Last Wednesday, LSU head football coach Nick Saban and his staff persuaded 27 high school football prospects to sign national letters of intent pledging the next three to five years of their football career to LSU.
Not only were they 27 football players, they were the best compilation of high school talent collected by any college football team in the country in 2003, according to Web sites ranging from ESPN.com to Rivals100.com.
But even though the class was superb, there was one glaring hole on the list of signees: the name of national Top Five quarterback, Robert Lane of Neville High School in Monroe.
Lane, who committed to LSU in August, pulled out of his pledge on the morning of national signing day and instead signed with LSU rival Ole Miss.
The problem was Saban was about to sign two other quarterbacks to go along with Lane, including Jamarcus Russell, who was also rated in the Top Five in many publications and Web sites throughout the country.
Lane started to realize this could happen about a month before signing day and began telling various newspapers and television stations in Monroe that he did not want to be part of a three quarterback system.
But here was the problem for Saban and his staff: there is a distinct possibility that Lane will be selected very early in the June Major League Baseball Draft, and a six or seven figure signing bonus will be placed before him to forget about college football.
This fact placed Saban in a very tough situation. He wanted very badly for Lane to play football at LSU, but he absolutely needed two quarterbacks in the 2003 recruiting class, especially with the problems of inconsistent play at quarterback last season. So it was obvious to him and myself that he had no choice but to continue recruiting Russell, who announced his intentions on national TV last Wednesday.
Lane did not wait for Russell’s decision. Instead, he announced Wednesday morning his plans of going to Ole Miss to join Eli Manning and company.
If Lane would have made it clear he would be in Baton Rouge in August, chances are Russell would have ended up at Florida State.
Lane did not, and it seems during the recruiting process, he got his feelings hurt.
After signing with Ole Miss, Lane told the New Orleans Times Picayune, “They did what they had to do, and I did what I had to do. I understand that I could have left them [without me or Russell.] But what they have to understand is that they had me committed, then they got greedy. They gambled, and they won.”
It seems to me the party who was greedy in this situation was Lane, not LSU. Lane admitted he could have left LSU in a bad situation but then goes on to say he was shortchanged.
Lane also told the Times Picayune that National Signing Day was supposed to be a happy day, but he did not know which colors to make the celebratory cake. But as the expression goes, it is obvious Lane wanted his cake and wanted to eat it, too.
How the Neville All-American could expect Saban to place all his chips on one player that may never step foot in Tiger Stadium is beyond me.
Lost in the fray of Russell and Lane is the Tigers other quarterback signee, Matt Flynn of Tyler, Texas.
Never once did Flynn, who himself is a Top 15 quarterback, waver on his commitment and welcomed the competition numerous times. Flynn showed LSU fans what kind of competitor he is, but unfortunately for the LSU faithful, Lane won’t chime in on the result.