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LSU just pulled off something rare: adding a proven veteran to the roster with the season basically at the doorstep. And this is the second time it’s happened in the span of a week. According to CBS Sports‘ Matt Zenitz, former Ole Miss defensive lineman Zxavian Harris is expected to sign with the Tigers after a short stint with the New Orleans Saints didn’t work out.
Harris is one of several players benefiting from a recent Louisiana court ruling. Athletes from the 2022 signing class got temporary restraining orders that clear the way for a fifth year of eligibility, something that wouldn’t have been possible under normal NCAA rules. LSU already used this loophole once this offseason, bringing in tight end Dae’Quan Wright after he got waived by the Cleveland Browns.
Harris went undrafted back in 2026 and spent training camp with the Saints. New Orleans waived him on Aug. 8, and no other NFL team picked him up. With no other landing spot on the table, a reunion with his old head coach in Baton Rouge made plenty of sense.
A senior breakout that got him combine looks
Harris came into college as a four-star recruit in the 2022 class, but it took until his senior season for things to really click. He became a disruptive force in the middle of Ole Miss’s defensive line last fall, racking up 58 tackles, 9.0 tackles for loss and 3.0 sacks. That kind of production got him an invite to the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, which isn’t nothing for an interior lineman.
Over his full college career, Harris appeared in 52 games and finished with 123 tackles, 17.5 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks. Those aren’t empty stats for a guy playing on the interior, where quarterback pressure often gets credited to edge rushers instead.
LSU needed this more than people realized
LSU entered the offseason as a legitimate College Football Playoff contender, and a lot of that hype comes down to money. Lane Kiffin’s roster is arguably the most expensive in college football right now. But an expensive roster isn’t automatically a complete one.
Before Harris agreed to join, the interior defensive line was a legitimate concern. LSU returns just 31% of its defensive line snaps from last season, which ranks 79th nationally. That’s not the kind of number you want to see from a team with playoff aspirations.
The plan going into fall camp leaned heavily on two freshmen, Deuce Geralds and Richard Anderson. Both are talented, sure. But asking true freshmen to hold up on the interior in the SEC is asking a lot.
Blake Ruffino of 247Sports raised that exact concern on the “Cover 3 Podcast” after watching spring practice. He described LSU’s defensive line getting pushed around by the offense during the final stretch of spring ball.
“It gets to a point where, those last two weeks, it was at will,” Ruffino said. “I do worry about that defensive line. Now, [five-star defensive lineman] Lamar Brown wasn’t there, but my same thought is, ‘Are you about to start three true freshmen in the interior of that defensive line?’ Yes, it is a concern for me.”
LSU also brought in two transfers, Malik Blocton from Auburn and Stephiylan Green from Clemson, hoping their experience would help stabilize things. Neither, though, put up numbers that jump off the page at their previous schools.
Harris changes that math.
Now LSU has actual proven production at defensive tackle, not just potential. That depth matters a lot this year, considering the Tigers are set to face three of Blake Brockermeyer’s top-10 offensive lines in the sport this fall. Facing that kind of competition with an inexperienced interior line would’ve been a real problem.
The Kiffin history here is complicated
This isn’t just a normal transfer addition, either. When Kiffin left Oxford for Baton Rouge right before the College Football Playoff last season, he didn’t leave on great terms with his old locker room. Harris was one of the players who let his frustration be known publicly.
At the time, Harris told Chris Low that Kiffin taking the LSU job felt personal.
“[It was] like a slap in the face and then a backhand. We took that personally.”
There was more drama before Ole Miss’s Fiesta Bowl loss to Miami. Speculation swirled that Kiffin was trying to work his way into the broadcast booth for the game, though he ended up at an LSU women’s basketball game instead. Harris didn’t let that slide quietly.
“That’s what Kiffin tried to do,” Harris told Low. “He tried to be a damn announcer… trying to be a troll. We were going to troll him. We got something for him. He was just trying to steal our shine. That’s all he tried to do. That’s all he’s been trying to do, is steal our shine.”
Fast forward a few months, and apparently all of that is water under the bridge. Money and a real shot at a national championship tend to smooth things over quickly.
College football moves fast these days. Burning bridges rarely pays off when the landscape shifts as often as it does now, and LSU just proved that point twice in one week.
