I stumbled on this. While we tend to see the ones we lose, Bama must be disappointed. Hell, Saban missed out on the #1 player in his State. https://sports.yahoo.com/national-signing-day-5-reasons-202123643.html
Probably the biggest reason that Alabama and LSU, were down, is it was not a very good year for recruits in the great state of Louisiana.
We finished 3rd or 4th in the SEC depending on which rankings you look at. Today was disappointing but it's not the end of the world.
The only real disappointment to me was Surtain. Strung LSU along for years, and pulled the rug out from under us late at night the night before. We had no chance to get the other CB (Goodrich). Feels like it was done on purpose, or Bama came up with some big incentive. Either way he is one kid, I will hope fails miserably. Believe we never had a real shot at Foster. They predicted FSU all along. I guess he loved him some Jimbo.
Maybe O and LSU are saving all of their energy for 2019 which is loaded with talent from the state of Louisiana. It is worth noting that Saban wasn't pulling in recruiting classes loaded top to bottom with 5 star players when he first landed at LSU. Hell we weren't even on the map as a destination of choice after all the mess that was LSU football before Nicky arrived. His choice to come to LSU was the talent rich state. He knew if he could recruit well in the state and keep the boys home he could build a winner. Louisiana, per capita, sends more players to the NFL than most states in the country. They weren't staying home, however, they were choosing college destinations elsewhere. If he could just convince them to stay here ... Well O didn't exactly knock the cover off the ball with this class. He addressed some big needs and missed terribly on others (CB). Like the situation that Nick faced when he first arrived, he is going to have to put a winner on the field to turn this "tide" and start making LSU a destination of choice. It's the W's that are going to get attention. So this team, these coaches, are facing a daunting task. They have a tough season coming up in 2018 and they are going to need to win a lot of games to start convincing players that LSU is where they need to be. Surtain said it plainly ... he wanted to go where they win Championships. So do a lot of 18 year old kids. About 3% of them make it to the NFL, that means 97% would like to win something now because tomorrow is not promised. There is energy and excitement in Athens, in Clemson, and in Tuscaloosa. There is excitement in a lot of places. At LSU there is just hope. Hope that we can get there. Hope that O and his staff can turn things around. But hope can't be held in your hand like a big shiny trophy. If LSU wants to stock the cabinet with the top talent, they are going to have to reach the top. It's not about the "O", it's about the "W".