Two more LSU defensive players headed out of town through the transfer portal on Friday; Tigers’ roster now below 85

Two more LSU defensive players headed out of town through the transfer portal on Friday; Tigers’ roster now below 85

Reserve LSU cornerback Jeremiah Hughes and linebacker Christian Brathwaite became the fifth and sixth Tigers to enter the transfer portal on Friday after safety Ryan Yaites also cast his name into the portal earlier in the day.

All three — Yaites, cornerback Jeremiah Hughes and linebacker Christian Brathwaite — are rising sophomores. Six Tigers have now entered the portal during its spring window, which opened April 16.

Yaites, a four-star recruit from Denton, Texas, appeared in all 13 games of his freshman season after injuries in the secondary thrust him into a larger role. This spring, he battled redshirt freshman Kylin Jackson for the responsibility of backing up senior Major Burns at the STAR position, a safety-linebacker hybrid role that new defensive coordinator Blake Baker added to the LSU defense.

Hughes, a three-star defensive back recruit from Las Vegas, was a special teams starter and a backup corner in 2023. The then-freshman logged defensive snaps in five games, including LSU’s win over Auburn, a game in which he recorded two tackles on only seven plays.

Brathwaite redshirted his freshman season after appearing in only five games. At the end of his high school career in Cypress, Texas, he was a four-star linebacker recruit inside the top-500 of 247Sports’ composite rankings.

LSU is now below the 85-player scholarship limit. The Tigers have yet to add a transfer this spring. LSU coach Brian Kelly had said the program will focus on building up its depth at defensive tackle with the transfer portal period.