For LSU, a win against Alabama can do more than break a six-year losing streak — but start to turn the tide in recruiting.
Since the 2011 recruiting class, Alabama has signed 12 recruits that were ranked as a top 10 prospect in Louisiana by 247sports.com. Three of those players — Landon Collins, Cam Robinson and Tim Williams — were drafted in the first three rounds of the NFL draft.
One of the biggest selling points to Louisiana recruits is winning, especially against LSU.
“[Alabama] Coach [Nick] Saban said ‘If you go there, we are just going to have to beat you every year,’” said LSU sophomore linebacker Devin White. “I’m like, ‘Wow, he really said that.’”
No current LSU player has beaten Alabama, and the only player with a connection to LSU’s last win against Alabama is sixth-year senior linebacker Corey Thompson, who was a part of the 2012 recruiting class.
“To me, I wasn’t a Tiger so I didn’t really care,” White said regarding Saban’s comment. “He was speaking facts at the time, and he was telling me like it was. But now that I’m here, and I remember this in the back of my head and that happened like two or three years ago. It really stuck with me.”
With the chasm between LSU and Alabama seeming bigger than ever, the Tigers need a win, more so when considering that current recruits were in middle school the last time LSU defeated the Tide.
And in recruiting, anything goes.
The Tigers and the Tide have battled for the same recruits for as long as recruiting as existed, but the battles have become more prominent with the emphasis Saban has placed on Louisiana.
“For a lot of guys it comes down to LSU-Alabama,” said LSU sophomore defensive end Rashard Lawrence.
Lawrence, a five-star recruit in the class of 2016, is from North Louisiana — an area that has been very favorable to the Tide under Saban. Alabama has 10 Louisiana natives on its current roster, four are from the Monroe-Ruston area, and two of the four are from the same high school as Lawrence.
“It was harder for Rashard because you had guys like Cam Robinson, Hootie Jones and Cam Sims all from the Monroe area all that went to Bama and had success,” White said.
“Me and him were at Bama together and we roomed together. We were just talking and talking, and I’m telling him ‘Man, I’m thinking about going to LSU. I need you to come with me because you’re big player on your end in Louisiana, in the Monroe area, and I’m a big on my end and we can get a lot of people to come.’”
While Lawrence was considering Alabama, his decision came down to LSU and Ohio State. However, his visit to Alabama for an LSU game provided some clarity for Lawrence.
“I feel like when I took a visit over there and I was rooting for LSU, I knew this is where I wanted to be,” Lawrence said. “It was in my heart, I knew this is where I wanted to be.”
White remembers Lawrence’s commitment to LSU quite well. The running back turned linebacker enrolled early at LSU, and became a key member of LSU’s recruiting staff.
“I knew the night before National Signing Day [Lawrence] was coming,” White said. “We talked on the phone, and he said I’m going to be a Tiger.”
Lawrence is one of several Tigers that White claimed to have recruited to LSU.
“It was him, Kris Fulton, we had a bunch of guys committed, but it was because of me, because I recruited those guys,” White said. “I did that. I texted all those guys, got all those guys to come.”
“In my class we had like 15 people in the top 300. We just kept it in state, which was a good thing because Louisiana has the best talent. We don’t need to go no where else to get them.”
LSU interim head football coach Ed Orgeron leads the Tigers onto the field before the game against Alabama on Saturday Nov. 5, 2016, in Tiger Stadium.
