Rickie Collins is entering the transfer portal

The end of the college football regular season can only mean one thing: portal season, and less than 24 hours after LSU’s 37-17 win over Oklahoma, the Tigers have their 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 9th to December 28th. The spring window will be open from April 16th to April 25th. As always, a player can remove their name from the portal and remain with their team (as Myles Brennan, John Emery, and Sage Ryan all did in previous seasons).

Collins came to LSU as a four-star prospect. Collins prepared here in Baton Rouge at Woodlawn and was a top-15 quarterback prospect and an Elite 11 finalist in 2023. He has three more years of eligibility remaining.

Collins played sparingly as a backup in each of his first two seasons as a Tiger. He was third on the depth chart in 2023 behind Jayden Daniels and Garrett Nussmier and competed with Vanderbilt transfer AJ Swann for the QB2 job this season. Collins appeared to have won the backup job as he took the top snaps early in LSU’s season, but it was Swann, not Collins, who took snaps against Florida and Oklahoma when Nussmeier sat out both games. Now that his path to the field appears to be blocked, Collins will look to find greener pastures elsewhere. While it’s a shame to lose Collins, hopefully this is a sign that Garrett Nussmeier will be back for LSU in 2025.