Lane Kiffin addresses high expectations as LSU opens spring practice under its new coach

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Lane Kiffin, wearing a white T-shirt, white shorts and a white visor, walked off the field after LSU’s first spring practice and wasted little time addressing the stratospheric expectations surrounding his highly hyped arrival on the bayou.

“Things don’t happen overnight,” Kiffin cautioned before he’d even been asked a question by a throng of reporters inside a team meeting room in LSU’s football operations building. “We’re making some first steps.

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“There’s a ton of work,” Kiffin continued, “to get the program back up to where everybody around here wants it to be.”

Noting that the Tigers went 7-6 last season, Kiffin added that it’s “a long jump to go to the level that I came here to get at.”

Kiffin has begun his tenure by remaking the roster, adding close to 40 transfers and more than a dozen signees. In all, there were 54 new players on the field to open spring practice.

They include quarterback Sam Leavitt, a transfer from Arizona State who has spent this offseason recovering from a foot injury that required surgery. He took part in individual drills, throwing to receivers on a range of short and longer sidelined and crossing routes. Others include edge rusher Princewill Umanmielen and linebacker TJ Dottery, who followed Kiffin from rival Mississippi, and a number of new receivers from programs across the country.

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A few more who aren’t yet enrolled are expected to arrive during summer.

Still, Kiffin downplayed LSU’s depth, asserting that it’s difficult to stockpile talent in this era of player payments and drastically reduced restrictions on transferring.

“We’re going to have really good front-line talent guys on our roster, and we’re going to have some depth issues,” Kiffin said. “I’m sure all programs probably feel that way nowadays.”

Kiffin had just coached Ole Miss to an 11-1 regular-season record in 2025 and a College Football Playoff berth when he was wooed away from the Rebels on Nov. 30 by LSU, which had fired Brian Kelly in late October.

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The timing and finances involved in LSU’s coaching change highlighted the…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/lane-kiffin-addresses-high-expectations-220005155.html

Author : BRETT MARTEL

Publish date : 2026-03-24 22:00:00

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