And so it begins
The end of the college football regular season can only mean one thing: portal season and not even 24 hours after LSU’s 37-17 win over Oklahoma the Tigers have its first portal entry.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Rickie Collins reportedly plans to enter the transfer portal when it officially opens next Monday. The first portal window will be open from December 9 through the 28. The spring window will open April 16 and run through the 25. As always a player can take their name out of the portal and remain with their team (like Myles Brennan, John Emery, and Sage Ryan all did in previous seasons).
Collins came to LSU as a four-star prospect. Prepping right here in Baton Rouge at Woodlawn, Collins was a top-15 quarterback prospect and an Elite 11 Finalist in 2023. He will have three more years of eligibility remaining.
Collins has played sparingly as a backup in each of his first two seasons as a Tiger. He was third on the depth chart behind Jayden Daniels and Garrett Nussmier in 2023, and this season he was battling Vanderbilt transfer AJ Swann for the QB2 job. Collins appeared to have the backup job won, as he took mop up snaps in the early part of LSU’s season, but it was Swann, not Collins, who took snaps against Florida and Oklahoma when Nussmeier exited both games. Now with his path to the field apparently blocked, Collins will try and find greener pastures elsewhere. While it’s a shame to lose Collins this is, hopefully, a sign that Garrett Nussmeier will be back for LSU in 2025.