Lane Kiffin and the LSU Tigers are such a threat on the recruiting trail that they have other Power Four programs hitting the panic button.

Specifically, we saw a panic move this week from California in response to LSU’s interest in 2027 four-star safety Myles Baker.

Baker, 6-foot-1/185 pounds from Chatsworth, CA, is rated by 247Sports as the No. 14 safety in the nation and the No. 17 player in the state of California. He’s also rated as the No. 193 overall player in the 2027 recruiting class.

California hits the panic button in response to LSU’s interest in Myles Baker

The four-star recruit has been committed to California since late March, but LSU has made a push to flip him from the Bears.

Baker, in fact, was supposed to be in Baton Rouge this past weekend for a visit, but California’s panic move prevented that visit from happening.

According to On3’s Adam Gorney, California head coach Tosh Lupoi, who worked alongside Kiffin at Alabama for three seasons (2014-2016), put together an emergency midweek visit to keep Baker from making the trip to LSU.

“[He] was supposed to be at LSU over the weekend,” noted Gorney. “He never made it to Baton Rouge, though, after Cal coach Tosh Lupoi and others had an emergency midweek visit put together for Baker to get back to Berkeley… A source said after that visit it would be a surprise if Baker backs off his Cal pledge now.”

Lupoi obviously knows Kiffin well, and he knows that when LSU zeroes in on a recruit that a flip is very, very possible. So it’s no surprise that Lupoi and Cal had this reaction to the Tigers’ interest in Baker.

There’s still a long way to go until the early signing period, so I wouldn’t write LSU off just yet.

More importantly, Kiffin and the Tigers have set themselves up well to land Baker if he enters the transfer portal down the road.