Though it has been a stable offseason so far compared to last year, there has still been plenty of movement in the LSU football program since the season ended.
With the transfer portal and NFL Draft deadlines now passed, LSU’s roster for the 2023 season is starting to take shape. Despite some of the movement, the Tigers still return the bulk of their production, especially on offense. With that said, here’s a look at where the roster stands with athletes now enrolled for the spring semester.
Offense
The latest headline regarding LSU’s offense was the rather surprising transfer of freshman quarterback Walker Howard. Howard was a former five-star recruit from Lafayette, Louisiana, whose father, Jamie Howard, played quarterback at LSU from 1992-1995. His transfer announcement came just over a month after his high school teammate, Jack Bech, announced his intentions to leave the program, eventually committing to TCU.
Though there was early speculation he would join Bech at TCU, Howard announced his commitment to Ole Miss this week. With Howard gone, that leaves LSU with three scholarship quarterbacks: Jayden Daniels, Garrett Nussmeier and freshman early enrollee Rickie Collins.
Brian Kelly made it clear after the Citrus Bowl that Daniels was still the starter but did clarify that Nussmeier would get a chance to compete. Barring any more movement within the quarterback room, Collins would likely see a limited role his freshman year, but still has the potential to be an exciting option in the future.
Looking at the rest of the offense, LSU lost just two starters to the NFL Draft, both wide receivers. The Tigers will be without Kayshon Boutte and Jaray Jenkins in 2023, but return a strong core of Malik Nabers, Brian Thomas Jr., Kyren Lacy and Chris Hilton Jr. LSU also added a loaded class of newcomers including Alabama transfer Aaron Anderson and freshman Shelton Sampson Jr., Jalen Brown, Khai Prean and Kyle Parker.
LSU returns all of its key pieces at running back and on the offensive line but signed a handful of highly-touted freshmen. At running back, the Tigers added four-star Louisiana natives Kaleb Jackson and Trey Holly, Louisiana’s all time high school rushing leader.
On the offensive line, LSU brings in a strong class of freshmen led by five-star Louisiana native Zalance Heard. Tyree Adams, DJ Chester and Paul Mubenga.
Defense
LSU’s defense will have a different look once again in 2023 after another large wave of transfers. For the second year in a row, the secondary was almost completely overhauled following the departures of Jarrick Bernard-Converse, Colby Richardson and Mekhi Garner. LSU brought in transfers JK Johnson from Ohio State, Denver Harris from Texas A&M, Darian Chestnut from Syracuse and Zy Alexander from Southeastern Louisiana University.
At linebacker, LSU retains Harold Perkins after his electric freshman year but also lost Micah Baskerville and Demario Tolan. The Tigers supplemented the loss of Tolan through the portal, adding the experienced Ovie Oghoufo from Texas. Along with Oghoufo, LSU added freshmen Christian Braithwaite and Whit Weeks.
The defensive line saw an overhaul as well, with six newcomers entering the program. The freshman defensive line class is led by four-star recruit Dashawn Womack and also includes four-star Jaxon Howard and three-star Dylan Carpenter. The Tigers also added three transfers including Jaden Lee coming from Florida, Jordan Jefferson coming from West Virginia and Bradyn Swinson coming from Oregon.
With the overhaul, LSU’s 2023 freshman class currently ranks seventh in 247sports composite rankings and fifth in the 247sports transfer portal rankings. Despite the early movement, the roster could still see more changes as the February signing period approaches where the remaining unsigned high school recruits can sign.
Following the end of spring practice, the transfer portal will also open back up, allowing more players to come and go from the program before the season starts.
