When LSU attacked the transfer portal in January, the Tigers signed two defensive tackles with starting experience — Stephiylan Green from Clemson and Malik Blocton from Auburn.
But during the portion of Thursday night's practice that the media was allowed to watch, highly touted freshmen Richard Anderson and Deuce Geralds worked with the first-team defense.
It's only the second practice, but it's an early glimpse at how the defensive tackle competition could develop during preseason camp.
Louisiana fans are already familiar with Anderson, better known as "Big Rich." The former Edna Karr standout helped lead one of the most dominant teams in Louisiana high school football history, guiding the Cougars to a second consecutive undefeated state championship.
As a senior, Anderson recorded 53 tackles, 10 sacks, 22 quarterback hurries, recovered two fumbles and returned an interception for a touchdown. At 6-foot-3 and 339 pounds, he arrived at LSU as the nation's top-ranked defensive tackle prospect in the 2026 recruiting class.
Geralds brings a different skill set. The Suwanee, Georgia, native is 6-foot-1 and 279 pounds and uses quickness and leverage to make plays against offensive linemen.
He finished his senior season at Collins Hill High School with 91 tackles, 37 tackles for loss and 16 sacks, becoming Georgia's all-time prep leader in career sacks.
But LSU head coach Lane Kiffin cautioned against expecting freshmen to immediately become major contributors, particularly with the transfer portal filling many of the holes that once forced young players onto the field.
“Freshmen are not impacting quite as much as they used to as before, everybody expects all these freshmen to have elite freshmen years, but that’s really not happening a lot around the country, because rosters do not have as many holes, because they are filled by portal players,” Kiffin said. “So before players were forced to play a little more, so I would temper some of these expectations on all these freshmen that everyone of them is going to start and be an All-American.”
The transfer portal additions, Blocton and Green, are expected to be important pieces of LSU's defensive line.
Blocton is 6-foot-3 and 286 pounds and started Auburn's final eight games last season. Two of his better performances came against Texas A&M and Georgia, when he recorded three tackles in each game.
Green also brings significant experience after three seasons at Clemson, where he made six starts in 2025. One of those starts came against LSU, when he posted a career-high six tackles in Clemson's 17-10 loss to the Tigers.
It also remains to be seen what kind of role former five-star recruit Dominick McKinley will have in LSU's defensive line rotation.
The Acadiana High School product has been working with the third-team defense early in camp. McKinley has the talent and recruiting pedigree to remain in the conversation, and LSU's interior defensive line coach Kevin Peoples will have the opportunity to develop that talent as camp progresses.
There is still plenty of time for the defensive tackle rotation to change before LSU opens the season.
For now, Anderson and Geralds are getting an opportunity to work with the first team, while Green and Blocton bring experience from the transfer portal. How those reps are divided up could be one of the more interesting position battles to watch as preseason camp continues.
