LSU defensive end Gabe Reliford suffers torn ACL in practice

LSU defensive lineman Gabriel Reliford‘s 2026 season was cut short during week one of the program’s spring ball.

Reliford suffered a torn ACL during Thursday’s practice, 104.5 ESPN’s Matt Moscona reported.

Reliford was absent from Saturday’s practice for the first time this week.

It’s a brutal blow for the talented defensive end given a his 2025 season was cut short with an injury after the first month of the season. At the time, Reliford was splitting defensive end reps with FSU transfer Patrick Payton.

As preparations began for the 2026 season with this week’s start to spring practices, Reliford returned to the field from injury and began his on-field offseason battle with Tennessee transfer Jordan Ross as the defensive end opposite Ole Miss transfer edge rusher Princewill Umanmielen.

Two practices in, a torn ACL likely means Reliford’s 2026 season is over before the Tigers got out of the first week of spring practices.

For LSU head coach Lane Kiffin, signing 40-plus players from the Transfer Portal in January was a number that was larger than most college portal hauls for reasons like Reliford’s camp injury.

Whether it’s a player turning in poor results, injury or something else, there’s no second portal window after spring practice like there had been in recent years.

Translation: the roster on the field now, and the summer arrivals from the remaining signees, is what the Tigers have to work with between now and the end of the 2026 season.

“Not having that second window, a lot of coaches fought for that,” Kiffin said this week. “I did say I’ll back it when we were talking to the SEC coaches. But I was kind of in a unique spot of where I was viewing it and I said ‘For the betterment of college football, definitely one window. was the way to go. Most of the coaches were adamant about it. But if you want to talk about making your roster the best, especially in the SEC, the two windows was better.

“If you look at it and the coaches all complained about it because they got re-leveraged by all the agents and players a second time and all their players could leave. If you really look at your SEC rosters, for the most part, in that second window, they improved because they went and got players from other places. Players couldn’t go within conference. Most places, including us, you’ve got really good players, like the previous quarterback we played with. I know that everybody thinks it’s such a great part, but it is different that way because now you have what you have.

“I tell our guys you can’t anymore say ‘That guy really isn’t playing that well, so we’re going to go get another guy at that spot.’

“This is it. There’s nowhere to go. There’s a good and bad to it.”

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