Former Northwestern OL Josh Thompson commits to transfer to LSU

Former Northwestern interior offensive lineman Josh Thompson has committed to transfer to LSU out of the NCAA Transfer Portal, On3 has learned. He will have one year of eligibility remaining.

The 6-foot-4, 290-pound Thompson will sign with the Tigers after receiving strong interest from several Big Ten and SEC programs. He was also heavily pursued by Tennessee, South Carolina, Ohio State, Michigan, and Michigan State, among others.

Thompson visited Baton Rouge last week and is viewed as a plug-and-play option out of the portal for LSU, which loses four of five starting offensive linemen off its 2024 roster.

“I want three things out of this,” Thompson told On3’s VolQuest when asked about factors going into his decision. “This is a one year rental for me. I want it to become home. I want it to be a really good fit for me. I want to be around a guy who’s going to be able to develop me. I want to be around a winning culture. I’m a very competitive person. And I want to enjoy this last year of college football. I want it to be a milestone in my life that I will look back on and remember forever.”

Thompson is the fourth-ranked interior offensive lineman in the transfer portal, according to On3’s Industry positional rankings.

Thompson appeared in 31 career games with 21 starts over four seasons with the Wildcats, redshirting in 2021 before playing key a key role in 2022 and then starting on the line in 2023 and 2024.

Thompson played high school football at Fenton (Mich.) High School. There, he was a three-star prospect and the No. 761 prospect in the 2021 signing class, according to the On3 Industry Ranking.

Brian Kelly shares reaction to his $1 million NIL match for LSU

Brian Kelly put his money where his mouth is, and so far the LSU head football coach’s million dollar match is already paying major dividends for the Tigers’ NIL efforts.

Two weeks ago, Kelly and his wife, Paqui, announced a plan to match up to $1 million in NIL donations with a gift to the program’s foundation, the Tiger Athletic Foundation’s ADs Excellence Fund.

The pledge, called the “Kelly Family Million Dollar Match Fund” was part of a concerted effort by Kelly and the LSU administration to encourage regular, everyday LSU fans to donate to the school’s NIL collective, Bayou Traditions.

And, while Kelly’s pledge is good for all donations collected between Dec. 13, 2024 and Feb. 5, 2025, the initial support has been more than encouraging.

“The response has been what we were hoping for,” Kelly said during a press conference Saturday. “I think from a fan perspective — and when I say fan, I mean our grassroots support, not our huge donors, (though) our donors have stepped up as well. But our fans, those that come see the games, those that follow LSU football, whether it’s been $5, $50 or $500, we’re seeing those kinds of contributions that we hadn’t seen in the past.”

Andrew Graham contributed to this report.