LSU football emerging as an early program to watch for Big Ten transfer portal edge rusher

The transfer portal is officially open, and LSU football already appears to be making some moves, as On3 reported the Tigers as one of three teams to keep watch of for former Nebraska edge rusher Jimari Butler.

LSU reported as an early program to watch for Nebraska edge rusher Jimari Butler

The 2024 LSU football defense was mightily improved under first year defensive coordinator Blake Baker, but there’s always room to improve. This becomes even more true when you take a look at the expected transfer portal losses for 2025, as at least six defenders are already planning on looking for a new home this offseason.

Still, the good news is that the transfer portal has a habit of giving almost as much as it takes away, and there are already some intriguing players who seem to have their eyes on the Tiger football program.

One such player is that of Nebraska edge rusher Jimari Butler, who, according to On3, is down to the trio of Florida State, LSU and Texas A&M for his next landing spot.

NEWS: Former Nebraska EDGE Jimari Butler is down to 3️⃣ Schools, he tells @on3sports

The 6’5 260 EDGE totaled 65 Tackles, 7.5 Sacks, & 1 FF in his 3 years with the Cornhuskershttps://t.co/MfHHpnCU6R pic.twitter.com/0RKtyokoIt

— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) December 9, 2024

Butler first joined the Cornhusker football program as a three-star recruit in the class of 2020, and while he took some time to get his feet under him at the college level, he’s turned himself into quite the impact player over these last five seasons.

Making his in-game debut in 2021, Butler has logged a respectable 65 total tackles, 17 tackles for loss, 7.5 sacks, one forced fumble and three passes defended in 37 total game appearances.

As of right now, Brian Kelly and his LSU football program is expected to be working with an edge rusher room that includes the likes of freshman Damien Shanklin and sophomores CJ Jackson, Gabriel Reliford and Kolaj Cobbins. While that group undoubtedly has potential, experience is at a minimum, which means we can expect the purple and gold to take at least one veteran via the transfer portal to round things out a bit more.

Adding a player like Jimari Butler would certainly do that, but getting through big name programs such as Florida State and Texas A&M is much easier said than done. The Tiger coaching staff already said they’d be aggressive this offseason in the portal, so don’t be surprised if this becomes just one of many battles LSU finds itself in over the next few weeks.

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