BATON ROUGE – Defensive lineman Bernard Gooden, one of the top-rated players in the spring transfer portal, has signed with LSU and will join the Tigers for the 2025 season.
Gooden, a native of Montgomery, Ala., comes to LSU after two years at South Florida where he earned honorable mention All-AAC honors in 2024. As a junior in 2024, Gooden appeared in 13 games, starting 11 times. He tallied 35 tackles, 10.0 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks and recovered two fumbles.
He sat out the 2022 season due to NCAA transfer rules after spending two seasons at Wake Forest. Gooden redshirted as a true freshman in 2021 and then followed that by appearing in 12 games with seven tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss.