GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
After 16 exports via the NCAA Transfer Portal, LSU finally landed an import on Friday as Oklahoma junior tight end Bauer Sharp announced on social media that he will transfer to LSU, and he has signed his new scholarship papers.
Sharp (6-foot-4, 243 pounds) led the Sooners (6-6, 2-6 Southeastern Conference) in the 2024 regular season in receptions with 42 and in receiving yards with 324 and scored two touchdowns.
Former Oklahoma TE Bauer Sharp has committed to LSU, per reports.
— NCAA Transfer Portal (@RivalsPortal) December 13, 2024
Sharp will have 1 year of eligibility left after having 42 catches, 324 yards, snd 2 TDs last season. pic.twitter.com/Ebbg5jPWR2
He played in the 2022 and ’23 seasons at Southeastern Louisiana after redshirting there in the 2021 season. He caught 29 passes for 288 yards with three touchdowns in ’23 and rushed 25 times for 133 yards and five touchdowns. In 2022 as a redshirt freshman, he caught 11 passes for 78 yards and a touchdown while rushing 10 times for 83 yards. He was a three-star prospect at quarterback at Dothan High in Dothan, Alabama, in 2021.
LSU has lost two tight ends over the last two weeks – junior starter Mason Taylor to the 2025 NFL Draft and sophomore Ka’Morreun Pimpton to the transfer portal. Pimpton was projected to start next season.
LSU coach Brian Kelly feels he has a tight end in Sharp who can catch passes and is athletic, but he particularly likes what he brings as a blocker.
“First of all, he’s a talented player, but he’s got physicality, especially in the run game,” Kelly said at a press conference Friday partially for the Texas Bowl against Baylor (8-4) in Houston on Dec. 31 (2:30 p.m., ESPN).
“Some of the things they did with him in the passing game, we’ve seen from other tight ends,” he said. “But if you really look at his body of work, it’s the physicality in the run game – pulling, blocking tackles, out on the perimeter. Still, a very good athlete.”
Sharp caught a 4-yard pass in LSU’s 37-17 win over Oklahoma in Tiger Stadium on Nov. 30 and threw an interception in that game to LSU safety Sage Ryan, who just entered the transfer portal to leave LSU on Thursday.
“He came in as a quarterback at Southeastern Louisiana, and certainly has the ability to do some really good things in the passing game for us,” Kelly said. “What really stood out was having that kind of versatility in the run game and the passing game.”
Taylor does not plan on playing in the Texas Bowl as he prepares for the draft, nor do junior offensive tackles Will Campbell and Emery Jones Jr., who have also entered their name for the NFL Draft in April. The Tigers have begun practices for the bowl, but Kelly is more involved at the moment with bringing in more players via the portal as he has been actively recruiting and hosting prospects.
BRIAN KELLY SHOWING PORTAL PROSPECTS 5-STAR RESTAURANTS
“We’re recruiting, and certainly a very busy time,” Kelly said.
LSU ANNOUNCES THE BRIAN KELLY MILLION DOLLAR MATCH CHALLENGE FOR NIL
Kelly and LSU also announced Friday that he and his wife Paqui have opened the “Kelly Family Million Dollar Match Challenge” toward LSU’s Name, Image & Likeness (NIL) war chest. Mr. and Mrs. Kelly plan on matching donations from the public to NIL with a payment of up to $1 million by Feb. 5 to the Tiger Athletic Foundation (TAF), which is the fund raising arm of LSU athletics. Coaches cannot by NCAA rule directly donate money to NIL payments.
“LSU has a long and proud tradition of being one of the elite programs in college football,” Kelly said in a release about the match challenge. “In order to remain among the nation’s elite in this new world of college athletics, we have to be competitive in all areas of our program. I am committed to doing all that we can to win championships at LSU.”
Kelly decided late in the Tigers’ disappointing 8-4 season, which followed a 6-1 start and No. 8 ranking, to recruit more heavily than in the past through the portal, which calls for significantly more money to pay players via NIL.
“I figured that after my last press conference, where I pretty much challenged the entire LSU fan base that if they wanted to continue to have a championship program that they needed to understand that there’s a financial responsibility as well, that I needed to put my money where my mouth was and be part of that as well,” Kelly said when asked about the challenge.
“That’s the genesis of that, relative to the million dollars,” he said. “So my wife and I are going to match up to a million dollars the new monies that are donated to NIL that are earmarked for football, so we can be competitive in that space. I thought that it should start with me, and then continue to work through all the other avenues that are available.”
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