Receiver Tristen Keys, No. 16 recruit for ’26, commits to LSU

Five-star wide receiver Tristen Keys, ESPN’s No. 16 overall prospect in the 2026 class, committed to LSU over Alabama, Tennessee and Texas A&M, his family told ESPN on Wednesday.

The pledge from Keys comes one day after ESPN’s second-ranked wide receiver prospect visited the Tigers during a spring practice session and marks a significant 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 signs with the program later this year, Keys will represent LSU’s highest-rated wide receiver addition since the Tigers landed Kayshon Boutte as the No. 33 overall prospect in the 2020 cycle.

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The commitment lands a cornerstone prospect within the program’s latest recruiting class that includes six pledges from the ESPN Junior 300. Keys joins four-star in-state offensive tackle Brysten Martinez (No. 33) as the second top-100 player and four-star Kenny Darby (No. 276) as the second wide receiver committed to the program this cycle.

Keys has been a priority for LSU and wide receivers coach Cortez Hankton. The 6-foot-3, 190-pounder caught 58 passes for 1,275 yards and 14 touchdowns in his junior season while helping Hattiesburg High School to the 6A state title game. He also participated in the Under Armour Next All-America game earlier this year.

He took unofficial trips to Auburn and Alabama in January and later scheduled a slate of spring visits this month with planned stops at Miami, Tennessee, Texas A&M and Michigan.

The coveted pass catcher made it to Miami and Tennessee in recent weeks before visiting LSU on Tuesday, a trip that ultimately solidified Keys’ commitment as the first out of state pledge in the Tigers’ 2026 class. It is not yet clear whether Keys plans to follow through on upcoming trips 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 in which LSU has landed a commitment from one of the nation’s top receivers. Five-star recruit Dakorien Moore, the No. 1 receiver in the 2025 cycle, spent nine months committed to the Tigers before he reopened his recruitment last spring and landed with Oregon later in the summer.