When Lane Kiffin made the decision to leave Ole Miss with the Rebels heading to the College Football Playoff, it was because he felt the Tigers gave him a better chance to win championships. While Ole Miss had built solid rosters during Kiffin's time in Oxford, the potential of LSU when everything is clicking is hard to match. Considering LSU went all-in to fire Brian Kelly and hire Lane Kiffin, it appeared like that potential could be reached.
Lane Kiffin is known as the Transfer Portal King for his ability to flip a roster in an offseason to build a Playoff contender. While that ability is great in this era of college football, recruiting the High School ranks is still wildly important, especially at LSU.
In order to reach the full potential at LSU, you need to be able to put a fence around the state and keep the best players in the Boot. Kiffin inherited a great class of in-state recruits like 5-stars Lamar Brown and Richard Anderson from Brian Kelly, but this recruiting class was going to be his first test.
Lane Kiffin is off to a troubling start recruiting Louisiana
When Lane Kiffin took the LSU job, there wasn't a better time for him to send a statement on the recruiting trail. Louisiana has 4 players ranked as 5-star recruits and 9 players ranked as top 300 prospects overall this cycle. The bad news for Lane Kiffin is that he only holds a commitment from 1 of the 5-stars while 5 of the top 300 recruits are committed elsewhere.
It's impossible to fully blame Lane Kiffin for the struggles based on when he took over at the helm of the program. The 6th ranked player in the country and the Nation's top ranked wide receiver Easton Royal committed to Texas before Kiffin took the LSU job. The Tigers have tried to flip the in-state star away from the Longhorns, and it appears that they're making progress, but he does remain a Texas commit.
In September while Brian Kelly was still at the helm, LSU landed a quarterback commitment from in-state recruit Peyton Houston. When Lane Kiffin took over, he held onto Houston who's an incredibly promising QB recruit, but it also allowed 5-star quarterback Elijah Haven to commit to SEC rival Alabama which may end up haunting the Tigers.
On Friday, Lane Kiffin took the first major blow on the recruiting trail with in-state 5-star offensive lineman Albert Simien committing to Notre Dame. Texas A&M seemed like the front runner for most of the race before Notre Dame won out late, but it looked like LSU never fully found it's footing in the pursuit of Simien.
This is far from a failure of a recruiting class for Lane Kiffin and the Tigers as LSU currently holds the Nation's 11th ranked recruiting class. Ahmad Hudson was a must get for the Tigers as a two-sport 5-star recruit who's father played for the Tigers, and Lane Kiffin did win out.
In the end, while this isn't a failure of a class, it's also a missed opportunity for Lane Kiffin if the goal at LSU is winning National Championships. The Tigers had the in-state advantage with several of the countries most sought after recruits, and only walking away with 1 of the 4 5-stars will feel like a massive flop. Kiffin still has plenty of time to work on a flip, but this first recruiting cycle in Baton Rouge may end up missing the mark.
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