Nate Bell
By Hunt Palmer
In a different era, expectations would settle on the low side in a coach’s first year.
Not anymore.
As much money as rosters require and the amount of turnover year-to-year, Lane Kiffin’s first LSU team will be expected to win. That’s not news to Princewill Umanmielen who played in the national semifinal last year with Kiffin’s Ole Miss Rebels. He has no intentions of falling short of that in 2026.
“This ain’t no first year build thing,” Umanmielen said. “We’re trying to go all the way. If that’s not what you’ve got, a building mindset, this ain’t the place for you.”
On one hand, Umanmielen is accustomed to the way Kiffin runs practices and meetings. He knows the expectation of the head coach the way only Winnie Watkins and Devin Harper do. Those three are the Ole Miss transfers on the roster.
Conversely, he’s assimilating to Blake Baker’s defense with several holdovers from the previous staff making out the defense.
Things have gotten chippy between the offense and the defense early in spring practice, which shows some fire. It also shows that some growth is necessary.
“The growth is good,” Umanmielen said. “But the fighting isn’t something that we encourage around here. We like to see the passion that everyone is playing with. Everybody wants to protect the team and protect their side of the ball. But we ain’t encouraging no fighting.”
Umanmielen is on stop number three of his college career. He signed with Nebraska out of high school and transferred to Ole Miss to join his brother who started his collegiate career at Florida. After three months in Baton Rouge, Umanmielen is bought in on his coach’s saying, “It’s just different.”
“I ain’t gonna lie. It’s more than just a saying,”Umanmielen said. “I’ve been trying to tell people. It’s more than just saying it. You just got to experience it and see it and live it. It’s different, though. The vibe around here. Everybody has the same mindset, the same goal. We all want to win. We all want to get to the next level. We all want to compete. That’s what I love to see.”
Two weeks of spring ball remain. Then a long summer of training and fall camp await. There’s not time to ramp things up as Week 1 features a matchup with Clemson. Dabo Swinney’s program hasn’t reached the level of the last 2010s, but plenty of talent will be visiting Baton Rouge on Labor Day weekend.
LSU will have to be ready.
“Everybody has to be on the same page,” Umanmielen said. “Everybody has to want it Week 1. We can’t have selfish guys. Everybody has to do their part, their 1 of 11. We’ll be fine.”
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