By Hunt Palmer
LSU blitzed the transfer portal in December and totally reshaped the 2025 roster. It’s all part of a program shift toward NIL and portal additions.
In this series, we’re going to look at all of the transfers Brian Kelly and his staff brought in to assess where they fit and what our projections are for them in 2025 and beyond.
Next up is Josh Thompson, the offensive line transfer from Northwestern.
WHAT WE KNOW: The 2025 offensive line will be the most made over unit on LSU’s roster. Four starters are gone, and DJ Chester was LSU’s lowest graded lineman in 2o24.
Brad Davis has accumulated a bunch of four- and five-star prospects, but that depth is young and unproven.
LSU grabbed Virginia Tech center Braelin Moore early in the portal cycle, and Thompson got on board December 27. Thompson stands 6-foot-4 and weighs right at 300 lbs. On3 ranks him as the No. 3 interior offensive lineman in the portal.
Northwestern was his only power conference offer out of high school. He spent four years in Evanston. In 2021, he redshirted without seeing any game action. He played in eight games in 2022 and then made 11 starts at right tackle in 2023. He allowed two sacks against Penn State that season but just one in the other 10 games.
He made the move to right guard in 2024 and played all of his snaps there.
Pro Football focus think more of him as a pass blocker than a run blocker. He graded out as an 80.7 in pass protection this year thanks to an 88 grade versus Duke, 87 versus Eastern Michigan and 87 versus Michigan. His low mark was a 55 versus Purdue.
He graded a 73.4 in the running game.
THE FIT: LSU just needed some veteran presence in the offensive line room with Will Campbell, Emery Jones, Miles Frazier and Garrett Dellinger moving on. Thompson provides experience and versatility having played guard and tackle over four college seasons.
While Brad Davis does have high-level talents like Weston Davis and DJ Chester in the system, proven Power Four bodies were a must. Enter Davis and Thompson.
It feels in mid-January like Davis is the likely starter at center and the other four spots are completely up for grabs. The spring should sort some of that out. But I feel like the competition will roll into fall camp.
HUNT’S PROJECTION: Like I wrote above, I think Moore is the center. I know the staff is excited about Chester’s potential at guard, and Coen Echols had a really good December at guard. Paul Mubenga also got a lot of reps at guard when Dellinger went down in November.
Thompson feels like the favorite to play right tackle right now. Davis and Tyree Adams may battle for the left tackle spot. Both of those scenarios are a significant drop off from Campbell and Jones.
Davis’s track record is really strong when it comes to developing talent. He’s got to make good on that in the spring and early fall with this group.
Thompson brings a high floor and lots of versatility as Davis figures out how all of these pieces come together.
My projection is that Thompson is a league-average right tackle who is an unlikely draft choice next spring. It was a position LSU had to address, and they did so about as well as possible in the portal.
