Cornerback Ashton Stamps is no longer with the LSU football program, coach Brian Kelly confirmed Wednesday.
The 6-foot, 190-pound veteran defensive back is expected to transfer this winter, using a redshirt for this season and maintaining two years of eligibility.
Stamps, the former Archbishop Rummel star, was a consistent contributor in the Tigers’ secondary as a true freshman in 2023 and late that season broke into the starting lineup, where he remained throughout a solid sophomore campaign in 2024.
The Harvey native played more snaps last season (794) than any other LSU defender and , according to PFF (Pro Football Focus), and ranked No. 3 in the SEC with 14 passes defended and No. 5 on the team with 51 tackles.
He has seen only 18 defensive snaps on the field this season, though, according to PFF, in a new-look secondary where transfers Mansoor Delane, Tamarcus Cooley and A.J. Haulcy, five-star freshman D.J. Pickett and emergent sophomore P.J. Woodland have moved to the forefront.
Stamps has earned one of the unit’s top 10 PFF grades in that sparing action.
Kelly said Monday that the Tigers had held Stamps and safety Jardin Gilbert (University Lab), another 2024 starter, out of recent games to enable them to maintain their ability to redshirt this season and save the year of eligibility.
“We’re trying to protect them, both of them,” Kelly said during his weekly press luncheon. “They both have played in three games. So if we can in fact protect their year, we would try to. This would be a week where they could play their fourth game and still maintain eligibility.”
Gilbert initially signed with Texas A&M in 2021 and spent three years in College Station — as a consistent contributor as a freshman, starter as a sophomore and medical redshirt in 2023 — before transferring to the hometown Tigers during the 2024 offseason.
The 6-foot-1, 193-pound safety played in all 13 games in his first season in purple and gold with nine starts, including the final eight games, and 55 tackles and an interception.
He has played 48 snaps in three games, according the PFF, and would maintain a final year of eligibility in 2026 if he played in no more than one additional game the remainder of this season.
