LSU may want to consider changing its name to Wide Receiver University — even with its receivers not performing so well this season.
Six former Tiger wideouts currently appear on NFL rosters, including Early Doucet, Dwayne Bowe and Devery Henderson. That number should increase next season as many expect senior Terrence Toliver to be taken in the 2011 NFL Draft.
LSU continues to recruit plenty of wide receivers, as LSU has 13 players currently listed as playing that position on its roster.
But even with all the talented receivers on the team, only three — Toliver and sophomores Russell Shepard and Rueben Randle — have actually caught passes this season.
But Derek Ponamsky, recruiting analyst for Bayou Bengals Insider, said that fact shouldn’t alarm any recruits, as many of LSU’s receivers are freshmen.
“There’s not a recruit in America who’s looking at the fact that they’re eight games into their freshman season and worried they haven’t caught a ball,” Ponamsky said.
Shea Dixon, managing editor of TigerSportsDigest.com, attributes the Tigers’ inability to spread the ball around to its ineptitude in the passing game. But even that, he said, wasn’t enough to deter receivers in the class of 2011.
“It’s certainly a black eye if you’re trying to recruit and you’ve got a passing offense that ranks in the hundreds,” Dixon said. “But it may have hurt them a little more if they hadn’t landed the guys they wanted to have in this class.”
Dixon said LSU’s reputation as a factory for professional wide receivers plays highly into recruits’ decisions.
“It’s something a lot of recruits talk about — a chance for a staff to put them in the NFL and give them that next step,” Dixon said. “There are one or two guys every year that have bought into LSU being their best shot of being in an offense that can showcase their skills.”
That recruiting angle has allowed LSU to land some of the nation’s top wide receiver talent on a yearly basis. The Tigers have signed at least one four- or five-star wide receiver every year since 2007, with that trend continuing in 2011 with four-star recruit Jarvis Landry from Lutcher High School committing to LSU.
Three-star receivers Alonzo Lewis and Paul Turner join Landry in the class of 2011. But Dixon said LSU still hasn’t put a cap on the class when it comes to receivers. Many expect three-star athlete Odell Beckham Jr. to join the class, and Ponamsky said the Tigers may target a taller receiver from a junior college.
LSU has taken the competition at wide receiver and has spun it in its favor when luring recruits, Dixon said. Many recruits see LSU as an opportunity to compete for playing time immediately, as no one’s spot is guaranteed.
LSU’s inefficient passing attack may have an effect on future classes, Dixon said. That problem has a simple remedy, Dixon said: sign junior college quarterback Zach Mettenberger.
The former University of Georgia quarterback currently plays at Butler Community College, and most recruiting analysts consider LSU to be the favorite in landing him.
“It’s such a bargaining chip for kids you’d still like to make a push for if you can say, ‘We have the quarterback that can put the ball in your hands anywhere on the field,'” Dixon said. “It’s a real promising angle to take and a refreshing one when you’re not doing well on offense.”
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Contact Hunter Paniagua at [email protected]