Top-Ranked Recruit Lamar Brown Makes Surprise Decision on Signing With Lane Kiffin, LSU

Brown was one of the first recruits to meet with Kiffin after he took the Tigers job.

After a delay, Lane Kiffin and LSU locked down top defensive tackle recruit Lamar Brown. / Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images

Lane Kiffin made sure that Lamar Brown knew he was a priority. Within his first few hours as the new coach at LSU, he made sure to meet with Brown—a composite five-star recruit and the No. 1-ranked player in the ESPN 300—in an attempt to lock down perhaps the most vaunted member of the Tigers recruiting class ahead of the early signing period.

Recruits became able to sign their National Letters of Intent on Wednesday, with the December signing period running through Friday. Brown, who committed to Brian Kelly on July 10, remain pledged to the Tigers through the program’s coaching search, but earlier this week opted against signing.

“They’re staying committed, but we don’t know what the future holds,” Brown’s agent told Rivals on Tuesday. ESPN reported Wednesday that there was no timeline for Brown to make a decision and that he wasn’t expected to sign this week. Players who remain unsigned after Friday will have the chance to do so again on the traditional National Signing Day, which falls on Feb. 4.

LSU reportedly remained confident that it would land Brown, and continued conversations with the 17-year old Baton Rouge native and his representation. On Friday, with just hours left in the signing period, Brown made his pledge to his hometown school official.

The State of Football

Edge @lamar1brown is officially a Tiger pic.twitter.com/PJ4rYTgRvd

— LSU Football (@LSUfootball) December 5, 2025

LSU interim coach Frank Wilson and edge rushers coach Kevin Peoples are listed by 247 Sports as Browns’s main recruiters, and ESPN’s Eli Lederman reports that Brown is also concerned with the fate of defensive coordinator Blake Baker, a former Tulane player who is reportedly in the mix for the Green Wave head coaching job among others. So far, LSU has not announced whether it will retain any of those coaches under Kiffin, but the program evidently made Brown comfortable enough with the direction of Kiffin’s staff that he was willing to take himself off the market on Friday.

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LSU’s 2026 recruiting class

Kiffin has had limited time to build a high school class, with the early signing period opening just days after he accepted the LSU job, but the Tigers are in solid shape as of Friday.

So far, 14 players have signed to play for Kiffin in Baton Rouge:

Recruit	Position	247 Sports Composite Rating	Hometown
Lamar Brown	Edge	5*	Baton Rouge
Richard Anderson	DT	5*	New Orleans
Trenton Henderson	Edge	4*	Pensacola, Fla.
Deuce Geralds	DT	4*	Suwanee, Ga.
Brysten Martinez	OL	4*	Gonzales, La.
Corey Barber	WR	4*	Pinson, Ala.
Havon Finney	CB	4*	Chatsworth, Calif.
Aiden Hall	S	4*	New Orleans
Jabari Mack	WR	4*	Destrehan, La.
JC Anderson	TE	4*	Mt. Zion, Ill.
Isaiah Washington	S	4*	Haynesville, La.
Brayden Allen	WR	4*	Lafayette, La.
Dezyrian Ellis	CB	4*	Winnsboro, La.
Ryan Miret	OL	3*	Miami

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