LSU football has become a pipeline of NFL talent, and every year the Tigers lose a few players to the pros.
The fan reaction is always the same: “What will we do now that ‘Star Player X’ is gone?”
Since coach Les Miles has been here, the Tigers have simply reloaded with the high school ranks. This year LSU lost juniors Barkevious Mingo, Sam Montgomery and Bennie Logan, and seniors Lavar Edwards, Josh Downs and Chancey Aghayere, all of whom made up most of the defensive line rotation.
So, the Tigers reached out to the 2013 recruiting class and brought in eight defensive linemen — all of whom were four-star prospects or higher — to fill those six holes.
Judging by the class of prospects emanating from Louisiana alone, LSU should be poised for its strongest recruiting class in years.
Depending on the recruiting site, Louisiana has as many as five five-star prospects this year, compared to last year when Tre’Davious White — who is now a member of the Tigers — was the only top-ranked recruit.
Of the ESPN 150, 12 reside in Louisiana, and LSU has already secured the commitments of three of them.
The star in this year’s class is five-star running back Leonard Fournette, the highest-ranked recruit in the land according to both ESPN and 247.com. Coming in at 6-foot-1 and 232 pounds, Fournette’s blend of size and speed have teams around the nation seeing him as the best running back prospect since Trent Richardson.
Fournette recently led his school, St. Augustine of New Orleans, to a championship in a seven-on-seven tournament sponsored by the New Orleans Saints.
LSU sports a distinct advantage when it comes to Fournette, as running back coach Frank Wilson is an alumnus of St. Aug and knows the Fournette family well.
Wilson was also recently named National Recruiter of the Year by recruiting website rivals.com.
During Miles’ reign, LSU has dominated recruiting in Louisiana. Since 2006, 108 of LSU’s recruits have hailed from Louisiana, the most of any state, with Texas being a distant second at 25.
“People who say it’s easy to keep kids in Louisiana at home at LSU just don’t know,” Wilson told Rivals after receiving his award. “Sure there are some kids that just want to play for LSU and that’s their dream, but nowadays temptation to get out of state and play for some other great programs is always there. And it’s our job to fend them off as best we can.”
LSU’s 2014 recruiting class looks like it could be a strong one even without the Louisiana talent, though.
LSU has secured the commitments of five highly ranked out-of-state recruits — safety Ed Paris, athlete Devin Voorhies, outside linebacker Shareef Rhaheed, corner back Chris Hardeman and most recently defensive end Deondre Clark.
In an interview with The Daily Reveille in March, Hardeman’s coach Jordy Jordan explained why LSU has become such a great landing spot for top-ranked high school players.
“LSU takes its athletes and lets them be athletes,” Jordan said. “I think [Hardeman] will thrive in the system at LSU. He helps improve the people all around him, and he’s big on LSU. He talks about it. I know he’s all LSU right now.”