Dexter Blackmon wasn’t on LSU’s recruiting radar until last week.Blackmon, a 6-foot-3-inch, 265-pound defensive lineman, committed to LSU on Thursday, pushing the Tigers’ list of 2010 commitments to 20. But LSU didn’t notice him until he and his father attended a camp last Sunday through Wednesday.”[His father] got a flier [about the camp], stuck it on the fridge, and they just decided, ‘Well hey, let’s go over there, and let’s see what it’s all about,'” said Sonny Shipp, recruiting analyst for Scout.com “After everything was said and done, LSU offered, and after him and his dad talked about it, he decided to jump on it.”Shipp said Blackmon’s father, Dexter Sr., coaches him at Selma High School in Selma, Ala. The elder Blackmon played college football at Southern in Baton Rouge.”The school that he goes to, Selma, Alabama, it’s a real rural community,” Shipp said. “They don’t have the resources to be able to go out and get good video to send out on their kids, and so his dad is probably reaching out to his contacts, reaching out to people that he’s met from college ball through the recruiting front.”Blackmon only had an offer from Troy and received interest from Alabama and Auburn. But after working out at LSU’s camp, the LSU coaches saw some qualities in Blackmon they liked.”They think he’s one of those rare guys that can play on the outside that can also play on the inside,” Shipp said. “You don’t see that with a lot of guys.”
TYRANN MATHIEUThe decision to play football for LSU was an easy one for Tyrann Mathieu.Mathieu, a defensive back at St. Augustine High School in New Orleans, committed to the Tigers on July 21, finalizing a decision Shipp said was several years in the making.”When he started thinking about possibly having the opportunity to play college ball, he said if LSU offered him it was a no-brainer,” Shipp said. “When Miles then extended the offer after he checked out of camp on Tuesday, he said he didn’t think twice about it.”Mathieu is rated as a one-star recruit by Scout but a four-star recruit by Rivals.com. Mathieu had offers from Tulane, Florida International and Miami of Ohio and was also high on Tennessee and Alabama’s recruiting boards.”From sources I’ve talked to, both of those schools thought that they could slow play him, meaning that they could keep pursuing the higher ranked cornerbacks that they had on their board,” Shipp said. “Then they thought they could fall back on Tyrann.”Shipp said Mathieu, 5-foot-9 and 160 pounds, is a very agile player with big hands that can help him cover big receivers.”At 5-foot-9, [receivers] are going to have an advantage over him,” Shipp said. “So with those big strong hands that he has, if he can get them up and get them on them, that kind of compensates for his size.”
JORDAN ALLENJordan Allen, a 6-foot-6-inch, 250-pound defensive end from West Monroe High School, committed to LSU on July 18.Allen continues a tradition at West Monroe of high-profile players from the North Louisiana school calling Baton Rouge home for their college career. Former Rebels to play at LSU include Bradie James, Rodney Reed and Andrew Whitworth.”It’s also a situation where whenever LSU recruits a kid out of West Monroe, it’s gonna be tough for somebody else to come in and get him unless they’ve got some pretty strong ties to some out of state schools,” Shipp said.Allen also had offers from other Southeastern Conference schools, including Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and Arkansas.”He probably had somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 to 25 offers,” Shipp said.Shipp said Allen’s best attribute is his aggressive nature that goes along with his size and speed.”You’ve got some of those defensive linemen who are soft,” Shipp said. “They don’t have that mentality to where they just want to get out there and they just want to knock the guy’s ass off basically. Jordan, I guess you could say he’s got a mean streak.”
ELLIOT PORTERThe chance to switch positions was too good for Elliot Porter to pass up.Porter, at 6-foot-4 and 280 pounds, is a three-star defensive tackle from Archbishop Shaw in New Orleans according to Scout. But Shipp said Porter, who committed July 18, LSU was the only school to recruit Porter as an offensive lineman.”When he started thinking about it, then he started looking at his potential to get to the NFL,” Shipp said. “Then he was looking forward to playing on the offensive line in college.”Shipp said it will take Porter a while to get used to offensive line, but he will eventually pick up the position.”He’s got some good feet, and he’s got a good first step,” Shipp said. “And obviously 6-foot-4, 290 pounds, he’s got the size.”Porter also had offers from Nebraska, Mississippi State and Florida State. Shipp said Florida State was Porter’s biggest suitor besides LSU.”I think he liked it, but it was a little too far from home,” Shipp said.—-Contact Robert Stewart at [email protected]