Ranking LSU Football's Recruiting Classes Since 2020 – Sports Illustrated

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LSU football has produced NFL talent year after year, earning a reputation as one of college football's premier programs to draft from. That's all possible through just one avenue: recruiting.
LSU has always been known for defensive backs and receivers, but recently the Tigers' identity for producing NFL players has only grown.
Over the last six seasons, LSU has brought in an immense amount of talent into Death Valley and turned it over to the NFL. But even more talent has come to play college football in Baton Rouge.
This is Brian Kelly's first full class. Sure, some recruits made initial connections with Ed Orgeron, but this is mainly a reflection of Kelly's recruiting. And it was strong, finishing as the No. 5 class in 2023.
This class had two five-star players in it, but neither turned out to be what their rankings showed. Lance Heard, a Louisiana native, went on to transfer to Kentucky, where he's found some success.
The other five-star, Da'Shawn Womack, also left the program, going to Ole Miss ahead of the 2026 season. He's now at Auburn after one season in Oxford, playing in 11 of the Rebels’ 15 games.
The class has its gems, but it has one undeniable star: Whit Weeks.
Weeks has become one of the SEC's best linebackers, and coming back to LSU for his final season in 2027, he'll look to prove that. He's played in 32 games in his career, recording 205 tackles, 16.5 tackles for loss and five sacks while also recording three pass breakups, four pass deflections and one interception.
Some of those other gems include Ashton Stamps, Kyle Parker, and DJ Chester, all players who recorded meaningful snaps before transferring out of LSU this past offseason.
The 2025 class brought in some instant-impact players for the Tigers last season, as the No. 7-ranked class in the cycle.
This class is still young, so development hasn't yet kicked in, but two of these players were seeing significant snaps across the whole 2025 season for the Tigers. Those two players are the headliners of the class: five-star cornerback DJ Pickett and the top running back in the class, Harlem Berry.
Pickett, an athletic specimen at 6-foot-4 with great speed, was named a 2025 Freshman All-American and a Freshman All-SEC selection after playing 13 games with 3 starts. He recorded 37 tackles, three tackles for loss and a sack in 2025, all while leading the team with 3 interceptions.
Berry was a rotational back throughout the first half of the season, but around the midway mark, he emerged as one of the most efficient backs on the team. He finished second on the team in rushing yards (491) and carries (104) and led the team in yards per rush (4.7) across his 6 starts.
Outside of those two, Carius Curne and Solomon Thomas were talent-rich options on a struggling offensive line last season. For Thomas, an injury prevented him from seeing time, but Curne saw his time towards the back half of the season.
Thomas will be back at LSU in 2027, but Curne has moved on to Ole Miss. The majority of the rest of the class else was redshirted, but some major talent sits in the class.
Three members of this class emerged as early favorites for playing time in 2027 after spring practices: Phillip Wright III, Aidan Anding and Damien Shanklin.
Wright is primed for his breakout in the receiver room, but he'll have a tough challenge as LSU brought in over 10 new transfers in that position room.
Anding and Shanklin were looking like prime candidates for playing time in 2027, with Anding looking like LSU's CB3, but an Achilles injury sustained during a spring scrimmage will sideline him. For Shanklin, an ACL tear will leave him on the sideline too.
The highest-rated class that LSU has seen this decade came as Kelly left and Lane Kiffin entered. With Kelly's work to earn solid commitments from five top-100 players, all Kiffin had to do was hold on to that foundation and get them signed just days after he arrived in Baton Rouge.
This class has only touched the field during spring, but there's some serious talent in it, especially on the defensive line.
With the No. 1 player in the class, Lamar Brown, not enrolling during the spring, he gave other talented defensive linemen in this class a chance to shine. Five-star Richard Anderson and four-star Trenton Henderson had a nice spring, but four-star Deuce Geralds had a fantastic spring.
Geralds was making seasoned veterans on the offensive line look like true freshmen. He played inside and on the edge, but it didn't seem to matter, as he was disruptive all over the line.
LSU had just won a national championship, and it had a record-tying 14 selections in the 2020 NFL Draft, with five of those going in the first round.
LSU was on a championship hangover but managed – through Orgeron's recruiting efforts – to land the No. 4 class.
Orgeron landed three five-stars in tight end Arik Gilbert, cornerback Eli Ricks and wide receiver Kayshon Boutte.
This class has a few stars outside of the top three, with Jaquelin Roy, BJ Ojulari and Jacobian Guillory having nice careers at LSU.
This class is overlooked in LSU history because, as freshmen, it was the COVID season, when no fans could attend games.
The 2024 class's No. 9 ranking is deceiving. This class is loaded with top end talent.
The players that headline this class at LSU are tight end Trey'Dez Green, defensive tackle Dominick McKinley, safety Dashawn Spears and running back Caden Durham. It's a group that was hard to keep off the field in both of their first two collegiate seasons.
This class is deep with talent across the field. It includes numerous four-stars in linebackers Davhon Keys, quarterback Colin Hurley and defensive end Gabriel Reliford.
But there are numerous gems in this class.
The three stars include linebacker Xavier Atkins – who transferred to Auburn and had a breakout season – cornerback PJ Woodland, and defensive lineman Ahmad Breaux.
That's one of LSU's deepest classes on the list.
Brian Kelly's first class at LSU was this 2022 class. It has a lot of leftovers from Orgeron's efforts in Louisiana, but a transition class is always hard to nail. Kelly did well, securing the No. 7 spot and some high-end talent in this cycle.
This class is carried by three of the top five payers.
The top five includes linebacker Harold Perkins, Jr., the sole five-star, four-star defensive lineman Quency Wiggins, offensive tackle Will Campbell, quarterback Walker Howard and offensive tackle Emery Jones Jr.
All five of these players are top-100 players, and all are from Louisiana. This class is simply a showcase of Louisiana's abundant talent.
But Campbell and Jones stick out, having led LSU's Joe Moore Award-winning offensive line, and both spent the minimum amount of time in college before heading off to the NFL.
This class was truly a masterclass by Orgeron. It ranked as the No. 4 class in the cycle, but the stars in this class are unbelievable.
Out of the 25 high school players who signed in this class, 10 are on active NFL rosters or in rookie camps. Two are first-round draft picks.
The class is now headlined by four-star wide receivers Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr., who both went on to be first-round selections. They were key to quarterback Jayden Daniels' Heisman season in 2023.
The top recruit from that class, and the only five-star, was Maason Smith. He played in 22 games with 17 starts as a Tiger, posting 47 career tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks. As a freshman, he earned Freshman All-American honors as well as being a Freshman All-SEC selection.
This class was deep. It included Chris Hilton Jr., Sage Ryan, Landon Jackson, Greg Penn III, Sai'vion Jones, Jack Bech and Garrett Nussmeier.
While Ryan, Bech and Jackson went on to play elsewhere to finish their college careers, LSU was still where it all started for these guys.
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Ross Abboud is a junior at LSU studying mass communication. Before joining LSU Tigers on SI, Abboud was the Deputy Sports Editor at The Reveille, in addition to covering recruiting and gymnastics at TigerBait.com. Outside of sports and writing, Abboud is a member of LSU’s Tiger Band, works at local high school teaching drumlines.
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