Brian Bishop-Imagn Images
By Hunt Palmer
LSU loaded up at wide receiver in last year’s portal.
Aaron Anderson, Chris Hilton Jr., Zavion Thomas and Kyle Parker returned. Then the Tigers added Nic Anderson, Barion Brown and Destyn Hill to the equation. What looked like an elite, diverse unit really underperformed in the passing game.
That wasn’t all the wide outs’ fault. The offensive line, scheme and injury to the starting quarterback did LSU no favors.
As Lane Kiffin puts the roster together for his first season, that 2025 room has dissolved. Only Nic Anderson remains. Playmakers had to be brought in, and LSU did that quickly.
Here’s Ole Dominion speedster Tre Brown.
WHAT WE KNOW
Brown was an off the radar prospect. His college career started at Hutchinson Junior College in Kansas with a medical redshirt year. In his second season at Hutchinson, he earned all-conference honors and had a catch of at least 30 yards in seven of the nine games he played.
That season earned him a spot at Old Dominion where he continued to produce big plays as a sophomore. He led the Sun Belt in yards per catch at 20.5 and was fourth in the conference in receiving yards despite only making 38 catches in 13 games. He had a catch of over 30 yards in seven of the 13.
Tre Brown WR (Old Dominion)
6’2” | 180 lbs
2 Seasons of Eligibility2025:
• 38 Receptions
• 762 Yards
• 20.1 Yards Per Catch (Ranked #7 Nationally)
• 4 Touchdowns pic.twitter.com/FuMg7eekEU— ALL THINGS GEAUX (@AllGeaux) January 7, 2026
Against Virginia Tech, he made three catches including a touchdown. Against James Madison, he went nuts making four catches for 138 yards and two scores including a 98-yarder.
Brown is 6-foot-2 and 180 lbs. He’s got great speed. When he entered the portal from ODU, his top two suitors were LSU and Ohio State.
THE FIT
Kiffin loves speed. As a play caller, his job is to compromise the defense. The players’ job is to make that indecision hurt. The best way to do that is to fly. Brown can.
We now know that the receiving corps is coming together. Jackson Harris is a 6-foot-3 target from Hawaii. Jayce Brown is an All-Big 12 selection who amassed almost 2,000 receiving yards at Kansas State. Eugene “Tre” Wilson III was a five star recruit and a Freshman All-American at Florida when healthy. Anderson and Phillip Wright are talented players.
Brown’s size-speed combination should allow him to compete favorably with all of those pieces for playing time and production.
Of course, all of this is just window dressing until LSU can find a quarterback.
HUNT’S PROJECTION
I like the highlight tape. It shows the breakaway speed. He does a nice job of body control to catch balls that aren’t perfectly thrown. He won on some red zone routes like the fade against Virginia Tech and the end zone post against James Madison.
Tre Brown vs. JMU
– 4 catches
– 138 yards
– 2 TD https://t.co/EAHPTzEIhY pic.twitter.com/JEqjtxILgN— Ohio Divided (@BuckeyeNatty) January 4, 2026
There’s a reason the Tigers and Buckeyes, two of the three schools with the best wide receiver reputations in the NFL, were after him.
I think he’s a great fit for Kiffin’s offense. I’m just not sure how to fit him with a completely new group at wide receiver and an empty quarterback room.
Ole Miss led the country in 20-plus yard passing plays this season. Brown has a great chance to do that in LSU’s offense in 2026.
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