Well, the LSU Tigers’ HC might have planned to have a fresh start in 2025. Sadly, Brian Kelly’s woes still continue. While the HC might not be over the Bryce Underwood trauma after he flipped to Sherrone Moore’s squad, this new year has been tough. Kelly lost 19 players to the transfer portal. While the HC is too busy to fill the gaps by scouting for replacements, someone chose to sprinkle some salt on his fresh wounds. That’s none other than his 4-star player who chose to try his luck somewhere else within days after commitment.   

The Tigers must have become conditioned to facing heartbreaks by now. Just within 20 days since the winter portal opened its gates, 17 players chose to take the exit. The domino effect continued in February as well. On February 3, Kelly’s Tigers lost the commitment of their top-10 defensive lineman commitment JaReylan McCoy. As Hayes Facewatt posted on Instagram, “The 6’7 245 DL from Tupelo, MS had been Committed to the Tigers since January 2nd.” Now that has been indeed surprising.

After all, a defensive lineman from Tupelo, MS, committed to the Tigers in early January. Kelly was able to win McCoy’s trust, beating USC Trojans and Tennessee Volunteers in the race. Well, he has enough reasons to worry about the loss. After all, McCoy is a 4-star player who is ranked the No. 124 overall prospect in the 2026 recruiting class and the No.11 defensive lineman. On the flip side, McCoy must be enjoying the feeling of being a hot target. After all, he has 34 suitors swarming around him. However, he still chose to do some teasing with Kelly.

While the comment section had fans taking the Tigers HC’s side, questioning McCoy’s loyalty, one comment stood out. No wonder that was from the player himself. The de-commit commented, “Where’s home.” Maybe, now the player who was part of an elite Tupelo squad that went 14-0 in 2024 just wants to explore the other options as well. Right now, looks like a big suitor is all ready to welcome McCoy.  

Brian Kelly’s big loss makes way for Ole Miss

As On3 Recruits tweeted on February 2, “On3’s @ChadSimmons_has logged an expert prediction for Ole Miss to land 2026 4-star DL JaReylan McCoy.” The player has been a big want for Pete Golding and Randall Joyner as they are tasked with revamping the defensive line. A few days ago he took a visit to Lane Kiffin’s program, and ever since then, he had impressed them. But what made him go for Kelly’s program in the first place?

After all, the Tigers had been recruiting McCoy since he was in the eighth grade. McCoy was even vocal about the reason behind his choice, “LSU has a great history and coach Kelly is going to keep that going. I have been to LSU four or five times and it just feels like a place I can call home. I’m locked in.” Well, we are yet to figure out the reason behind McCoy’s flip. However, it’s likely to be how Kelly’s defense made the same mistakes over and over again.

LSU finished 2023 ranked outside of the top 100 defenses in yards per pass attempt allowed and total passing yards allowed. But in 2024 too there have been signs that they were at the same place. Against USC, Brian Kelly’s program allowed over 250 total yards and gave up 17 more points. On that note, no one wants to board a sinking ship, right?