6'4" 320 lbs Palm Bay, FL Committed to Miami but that commitment may very well be on shaky ground. LSU has covered a lot of ground lately and are in play. Louisville also in the mix. The crystal ball experts on 247sports have all voted LSU since late November (although only 3 people have voted). Takes his official visit to LSU on the 17th.
Hurricanes poor showing in the bowl game defensively may weigh on the young man's mind. That team defensively has been a mess for several years now and I don't see anything changing. Then the head coach going to Penn State talk added on to that.
The main key here is qualifying at Miami which has higher standards than LSU. That could all but assure LSU a commit here if his academic year and ACT don't pan out like he thinks.
I wonder how much the recruitment of Valentine played into our "lack of interest" in McDowell (DT from in-state).
http://www.nola.com/recruiting/inde...rs.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter "Champagnat (Fla.) defensive tackle Travonte Valentine, a Miami commitment, told NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune yesterday that the rumors of Al Golden possibly leaving the Hurricanes to take the head coaching position at Penn State didn’t sit well with him and now it appears that could be what finally pushes the 6-3, 320-pounder over the edge in decommitting from Miami." “With all the talk about Al Golden going to Penn State, that kind of hurt the situation,” Valentine said. “Right now, LSU is coming on very strong.”
This is the guy we need most, since he is a huge huge body, something LSU was sorely missing this past season to anchor the line. Speaks or even Willis weren't going to be your prototypical nose guard type big wide bodies anyway. This guy is exactly that. So my wish would be for us to get Valentine and then either pull back Willis or get Speaks, as they would man the other DT position anyway.