That's what I thought........... do you know if we have some OL commitments? I don't follow recruiting real close at this time of the year.
Definitely - O line our biggest priority. It's something that a great team needs to load up on every year, but we especially need to now as the cupboard has begun to empty just a little. I think we have one and a half OL commits at this time.
Common sense: 1. Specific OL for Specific Positions Ready to Play, that means JC. Will they do it. Stay tuned! If we're short on OL, we're screwed waiting 2 years for development, unless we hit the JC ranks hard. Then you have a 1-year project. 2. DEFENSIVE POSITIONS (ALMOST ALL). Saban's studs are graduating OR will be pulled to the NFL after junior year. Don't expect everyone to be a Laron Landry. Defense is really #1 with OL. Reason: There are more positions on Defense where LSU will be short-handed very soon. This will be LSU's most critical recruiting year of this decade so far. My List (Committed in Bold) 1. OFFENSIVE LINE (NEED 7 MORE*, 4 JUCO, 3 BLUE CHIPS) Need 1 JUCO animal & 1 Blue Chip at: Both Guard & Tackle spots (8 total) Need 1 HS Blue Chip @ Center (1) Need 1 or 2 Blue Chips @ TE (1 or 2) *Committed to date: Josh Dworaczyk, OL, 6'5", 270 D’Montrell Wilson, OL, 6'4", 298 Mitch Joseph, TE, 6'5", 245 Jordan Hammond, TE/DE 6'5", 240 2. QB - Need 1 (Lee committed) 3. RB - Need 1 (Ridley committed, move to LB?) ... Need 1 more 4. WR - Need 3 (Bajoie, Bryant & Benton committed) 5. K - Need 1 (Jasper committed) 6. P - Need 1 (Crutchfield committed, average punter & K) Need 1 Blue Chip Punter 7. Snapper - Need 1 (Russian committed) 8. Return Specialists - Need 1 (Williams committed) 9. DEFENSIVE LINE (NEED 3 MORE, 1 or 2 JUCO 1 or 2 BLUE CHIPs) RE Chase Pittman, 6'4", 273, SR Ryan Willis, 6'5", 269, SR Tremaine, Johnson, 6'2", 273, SO LE Tyson Jackson, 6'5", 292, SO Ricky Jean Francois, 6'3", 281, RSFR Tim Washington, 6'3", 265, SO LT Glen Dorsey, 6'2", 299, JR Al Woods, 6'5", 325, FR Lyle Hitt, DT, 6'2", 284, RSFR RT Charles Alexander, 6'3", 294, SO Marlon Favorite, 6'1", 300, SO Pep Levingston, 6'4", 265, FR Kantravis Aubrey, DT, 6'4", 300 Jordan Hammond, DE, 6'5", 240 10. LINEBACKER (NEED 3 MORE) SAM (OLB) Ali Highsmith, 6'1", 226, JR Coy Henderson, 6'1", 215, JR Ace Foyil, 6'1", 225, SO Mike (MLB) Luke Sanders, 6'4", 229, JR Jacob Cutrera, 6'4", 225, FR Derrick Odom, 6'1", 205, FR Will (OLB) Darry Beckwith, 6'1", 225, SO Jason Spadoni, 6'0", 210, SR Perry Riley, 6'2", 215, FR Jeremy Benton, 6'1", 230, SO Kelvin Sheppard, 6'3", 220, FR Steven Ridley, 6'1", 220, 4.6, RB/LB Can’t ignore his rushing skills, can play both RB and LB R.J. Jackson, 6'0", 200, RSFR ... ditto Ridley but lacks size. 11. CORNERBACK (NEED 3 MORE, 1 JUCO & BLUE CHIPS ) LCB Chevis Jackson, 6'0", 180, JR Sammy Joseph, 5'11", 185, SR Jai Eugene, 6'0", 184, FR RCB Jonathan Zenon, 6'0", 179, JR Daniel Francis, 5'11", 180, JR SS Jessie Daniels, 5'11", 200, JR Craig Steltz, 6'2", 205, JR Harry Coleman, S, 6'2", 200, RSFR FS LaRon Landry, 6'2", 187, SR Curtis Taylor, 6'4", 195, SO Troy Gidden, 5'11", 218, FR Keron Gordon, 6'1", 210, SR Delvin, Breaux, CB, 6'0-1/2", 182, 4.4 John Williams, ATH, 5'10", 190 That's one tall order to fill, even for a contender like LSU.
People in the know with recruiting say that we only want/need one LB in this class (not counting Ridley). We'll take several O-linemen, up to 4 out of high school & probably 2 from JUCO. We already have three top notch TE's commited (Russian is not just a deep snapper). Crutchfield was named one of the top punters in the country, and we will not take another kicker in this class. Bryant at WR is no longer commited to us as he doesn't have an offer at the moment. We may pick him up later, but not right now. We will take up to 3 more WRs, but I only expect 2, this class with Terence Toliver appearing to be our top prospect (# 1 WR in the country according to Rivals). We will be looking for a WR that can come in & make an immediate impact and would consider going to JUCO if we don't think any of these guys are ready. We have one very good DB commited (even though Rivals only has him as a 3 star - he's much better than that), and will likely take 2 more including a safety. Defensive line, we will get 3 or 4 more, depending on what is available, but there is a good amount of quality there in La this year.
There are no more good O-Linemen in the state. We'll get T-Bob Hebert at the center position, but it's imperative that we get some Juco tackles like Beerchunk Bob suggests. Losing Loadholt was huge.
*Shomari Clemmons, SS, 6’2”, 210, West Monroe. Clemmons is a very physical player who might grow into being a linebacker. He chose LSU over Ole Miss, Florida, Arkansas, Tennessee Mississippi State, LA Tech and other schools in the South. This is from DandyDon. I heard he is real good but I am not sure where he will be playing at LSU. Does anybody know?
