The LSU offense as a whole took a big step back in 2025, but fans are hoping that will change will offensive guru Lane Kiffin now leading the Tiger Football program. As Kiffin continues to round out his coaching staff for his first season in Baton Rouge, his latest hire has LSU fans fired up.
Lane Kiffin's high-stakes QB search comes with countless possibilities
According to Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports, LSU has finalized a deal to hire Ole Miss running backs coach Kevin Smith for the same role on Kiffin's staff at LSU. Smith is reportedly set to have a salary close to $1 million, which makes him among the highest-paid running backs coaches in all of college football.
LSU has finalized to deal to hire Ole Miss’ Kevin Smith as running backs coach that’s expected to pay him close to $1 million per year and will make him one of the nation’s highest-paid RB coaches, per sources.
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) December 21, 2025
Developed players like Kewan Lacy and Quinshon Judkins at Ole Miss. https://t.co/YYxAeQGozu pic.twitter.com/WLag9VcOBu
Kevin Smith's RB development has LSU fans fired up
Smith has worked under Kiffin on several occasions. He first teamed up with Kiffin as his running backs coach at Florida Atlantic from 2017-19. He then followed Kiffin to Ole Miss to be his running backs coach for the Rebels. He briefly left Oxford for the 2022 season to be the RB coach at Miami (FL), but returned to Ole Miss in 2023 and has been there ever since.
Smith saw great success at developing elite RB talent in Oxford under Kiffin. Most notably, Smith developed Quinshon Judkins and Kewan Lacy during his time with the Rebels. This season, Lacy leads the SEC with 21 rushing touchdowns and ranks 2nd in the conference by racking up 1,366 yards on the ground. As a team, Ole Miss finished 5th in the SEC in rushing yards per game in each of the last three regular seasons.
Smith is hoping to provide some much-needed life into the LSU rushing attack. The Tigers finished dead last in the SEC by averaging a measly 106.3 rushing yards per game during the regular season. Caden Durham led the team with 505 yards, with Harlem Berry not far behind with 446 yards of his own. Berry saw most of the action down the stretch, and his strong emergence has LSU fans excited for his future in Baton Rouge. Under Smith, look for the LSU running game to be much-improved in 2026.