Portal keeps on spinning
In today’s edition of “As the Portal Turns” LSU went 1-1 as the Tigers saw AJ Swann enter the portal and add freshman punter Grant Chadwick out of Middle Tennessee State.
Swann said that he will be staying with LSU through the Texas Bowl against Baylor (Tuesday December 31, 2:30 P.M.) but after that he’ll be off to find a new home. Swann came to LSU after spending two years at Vanderbilt and battled with Rickie Collins to be Garrett Nussmeier’s backup. Collins was QB2 in name, but Swann was the one who came on when Nuss exited the Florida and Oklahoma games.
Swann only took one snap in the Florida game before Nussmeier came back, but he was in for a couple of series against the Sooners and didn’t look all that impressive. Now that LSU has added Michael Van Buren, Swann was going to be, at best, the third string quarterback heading into 2025. Now he’ll get a chance to find greener pastures, likely at the G5 or FCS level.
The tricky part for LSU to manage in the coming weeks/months is can they find another quarterback to add to the QB room with Nussmeier being the starter in 2025, while Van Buren and Colin Hurley fight for the job in ‘26?
While the future of the backup quarterback spot is a little hazy, the future at punter is clear: Grant Chadwick will be handling the punting duties next fall.
Chadwick enjoyed a solid freshman season for MTSU as he averaged 43.4 yards on 51 punts. He had 21 punts downed inside the 20, and 13 of his punts went for 50 or more yards; for comparison’s sake, Peyton Todd and Blake Ochsendorf combined for one punt over 50 yards.
It went largely unnoticed, but LSU was pretty poor in the punting game this season. LSU rotated between Todd and Ochsendorf because neither managed to grab control of the job. Punting didn’t cost LSU any games this year, but in this day and age you’re either improving your roster or your failing and LSU’s taking the steps necessary to improve every aspect of its roster, punting included.
Special teams will look almost completely different next season because not only will you have a new punter, but LSU will also have a new long snapper as Slade Roy has exhausted all of his eligibility. LSU will also have a new face leading its special teams in 2025 because Slade Nagle, who was coaching both tight ends and special teams this season, accepted the offensive coordinator job at Houston. Nagle reunites with Willie Fritz at Houston after working under him at Tulane.