GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
LSU picked up its sixth NCAA Transfer Portal addition in four days on Monday in Florida junior defensive end Jack Pyburn, who started eight games last season as an edge rusher for the 7-5 Gators.
Pyburn (6-foot-3, 265 pounds) had only one sack in the 2024 regular season amid his 60 tackles with four for loss. He had eight quarterback hurries. A three-star prospect from The Bolles School in Jacksonville, Florida, he was the No. 35 edge rusher in the nation by 247Sports.com in the 2022 recruiting class. He will have two years of eligibility at LSU if he chooses to stay.
A deep backup as a true freshman in 2022, Pyburn made three tackles in eight games. He started one game and played in eight in 2023 before a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) ended his season.
CHRISTMAS COMES EARLY FOR LSU DOWN THE PORTAL
Pyburn is LSU’s second edge transfer addition, joining Nebraska’s Jimari Butler as the Tigers lose both edge starters from the 2024 season – seniors Sai’vion Jones and Bradyn Swinson. Butler had two sacks last season as a junior and 5.5 in the 2023 season.
Butler was one of five portal adds for LSU over the weekend, and all are starters – Oklahoma tight end Bauer Sharp, Florida cornerback Ja-Keem Jackson, Kentucky wide receiver Barion Brown and Mississippi State quarterback Michael Van Buren, who became a starter after an injury to original starter Blake Shapen. Shapen is expected to return as the starter in 2025.
LSU is expected to have another possible edge rusher for 2025 in junior linebacker Harold Perkins, who is likely more suited to being on the edge. Word is Perkins will be returning to the Tigers for 2025 after missing all but four games in 2024 because he tore the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee against UCLA on Sept. 21.
So far, Portal has not entered the transfer portal. That window closes to players on Dec. 28. And he has not put his name in for the 2025 NFL Draft. The last day draft eligible non-seniors can enter the draft is Jan. 15. Perkins has at times been considered a first round draft choice.
Perkins collected 7.5 sacks amid 13 tackles for losses overall, forced four fumbles and intercepted a pass as a true freshman in 2022 and was named freshman All-American by the Football Writers Association of America and The Athletic. But after LSU tried to make Perkins more of a linebacker – including on the inside strangely – his production fell to 5.5 sacks in 13 games in 2023. He had 1.5 tackles for loss and no sacks in four games in 2024 before the knee injury.
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