Lane Kiffin’s first defensive staff at LSU is complete.
Elijah Robinson has indeed been hired at LSU as the Tigers’ newest defensive line coach. Robinson was in Baton Rouge on Friday, which included him
being at the LSU Football Ops building. FootballScoop was the first to report the news, and terms of the deal are not yet known.
Robinson has spent this year and last at Syracuse as an associate head coach and defensive coordinator with the Orange. That said, Robinson was demoted earlier this week after Syracuse limped to a 3-9 season. That demotion, apparently, opened the door for Robinson to look elsewhere and “elsewhere” is Baton Rogue.
Robinson’s claim to fame was being the defensive line coach at Texas A&M for Jimbo Fisher. Robinson was equally strong at recruiting and coaching in College Station. If you go to Robinson’s All-Time Recruits page on 247, you’ll see that throughout Robinson’s coaching career he is credited with 10 top-100 overall recruits, and was considered the primary recruiter for eight of them. His biggest win was getting Walter Nolan, the No. 2 overall recruit in the class of 2022.
But getting talent isn’t enough. It’s coaching that talent up, and A&M had consistently stout defenses up front under Robinson. In six seasons in College Station, the Aggies rush defense ranked in the top 20 three different times, and top-five twice. After Fisher was fired, Robinson was tapped to be the interim head coach and at season’s end was hired by Syracuse to be the defensive coordinator.
Former Tiger Kyle Williams is currently serving as LSU’s defensive line coach but will not be returning in 2026.
As it stands, Kiffin’s first on-field defensive staff is complete. Blake Baker will be returning as the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, Kevin Peoples is the edge coach, Corey Raymond will coach corners, Jake Olsen will coach safeties, and Robinson, of course, is coaching defensive tackles. There’s also some discussion for an on-field role role Chris Kiffin, Lane’s brother, but that’s still to be determined. Kiffin coached linebackers at Ole Miss this season.
