Lane Kiffin addresses aggressive recruiting of Sam Leavitt, Jordan Seaton: 'I don't really do well with no'

LSU was arguably the most aggressive program to tackle NCAA transfer portal this offseason. Ahead of his first season as LSU football coach, Lane Kiffin has with the No. 2 overall portal class, headlined by the top overall QB in Sam Leavitt and OT in Jordan Seaton.

Kiffin even flew to Knoxville to meet with Leavitt amid his visit to Tennessee. Addressing the media during national signing day, he explained the reason for his aggressiveness — which brought 40 new players to Baton Rouge last month.

“I don’t know. I just know how I do things,” Kiffin said. There’s a good and bad to it. I’m extremely competitive and I don’t really do well with no. So that just makes me more competitive when someone says no. So sometimes that happens in recruiting. They say no. But I think that’s my job. That’s my job to LSU.”

His persistence paid off, and Kiffin once again enters spring practices with one of the best portal classes in the country. This was often the case for the new LSU coach during his time at Ole Miss. Kiffin plans to utilize both the portal while recruiting blue-chip high schoolers to sustain success in Baton Rouge.

“I’m hired here to go sign the best players, regardless of whether that means I’ve got to go get on another plane or find a plane and show up somewhere, walk through Knoxville Airport to find the guy,” Kiffin continued. “That’s just kind of how I work and I like that because I think that wires in with Louisiana people, because I think that’s how they think. No jobs too small.

“Find a way to go get it done. I think it’s a good match.”

That’s exactly what he’s done on the recruiting trail. On top of LSU’s No. 2 overall portal class, Kiffin will welcome in the No. 12 overall recruiting class per the Rivals Industry Rankings, which is a proprietary algorithm that compiles ratings and rankings from all four primary recruiting media services.

As it stands, 58 total new faces will enter the LSU program from those two classes. This group will look to take the Tigers back to the College Football Playoffs in year one under Lane Kiffin’s guidance.