"That’s the power of this place" Kiffin embraces LSU's recruiting pull

It does not take a genius for a head coach at LSU to know he needs to recruit the state of Louisiana. Any number of statistics show The Boot has one of the most talent dense recruiting bases in the country. What it does require is work ethic — and Lane Kiffin has that in spades.

As soon as Kiffin arrived at LSU, one of the first orders of business was locking in No. 1 player in the country Lamar Brown, who remained committed to the Tigers, but had other top tier programs circling. The same was true about Richard Anderson, another five-star in the state. Ultimately, Kiffin and LSU were able to sign both five-stars, once again proving why he came to Baton Rouge.

“That was a big emphasis right away,” Kiffin said of Brown and Anderson. “It was the relationship with them, and also getting them in that first period instead of trying to hold through all of this, because to me, I will get some credit for that, like ‘Lane signed the number one player in the country’, no, LSU signed the No. 1 player in the country. I don’t know of any other school where you take those two, for instance, and you don’t even have the position coach at the time, and they still signed with LSU.

“That’s not because of me. That’s not Frank Wilson. That’s the power of this place, that they would decide to sign instead of waiting and seeing everything involved, because they both loved LSU. And that’s why they were committed before I really got here. Again, that’s a reason why we’re here.”

Kiffin followed that up in the month of January by going out on the road to visit several high schools across the state to talk with coaches, top prospects, and introduce himself to the state in person. The work continues for Kiffin as this second signing day passes as the Tigers are already looking ahead to the 2027 class.

“It’s been great going to the high schools here and receiving feedback,” Kiffin said. “I’ve always enjoyed over time coming here to recruit, it’s just the people. They love football. Everyone says they love football, but the high school coaches here, they love coaching football, they love coaching the kids who genuinely care about the kids. And so it’s awesome. I’d love to sign a lot of Louisiana kids and we had long meetings week about that, about trying to not to only look at the guys that are on these lists that people put out and all the stars, but to go find them, because I know over time there’s always been great players here that aren’t highly recruited. It’s not just because they’re good players, but because their makeup and how they’re coached, the way they want to work, they just want to get better, so it’s been awesome to be around.”

Kiffin’s work ethic carried over to the portal where he amassed an incredible class, making headlines with his efforts to sign several of the top prospects available in reconstructing the roster. Over the past month, he has shown that he’s not solely reliant on LSU to sell itself, but he’s ready to do the work to make sure top prospects know the work he’s willing to put in.

“I’m extremely competitive, and I don’t do well with no,” Kiffin said. “That just makes me more competitive when somebody says no. Sometimes that happens in recruiting, but that’s my job. That’s my job at LSU. Everything I do is for the place where I coach, that school, those players, and those fans, and that makes me not very liked sometimes by other people.

“My job here is to go sign the best players, regardless of whether that means I’ve got to get on another plane, show up somewhere, walk through an airport to find a guy. That’s just how I work, and I like that, because I think that connects really well with Louisiana people. I think that’s how they think — no job’s too small.”