LSU football is losing safety Ryan Yaites to the NCAA transfer portal, a source confirmed Friday, reportedly alongside two other reserve defensive players.
All three — Yaites, cornerback Jeremiah Hughes and linebacker Christian Brathwaite — are rising sophomores. Six Tigers have now entered the portal during its spring window, which opened April 16.
Yaites, a four-star recruit from Denton, Texas, appeared in all 13 games of his freshman season after injuries in the secondary thrust him into a larger role.
This spring, he battled redshirt freshman Kylin Jackson for the responsibility of backing up senior Major Burns at the STAR position, a safety-linebacker hybrid role that new defensive coordinator Blake Baker is adding to the LSU defense.
Hughes, a three-star defensive back recruit from Las Vegas, was a special teams starter and a backup corner in 2023. The then-freshman logged defensive snaps in five games, including LSU's win over Auburn, a game in which he recorded two tackles on only seven snaps.
Brathwaite redshirted his freshman season after appearing in only five games. At the end of his high school career in Cypress, Texas, he was a four-star linebacker recruit slotted inside the top-500 of 247Sports' composite rankings.
The Friday departures brought LSU below the 85-player scholarship limit. The Tigers have yet to add a transfer this spring, a period coach Brian Kelly has said the program will use primarily to replenish its depth at defensive tackle.
LSU had previously lost edge rusher Jaxon Howard, wide receiver Khai Prean and tight end Connor Gilbreath to the portal's spring window.
247Sports was first to report all three transfer portal additions Friday.
Sheldon Mickles and Wilson Alexander contributed to this report.
