Dae’Quan Wright, a Cleveland Browns tight end, just shook the college football world last week by becoming the NFL’s first active player to enter the transfer portal. While media members and coaches are clutching their pearls, Lane Kiffin, LSU’s head coach, clearly isn’t losing a wink of sleep. His job is to grab talent, rack up wins, and chase championships, and his relentless pursuit of Wright proves nobody navigates the wild west of college football’s current landscape better than Kiffin.
Kiffin Doesn’t Care What You Think
Call Kiffin shameless, calculated, or even a “filthy recruiter.” He’ll probably just retweet the criticism and keep working. He isn’t worried about cleaning up the NCAA’s mess. Kiffin’s focus is crystal clear: building LSU’s roster. If a judge or the rules say he can go after an NFL player, he’d be negligent not to make that call. That’s the brutal truth for his critics. He’s not breaking the system; he’s just reading it faster than everyone else. Oregon coach Dan Lanning put it bluntly: “It used to be once you had an agent or once you went and did the combine. All those things qualified as you were no longer an amateur. You’re a professional now, once you declare for the draft. So to let any of those players come back, fair or unfair to them, it’s unfair to the sport, and I think it’s unfair to the players that are on current teams for those guys to be coming back.”
The Lawless Landscape of College Football
Wright’s decision to jump into the portal after making it to the NFL would have sounded absolutely bonkers not long ago. But now, with courtroom victories, temporary restraining orders, and eligibility rulings blowing up the sport’s old rules, it’s just another opportunity. This new era of college football demands aggression, creativity, and a willingness to exploit every single loophole. Kiffin has always been one to push the envelope, and at LSU, with championship expectations and endless resources, he’s just doing what he does best: winning the transaction game. Browns coach Todd Monken’s reaction says it all: “I wondered why Lane Kiffin reached out a week ago; now I know. I mean, shit, I didn’t know. Now I know. I didn’t call him back; I guess I should’ve.”
Kiffin’s approach has never been swayed by outrage. If Wright can legally come back to college, and the NCAA can’t stop it, Kiffin just sees an available player who can make LSU better. Nothing more. Recruiting a player from his old program, after that player already hit the NFL, feels incredibly brazen, even for Kiffin. Yeah, it definitely reinforces every negative perception about his Ole Miss exit. But Kiffin’s mission is to win at LSU, not pass some national morality test. In this wild, new college football world, restraint gets applause. Aggression? That gets you talent.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by CBS Sports.
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