LSU Football Stock Report: Key Transfers Surge, Big Returners Fall

For LSU football, fall camp has been eye-opening to truths about roster depth, competition within the roster and expectations for 2026.

The team is strong, physical and fast. But what has stuck out the most is that a lot of positions are deeper than expected with a lot of expected depth peices turning heads throough a week and a half of camp.

Overall, LSU is trending in the right direction. Precamp questions are getting answered and overall stock is climbing. The newcomers have turned heads unlike any others this fall, meaning some returners' stock is falling.

Up: Faheem Delane

Sep 27, 2025; Oxford, Mississippi, USA; Mississippi Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin talks with LSU Tigers cornerback Mansoor Delane (4) during the second quarter at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

LSU fans will see a Delane roaming the secondary again this year.

While it isn't unanimous All-American and first-round NFL Draft pick Mansoor Delane, his brother Faheem will be rocking around the Tigers' secondary all season long.

And the younger Delane is ready to play, so much so that he's been stealing some first team reps from returning, and expected, starter Tamarcus Cooley.

Faheem Delane has showed his quickness and length throughout the individual drills that media has seen, but he's made impressions across the board with the staff as he's not just running with the second team. He has created himself an oppurtunity to run with the first team in fall.

That makes it possible LSU will rotate more in the safety room this season than previously thought .

Down: Dominick McKinley

Dominick McKinley was the shoe in for LSU's defensive tackle opening the season, but with some freshman showing out and some Power 4 transfers showing out, the talented big man finds himself running with the third team.

The 6-foot-6, 297-pound interior lineman's fall on the depth chart is no reflection of his game. It's proving just how deep LSU's defensive trench is.

But his fall on the depth chart can only be reversed by one thing: dominant and undeniable play each and every day.

Up: Winston Watkins Jr.

Winnie Watkins is the least transfer like transfer LSU has.

He followed Kiffin from Ole Miss, the only offensive skill position player to do so, so he knows exactly what's going on.

He's more of a returner to this offense than Trey'Dez Green is.

But he's not let that create a complacency. He's taken steps up and grown this offseason, and has proved himself worthy of one of LSU's starting spots this season.

He's looked sharp, quick and exactly like the shifty receiver he is this fall. He's been consistent and clean all offseason long.

Up: Ty Benefield

Ty Benefield's stock is up to the moon right now. It has been since spring.

He just has something different. Or something "ultra-elite" as Lane Kiffin would say.

And he is. He looks so physical on the field, towering over the other safeties while also being stronger and faster.

His stock has no ceiling. He knows it, and LSU's staff knew it back in January when they convinced him to come to LSU. Right now, everything is about getting as good as he possibly can to wreak havoc for 12 - and LSU hopes for more - weeks.

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