The 2010 hit film The Expendables tells the story of an elite group of mercenaries tasked with overthrowing a corrupt Latin American dictator, whom they later find out is controlled by an ex-CIA agent. It’s an ode to the blockbuster action films of the late 1980s and early 1990s. 

The star-studded cast features big names like Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and Terry Crews, just to name a few. If you enjoy souped-up violence, big guns, bigger explosions, and a plot designed to make dudes say “hell yeah!” then this is the movie for you. 

The college football equivalent of The Expendables is 2026 LSU. Head coach Lane Kiffin is the sport’s ultimate mercenary, a pay-to-coach figure that might be willing to run out of the tunnel with anyone if the check clears. The Tigers’ roster is loaded with an NIL-funded, star-studded cast that includes big names like quarterback Sam Leavitt, left tackle Jordan Seaton, and former Ole Miss star edge-rusher Princewell Umanmielen, among others. Combine the voodoo magic of Death Valley at night with sky-high Year 1 expectations, and you have a more combustible environment than a warehouse filled with industrial-grade fireworks on the Fourth of July.

Nothing about the Kiffin experience is normal. It’s equal parts bravado, excitement, lunacy, and aggravation. The same could be said about LSU football. Remember, the Bayou is where you can find a live tiger mascot. Where 100,000 fans can shake a stadium. It’s a place that gave us iconic moments like Les Miles eating grass, The Earthquake Game of 1988, and the most dominant modern college football team in recent memory. 

LSU thrives in the chaos. So too does Kiffin. Much like the film, this season should be wildly entertaining.

LSU’s season pivots on Sam Leavitt’s health status. After a breakout 2024 campaign in which he threw for over 2,800 yards and 24 touchdowns for a Big 12 title-winning Arizona State team, Leavitt has missed a ton of valuable game time and practice reps. A foot injury upended his 2025 season. He underwent Lisfranc surgery this offseason and missed all of spring ball. 

When healthy, Leavitt adds a dynamic element to any offense. He can sting opposing defenses with his downfield passing, generates chunk pass plays with regularity, and is mobile enough to cause damage with his legs on broken pass plays or designed runs. After a lengthy offseason “recruiting” circuit, Leavitt landed at LSU, presumably because almost every quarterback that plays in a Kiffin offense is wildly successful. 

While the LSU conversation starts and ends with Leavitt, he’s not the only high-potential piece on this offense. The offensive line needed a total reset after last season’s disastrous showing. That unit struggled mightily in both phases of the offense and allowed 29 sacks last season. 

Rebuilding offensive lines through the transfer portal is no small task. Every team in the country wants good o-linemen. Good linemen rarely leave via the portal. And if your favorite program needs too many offensive linemen at once (like LSU did), it’s quite difficult to plug that many holes in one offensive cycle. 

LSU made a big swing this offseason with the acquisition of former Colorado left tackle Jordan Seaton. Seaton is an incredible one-on-one pass blocker and was a lone bright spot on an otherwise bleak Buffaloes team the last two seasons. He’s got excellent feet, great posture in pass blocking scenarios, and is getting better by the day in the run game. This spring, he sported a slimmed-down frame, too. With a reported price tag in the region of $4 million, he’s expected to protect Leavitt’s blindside and anchor a unit with a few new faces. 

Elsewhere, the Tigers' offense has plenty of enticing tools. Tight end Trey’Dez Green is one of the best players at his position. Running backs Caden Durham and Harlem Barry should be a nice one-two punch out of the backfield behind a reworked offensive line. Wisconsin transfer Dylan Jones has also received praise this offseason. Factor in a wideout room that includes high-upside players like former Kansas State pass-catcher Jace Brown and transfers Eugene Wilson III and Winston Watkins Jr., and Leavitt should have plenty of solid options to throw to in 2026. 

Outside of Leavitt’s health, so much of the discussion of the LSU offense is centered around two things: how many of these new guys are clear upgrades on last year’s players, and whether enough of them can step into starring roles. We might not know the answer to those two crucial questions until LSU hits conference play. 

For all the talk about who LSU acquired during the offseason, perhaps the most important move was retaining defensive coordinator Blake Baker. Since his move from Missouri, Baker has quickly established himself as one of the nation’s top defensive coordinators. He spurned a few rumored coaching offers in the offseason and elected to stay put in Baton Rouge. With him back in 2026, it’s hard not to feel good about the direction of the defense. 

The Tigers will need new guys to step up in the secondary after losing dynamite corner Mansoor Delane to the NFL. In the middle part of the defense, star linebacker Whit Weeks is back after an injury-riddled end to the 2025 campaign. Up front, LSU acquired Ole Miss star edge-rusher Princewell Umanmielen. Umanmielen is a fearsome defender and should add some serious juice to LSU’s pass-rushing capabilities. 

One defensive player with breakout potential is freshman Deuce Geralds. Geralds is a former four-star recruit who originally committed to LSU under Brian Kelly. It was seen as a real coup for Kiffin to keep hold of his commitment.

Like the stars in The Expendables, Kiffin and his team were hired to do a job. LSU hasn’t made a College Football Playoff appearance since 2019. That feels like the absolute bare minimum for a coach of Kiffin’s gravitas and a roster with a rumored $40 million price tag. 

LSU doesn’t want a coach who’s safe. They don’t want polite. Or predictable. That’s not what LSU is or what it will ever be. They want a coach with reckless abandon, one who will win at all costs. Because in Baton Rouge, that’s all that matters. Win, or they’ll find someone who can.

The final fight scene from the movie ends exactly how you’d expect it would. The hired guns kill the bad man and save the girl. As a viewer, you knew what was coming. But you enjoyed it anyway.

The Kiffin-LSU pairing feels magical and combustible. And we know how it’ll end – the same way it always does for football coaches in Baton Rouge.

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Part 1: Contender Tiers… and what happens after Miami?

We began our three-part 2026 ACC preview by zooming out and attempting to make sense of the conference as a whole. Miami enters the season as the clear favorite, with Darian Mensah taking over at quarterback and another roster built to reach the College Football Playoff. But can the Hurricanes finally win their first ACC championship?

Part 2: Team Previews for Virginia, Miami, Notre Dame, SMU, Pitt, Florida STate, North Carolina, Wake Forest & Stanford

We continued our 2026 ACC preview with conversations about eight conference teams and Notre Dame. Is this finally the year Miami turns its loaded roster into its first conference championship? How high is the ceiling for an Irish squad with College Football Playoff expectations, a Heisman candidate at quarterback, and more talent than ever?

Part 3: Team Previews for Duke, Clemson, NC State, Louisville, Georgia Tech, Virginia, Cal, Syracuse & Boston College

We finished our three-part preview of the ACC by turning our attention to the defending conference champions and several of the league’s most difficult teams to project. Can Duke keep finding ways to win after another major quarterback change? Does Clemson have a real plan for getting back into the College Football Playoff conversation? And can Louisville once again rebuild its offense around a new transfer quarterback without losing ground near the top of the conference?

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