Princewill Umanmielen says LSU isn’t the place for a ‘building mindset’
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Princewill Umanmielen was 1 of 4 players to transfer from Ole Miss to LSU this past offseason, following head coach Lane Kiffin to the Bayou. The standout edge rusher said LSU was the best place for him, somewhere he could help elevate “to the next level.”
And that’s the goal in Year 1 under Kiffin.
“This ain’t no first year build,” Umanmielen said earlier this week when he met with local reporters. “We’re trying to go all the way. If that’s the mindset, if you’ve got like a building mindset, this ain’t the place. We’re trying to go all the way, so that’s our mindset right now.”
The team Umanmielen left made the College Football Playoff last season and ended the year third in the AP poll. Ole Miss won 2 Playoff games and advanced to the semifinals, a place his new home hasn’t sniffed since the dream 2019 season.
The team Umanmielen joined won just 7 games. Since its 2019 national championship season, LSU has lost at least 4 games in a campaign 5 times in 6 years.
With Kiffin overhauling the roster — 40 incoming transfers for a class that ranked first nationally — the Ole Miss transplants have a unique platform to help steer the locker room in the right direction.
“Everybody has to be on the same page, has to want it,” Umanmielen said. “Everybody has to be one. Can’t have no selfish guys. Everybody has to play their part, do their 1 of 11, and we’ll be fine for sure.”
The Tigers open their new season at home against Clemson on Sept. 5. They play Ole Miss in Oxford 2 weeks after that. Then they face Texas A&M, a team that went into the final week of the 2025 regular season unblemished.
If there’s a title contender in Baton Rouge, we’ll know it early on. That makes these spring sessions all the more important.
“It’s gonna take a lot of work, a lot of dedication, a lot of time together,” Umanmielen said. “Getting used to each other, staying in the field room, just doing a lot of extra stuff. Team stuff together to get to where we want to go, which is a championship and winning the championship. So it’s going to take a lot.”
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Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
