Lane Kiffin and LSU Tigers steal one final major transfer portal talent from SEC rival, locking in number one overall class
LSU Tigers add edge rusher Princewill Umanmielen from Ole Miss Rebels, and he should be worth every penny
Lane Kiffin, the Portal King, has done it again. And this time, he’s 100% locked in the LSU Tigers’ status as the No. 1 overall transfer portal class.
The Tigers have already been dominating the transfer portal and taking talent from Kiffin’s former school, the Ole Miss Rebels. Princewill Umanmielen, an elite edge rusher talent from the Rebels, has entered the portal and is transferring to the LSU Tigers.
Princewill Umanmielen officially in the portal and joining LSU Tigers
The former Rebels edge rusher tried to enter the transfer portal just before the Jan. 16 deadline, but the university shockingly tried its best to stop him. Predictably, Ole Miss failed in its selfish attempt to block Umanmielen’s transfer decision.
Losing Umanmielen will be a huge blow to LSU’s SEC rival, despite Ole Miss’ relative success throughout this transfer portal cycle (they rank second behind only LSU in the 247Sports team portal rankings). This move solidifies LSU’s already impressive transfer portal class of nearly 40 players, easily locking in the top overall class for this cycle.
For those unfamiliar with Umanmielen, he began his career at Nebraska, where he spent two years in a rotational pass-rushing role. He transferred to Ole Miss — where his brother Princely played — ahead of the 2025 college football season and immediately earned a much more significant role as a key starter. By season’s end, he was clearly one of the best pass rushers in the nation, racking up over 50 pass rush pressures and 11 sacks.
Umanmielen will definitely slide into one of the starting edge roles for Kiffin and the LSU Tigers this season, likely operating as one of the most important pieces of the entire defense.
There is one odd wrinkle with this move. Not that this should have a huge impact, but the Tigers will reportedly owe the Rebels over half a million dollars ($550,000) in buyout compensation for Umanmielen. That doesn’t sound like a ton of money in the revenue-sharing and NIL era of college football, but that does likely mean one fewer starter-level acquisition for LSU.
Regardless of what LSU has to pay for Umanmielen, he should be worth the price tag. The Tigers are replacing much of their defense from last year, and no LSU player tallied more than three sacks in 2025. If Umanmielen repeats his double-digit sacks and wildly impressive pressure rate stats again, LSU’s defense will be one of the best in the SEC.
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