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These 3 questions will define LSU football wide receiver play in 2026 BATON ROUGE No one unit on Lane Kiffin's first roster with LSU football underwent more overhaul than the wide receiver room this offseason.
All but one receiver from the 2025 season departed, for one reason or another whether it be the NFL Draft or transfer portal.
Phillip Wright was lone holdover in the room from the Brian Kelly era.
And Kiffin and his staff went out and raided the portal for pass catchers.
LSU brought in nine wide receivers out of the portal, headlined by Florida's Eugene Wilson III, Ole Miss' Winston Watkins, Kansas State's Jayce Brown and Hawai'i's Jackson Harris.
Spring practice was likely more competitive for the receivers on this year's LSU roster than just about any other unit on the team because of all the new faces each trying to find where they are going to fit in the rotations.
Here are three questions for the LSU wide receiver room heading into the 2026 season.
Is there enough room in Lane Kiffin's offensive system for a new batch of receivers? Looking back to last season at Ole Miss, there were 10 different wide receivers that caught at least one pass.
But three of those only caught one ball and a fourth only hauled in three passes.
Going back further, the stats reveal the rotations at the receiver spot in Kiffin's offense are short.
Five seasons ago was the last time, before 2025, that Ole Miss had more than four receivers catch three passes or more.
It's likely true that a number of the portal additions LSU brought in came to the school under the pretense of knowing they'll likely be used sparingly.
But the coaching staff will still have to spend all of preseason camp to zero in on who's going to be a major player and who'll have to take a backseat.
Which LSU receivers will emerge in new look position room? The most obvious choice would be Watkins, who followed Kiffin from Oxford to Baton Rouge.
No other receiver on the roster knows the system better than Watkins at this point.
Not only that, but the speedster is dynamic with the ball in his hands.
Also coming out of spring, Harris looked the best of any of the outside receivers.
At 6-foot-2, 202 pounds, the former Hawai'i pass catcher showed off his downfield playmaking ability every day.
He's got separation ability and strong hands to catch the ball when covered and in traffic.
Those would be the clear, top two options at this point.
Wilson and Brown are two more that deserve a mention, but a little more needs to seen out of the group during fall camp.
Who are under-the-radar WRs for LSU football in 2026? Wright, the lone returner from last season's Tigers team, could be in for a surprisingly good year.
He flashed a lot during spring practice and his improvement on his route tree and catchability was noticeable.
Old Dominion transfer Tre' Brown got hurt early in spring and reporters did not get a good look at him.
At 6-2, 190, he's got the size to factor into things on the perimeter.
But, did the time on the sideline hinder his development in Kiffin's system and set him back? A couple of other guys including Illinois transfer Malik Elzy, Troy transfer Roman Mothershed and freshman Corey Barber Jr.
All three of those guys had solid springs.
Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network.
Follow his Tigers coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz.
Got questions regarding LSU athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at [email protected].