The fall semester is often the calm before the storm in the world of college football recruiting.
 
Recruits are preoccupied with their high school seasons, and the search for their future destinations is put on the back burner.
 
The real whirlwind comes in the months leading up to one of the most anticipated days of the year for high school seniors, college coaches and recruiting pundits — National Signing Day.
 
The fall may not be a time for many new commitments, but the period is valuable in shaping the final players of LSU’s 2011 class, which will be finalized Feb. 2.
 
Louisiana’s high caliber of high school talent this season has made the the Tigers’ 2011 crop one of the most anticipated classes in recent history.
 
So far, expectations have been met.
 
The foundation of LSU’s class can be found in Scout.com five-star recruits La’el Collins and Anthony Johnson. Collins, a 6-foot-4-inch, 275-pound offensive tackle, and Johnson, a 6-foot-2-inch, 296-pound defensive lineman, are the giant gems out of the Tigers’ 17 committed players.
 
Those in-state monsters as well as the one-two punch of Scout four-star running backs Jeremy Hill and Kenny Hilliard have given the class high ratings from recruiting websites.
 
“There’s quality in this class,” said Rene Nadeau, college football analyst for ESPN and TigerVision. “This could be one of LSU’s best classes in a while.”
 
LSU’s 2011 class is ranked 11th in the country by Scout, sixth by    Rivals.com and seventh by ESPN.com.
 
Rankings shouldn’t be the only way to judge a recruiting class, according to Derek Ponamsky, Bayou Bengals Insider recruiting analyst.
 
Shea Dixon, managing editor for TigerSportsDigest.com, said LSU is aiming for about 23 signees in February.
 
What quarterbacks will ink to the Tigers on National Signing Day has been a hot topic of conversation this semester.
 
The sub-par seasons of junior quarterbacks Jordan Jefferson and Jarrett Lee led to a flurry of attention to LSU’s targets for future players under center.
 
Scout three-star recruit Stephen Rivers, the brother of San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers, is the only gunslinger with an LSU pledge. The 6-foot-6-inch, 200-pound prospect committed in August.
 
The biggest news of the semester came from a name that would have been foreign to most Tiger fans before the season.
 
Zach Mettenberger, a high-profile prospect from Butler Community College, stole the hearts of LSU fans without even suiting up in purple and gold.
 
Mettenberger passed for 2,512 yards and 31 touchdowns this season with Butler, and he was competing with Georgia redshirt freshman Aaron Murray this past spring for the Bulldogs’ starting job before being released from the team.
 
“People are buying into him being the solution at quarterback,” Dixon said. “LSU has a little more confidence in a guy that’s been in the [Southeastern Conference] and has been successful at the junior college level.”
 
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Contact Michael Lambert at
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