Lane Kiffin is casually tweeting about the Vols, but there’s a report that he tried to steal a committed recruit from Tennessee
LSU Tigers head coach Lane Kiffin tried to swipe a committed recruit from the Tennessee Vols.
LSU Tigers head coach Lane Kiffin likes to pretend to be friendly with Tennessee Vols fans on social media.
But behind the scenes, Kiffin is actively working to hurt the Tennessee football program.
Kiffin, who has previously served as a head coach in the SEC at Tennessee and Ole Miss, regularly tweets about the Vols. So it wasn’t a surprise to see a UT-related tweet from Kiffin on Thursday morning.
It’s all laughs on social media. It’s a different story behind the scenes.
Lane Kiffin tried to steal a committed recruit from Tennessee
According to On3’s Chad Simmons, Kiffin and the Tigers made a run at 2026 four-star athlete Joel Wyatt before he officially signed with Tennessee in December.
Wyatt, 6-foot-4/206 pounds from Murfreesboro, TN, is rated by 247Sports as the No. 3 player in the state of Tennessee and the No. 63 overall player in the 2026 recruiting class. He committed to the Vols in late July.
“When Lane Kiffin took over in Baton Rouge, the Tigers made a strong late push for the four-star athlete, creating real buzz behind the scenes,” wrote Simmons this week. “There was belief LSU could make a splash at the eleventh hour, and Wyatt gave the pitch serious thought as conversations with the Tigers continued. In the end, Tennessee held firm. As one source close to the situation put it, ‘Tennessee calmed him down’ the day before he signed, and the Vols ultimately fended off the late surge.”
The Vols managed to hold on to Wyatt, so in the end it wasn’t a big deal.
But Kiffin’s actions, which are normal (every coach tries to flip recruits), is a reminder that the friendly social media banter with Vols fans is just for show. Behind the scenes, Kiffin, who is already on the hot seat in Baton Rouge, would love nothing more than to weaken Tennessee’s roster while strengthening LSU’s.
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