Tigers fortify its defensive front with one of the top players available in the portal
LSU’s top-ranked transfer portal class just got richer as the Tigers have reportedly added former USF defensive tackle Bernard Gooden.
Gooden is viewed as the highest ranked player still available in the portal. He was viewed as a top-50 transfer prospect overall and the No. 4 defensive lineman. He will have one final year of eligibility remaining.
Gooden is from Montgomery, Alabama and originally began his collegiate career at Wake Forest where he spent his freshman and sophomore seasons. The past two years, Gooden has been in Tampa with USF and this past season he was an All-AAC honorable mention after posting 35 tackles, 10 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks; he was also credited with 27 hurries per Pro Football Focus.
By adding Gooden, LSU could legitimately have a six-man rotation at defensive tackle. LSU and Kyle Williams will have some combination of Gooden, Jacobian Guillory, Dom McKinley, Ahmad Breaux, Shone Washington, and Sydir Mitchell to work with, and that’s not including the three incoming freshman signed. LSU desperately needed talent and depth up front last season, and it’s good to see Brian Kelly and staff making amends heading into 2025.
The window for football players to enter the transfer portal for the spring officially closed yesterday, and LSU’s only had three players enter. John Emery Jr., who was granted a seventh year of eligibility, entered as did former walk-on receiver/kick returner Javen Nicholas. True freshman Dilan Battle was the last player to enter the portal and did so yesterday. Battle was a three-star prospect out of Texas who enrolled in January, but his entry into the portal isn’t terribly surprising now that Bo Davis, who was Battle’s primary recruiter, left LSU for the New Orleans Saints.