News travels fast. When that news concerns LSU football, it travels faster.
Jeryl Brazil, a junior athlete from Loranger High School and the first commit in the LSU class of 2013, learned that the hard way.
When he tweeted “I decommited from LSU” on Jan. 29, he sent fans into a frenzy. They sounded off on the popular message board Tiger Droppings, worrying LSU could no longer recruit and that the program’s prestige had taken a hit after the BCS Championship debacle.
Brazil didn’t expect the reaction to be so severe.
“People freaked out thinking I didn’t like LSU anymore, and that I wanted to go somewhere else,” Brazil said. “That wasn’t the case. I knew people were going to jump the gun and think otherwise without actually knowing head.”
For high-profile prospects, the allure of being recruited is often too tempting to ignore. Few can blame Brazil, who projects to play cornerback at LSU, for taking advantage of that opportunity, but he said he hasn’t set up visits with other schools.
That bodes well for the Tigers, who stand to add a speedster to their secondary. Brazil, who also plans to run track in college, said he has been timed in the 40-yard dash in less than 4.3 seconds.
Messina has used Brazil at quarterback and running back in addition to starting him at cornerback.
“It’s big for us because his ability and speed allows him to do some things that not many people can do,” Messina said. “It also allows for other players on our team to get opportunities because teams will try to take him away from what we try to do and leave people