5-star broad receiver Tristen Keys, ESPN’s No. 16 total prospect within the 2026 class, dedicated to LSU over Alabama, Tennessee and Texas A&M, his household informed ESPN on Wednesday.
The pledge from Keys comes someday after ESPN’s second-ranked broad receiver prospect visited the Tigers throughout a spring apply session and marks a major recruiting win for LSU and coach Brian Kelly.
Keys, who hails from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, is now the top-ranked member of the Tigers’ 2026 class. If he indicators with this system later this yr, Keys will symbolize LSU’s highest-rated broad receiver addition for the reason that Tigers landed Kayshon Boutte because the No. 33 total prospect within the 2020 cycle.
The dedication lands a cornerstone prospect inside the program’s newest recruiting class that features six pledges from the ESPN Junior 300. Keys joins four-star in-state offensive sort out Brysten Martinez (No. 33) because the second top-100 participant and four-star Kenny Darby (No. 276) because the second broad receiver dedicated to this system this cycle.
Keys has been a precedence for LSU and broad receivers coach Cortez Hankton. The 6-foot-3, 190-pounder caught 58 passes for 1,275 yards and 14 touchdowns in his junior season whereas serving to Hattiesburg Excessive Faculty to the 6A state title sport. He additionally participated within the Beneath Armour Subsequent All-America sport earlier this yr.
He took unofficial journeys to Auburn and Alabama in January and later scheduled a slate of spring visits this month with deliberate stops at Miami, Tennessee, Texas A&M and Michigan.
The coveted go catcher made it to Miami and Tennessee in latest weeks earlier than visiting LSU on Tuesday, a visit that in the end solidified Keys’ dedication as the primary out of state pledge within the Tigers’ 2026 class. It isn’t but clear whether or not Keys plans to observe via on upcoming journeys to Texas A&M and Tennessee or his slate of official visits to Miami, Texas A&M, Tennessee and Alabama this spring.
Keys’ pledge marks a second consecutive cycle by which LSU has landed a dedication from one of many nation’s prime receivers. 5-star recruit Dakorien Moore, the No. 1 receiver within the 2025 cycle, spent 9 months dedicated to the Tigers earlier than he reopened his recruitment final spring and landed with Oregon later in the summertime.