis (6-2, 200) is one 13 true freshmen of Kelly’s No. 10-ranked 2025 traditional recruiting class to enroll early in January and will be at spring practice. A four-star, he was the No. 20 WR in the nation by 247sports.com and No. 7 overall in-state prospect from Karr High in New Orleans.
3. TIGHT END TREY’DEZ GREEN
Nussmeier will also be throwing a lot to sophomore Trey’Dez Green (6-7, 226), who will be hard to miss with his height and will try to make Nussmeier forget about tight end Mason Taylor, who caught 55 passes for 546 yards last season. Green caught 13 passes for 101 yards and four touchdowns in backup duty last season. He is capable of so much more, and even tried to help the basketball team briefly this season.
Senior tight end Bauer Sharp (6-5, 240) was the No. 8 tight end in the portal from Oklahoma and will get his shot, but Green will be difficult to beat out.
4. TOP FRESHMEN – RB HARLEM BERRY AND CB DJ PICKETT
LSU signed the No. 1 running back in the nation to its class of 2025 in Harlem Berry (5-11, 174) of St. Martin’s in Metairie and No. 1 prospect in Louisiana by 247sports.com. On3.com has him ranked a five-star prospect as the No. 18 player overall. He needs to get a chance to show what he can do and push Caden Durham, who led the Tigers in rushing last season as a freshman with 753 yards on 140 carries with six touchdowns.
Another five-star prospect in LSU’s class of 2025, DJ Pickett (6-4, 178) was the No. 5 cornerback in the nation by 247sports.com and No. 2 by On3.com out of Zephyrhills, Florida. He is tall for a cornerback, and LSU needs someone to become a superstar at this position.
5. THE OFFENSIVE LINE
Hopefully, Kelly, Sloan and offensive line coach Brad Davis will not get too enraptured with the new wide receivers and focus on the running game first and foremost. LSU has lost four line starters since the end of last season – top 10 projected draft pick left tackle Will Campbell, left guard Garrett Dellinger, right guard Miles Frazier and right tackle Emery Jones Jr.
But the new line already passed a dress rehearsal with flying grades in the Texas Bowl win over Baylor on Jan. 1. That lineup with the upcoming grade classifications featured redshirt sophomore Tyree Adams at left tackle, redshirt sophomore Paul Mubenga at left guard, redshirt sophomore DJ Chester at center and redshirt junior Bo Bordelon at right guard.
Chester started 13 games at center last season, and Mubenga started five games at left guard for the injured Dellinger. Adams played in eight games last season with two starts. Bordelon started his first game in the bowl, but he played in 28 games as a backup from 2022-24.
And help is on the way through the portal. LSU added No. 4-ranked interior lineman Braelin Moore from Virginia Tech and No. 6 interior lineman Josh Thompson from Northwestern. Moore started 24 games the previous two seasons at guard and center. Thompson started at guard in 2024 and at tackle in 2023. LSU’s plan is to move Moore to center and put Chester at one of the guard slots.
There are also three incoming four-star offensive line prospects from the 2025 recruiting class who have enrolled early and will be at spring practice. Those are No. 2 interior lineman Solomon Thomas of Jacksonville, Florida, No. 3 interior lineman Carius Curne of Marion, Arkansas, and No. 22 tackle Tyler Miller of Laurel, Mississippi.
LAGNIAPPE
Brian Kelly needs to find out who can play for the most part this spring – not in August or early next season. A better knowledge of the top of his roster could have helped him avoid an 0-for-3 mark in season openers at LSU. He needs more of a spring sense of urgency than ever with the 2025 season opening at Clemson on Aug. 30.
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