Richard Anderson and Lamar Brown headlined Louisiana’s 2026 recruiting class for much of their high school career and are now already earning headlines in LSU’s outlook for their freshman season still five months away.
Both promising defensive line prospects were among the names coach Lane Kiffin mentioned Tuesday as part of the equation up front — just over two weeks into Anderson’s spring practices as an early enrollee and still nearly two months before Brown officially moves onto campus.
“Phenomenal prospect,” the Tigers’ new coach said of the early impressions of Anderson. “This guy’s gonna be a great player. It’s just a matter of time to when that happens. I love how physical he is. I love how hard he’s worked early. Again, these guys really are seniors in high school. Over time we just have changed their enrollment for so many guys to come early. So he’s doing a great job. He got a little banged up and played through it Saturday, which was good. We’re really excited about him. Well-coached.”
Asked more specifically about the likelihood the 6-foot-3, 339-pound defensive tackle out of Edna Karr would be in the rotation right away, Kiffin said he does anticipate the potential for an immediate impact.
“We’re not very deep at defensive line,” the coach said. “That’s why it was really important to bring in the portal guys, but then also sign the high school guys that we did. And so there’s very high expectations for him and the others.”
Former Collins Hill (Suwanee, Ga.) star defensive tackle Daverin “Deuce” Geralds II, whose family is from Baton Rouge, has joined Anderson as a freshman eye-catcher this spring in his first few months at his father’s hometown program.
And while Brown is still finishing up his University Lab career this spring, the opportunity and need for him to play an immediate role has only grown during the Tigers’ early spring work.
Another home-state star Gabriel Reliford (Evangel Christian) suffered an ACL injury during the first week of practices and is expected to miss most, if not all, of this year as he recovers.
Brown was the only name Kiffin specifically mentioned Tuesday when asked which players have the chance to earn bigger roles to try to make up for that loss.
“I think guys have done a good job. We’ve moved people around a little bit and today in our third-down packages with different rushers and things. And Lamar will be here, which will help, too, at that spot, so we’ll just look at different options.”
