LSU Transfer Portal Tracker: Which Tigers will enter the portal?

The NCAA Transfer Portal does not officially open until December 9, but with the regular season complete, college football players around the country are revealing their decisions.

In Baton Rouge, two players have already chosen to enter the transfer portal next week, per reports.

Two years ago, LSU had 18 scholarship players enter the NCAA Transfer Portal. Meanwhile, the Tigers added 14 players from the Transfer Portal.

One year ago, LSU had 21 players enter the portal while the Tigers added nine players to the roster as offseason transfers.

What will the final numbers look like this month?

LSU head coach Brian Kelly said attrition by way of transfer portal departures is expected, but added the Tigers plan to be more aggressive in the December portal than in year’s prior.

“We’ll be very aggressive,” Kelly said. “I think everybody that’s followed us knows that we weren’t very aggressive in the transfer portal. We put together a defensive line using minimal resources. We’ve really put ourselves in a position — and I’ll use this term loosely — to stay well under the cap, so we could be quite aggressive this year.

“And we will be very aggressive in that area, as well as bringing in 16 mid-years (early enrollees from the high school class). We’re gonna have 16 mid-years. We think that the program in terms of the culture and the standards are such that we can do that now, where we can bring in 16 freshmen and maybe one of, if not the largest, transfer portal classes as well.”

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The LSU Transfer Portal Tracker: Departures (2)

QB Rickie Collins … The second-year backup quarterback saw action in four games across two seasons as the backup to Jayden Daniels and Garrett Nussmeier. Collins, a Baton Rouge native who signed as a 4-star prospect out of Woodlawn, flipped his commitment from Purdue to LSU before signing with the Tigers in 2023. Collins, who completed 7-of-7 pass attempts for 38 yards in four games, tells On3’s Hayes Fawcett he plans to enter the portal as an underclassman on December 9.

More: The Bengal Tiger Breakdown

WR Landon Ibieta … Ibieta caught a pair of passes in the lone game he played during his freshman season in 2022, but the bowl win over Purdue would prove to be his final playing time on offense. Injuries hampered Ibieta time and again over the past two seasons, and he didn’t log any game action in 2023 and saw just three snaps in one game played this past season. Ibieta signed with LSU in the 2022 class as a standout player at Mandeville, flipping his commitment from Miami to the Tigers before Signing Day arrived.

More: The Bengal Tiger Breakdown

When is the Transfer Portal open?

The college football transfer portal is scheduled for 30 days during the 2024-25 academic year. The NCAA Division I Council voted to move from 45 to 30 days in early October.

The portal will open at the end of the regular season, the day after the College Football Playoff field and bowl games are announced. According to the NCAA, the portal will open for business Monday, Dec. 9, 2024, and close on Dec. 28.

The spring window in April remains. The portal will only be 10 days, lasting from April 16, 2025, and shutting down on April 25, 2025. The transfer portal will open for 30 days whenever a head coach leaves their program, allowing athletes to leave and decide on their future, according to NCAA guidelines.

With the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff, the postseason will be longer. Athletes on teams that compete in the College Football Playoff and later bowl game will be allowed to enter an additional five-day transfer portal window in January after the portal closes.

More than 2,800 FBS scholarship players entered their names into the NCAA’s transfer database during the 2023-24 school year. Removing those who withdrew or went pro, the final total sat at 2,707 transfers. That means roughly 25% of all FBS scholarship players hit free agency in one year.

In data gathered over the first two years with transfer windows, the NCAA found most athletes enter the portal within the first four weeks of the portal opening. The study showed that 73% of men’s and women’s basketball undergraduate athletes entered during the first four weeks. That increased to 82% for men and 86% for women in 2024.

Which players can enter the Transfer Portal?

The NCAA pivoted on its transfer portal policy in December when it agreed to terms on a preliminary injunction in the Northern District of West Virginia District Court.

The D-I Council adopted emergency legislation for a new transfer rule this spring. All undergraduate athletes can now transfer and play immediately as long as they meet specific academic requirements. Previously, if an underclassman wished to transfer a second time, the athlete needed the NCAA to grant a waiver to compete immediately. Absent an approved waiver, the athlete had to sit out a year. 

There is no limit on the number of times an athlete can enter the transfer portal. The NCAA sent out memos to institutions twice during 2023-24 stating that multi-time transfers could play immediately in 2024-25 without securing a waiver. Athletes cannot transfer mid-year and play for a new school in the same athletic season.

Changes have been made to grad transfer requirements, too. Athletes can enter the portal at any time during the academic year but must enter before the close of their respective sports’ final transfer windows.