When a team underperforms like our Tigers have this season, to what degree does it affect next season's recruiting? I'm asking seriously for the people who actually know about such things in depth.
It doesn't unless it becomes a standard and as disappointed as we are, a season like this is not a standard. To a recruit, what they see is opportunity. The guys out there now are not much further along than they are so they see an opportunity to come in with something close to even footing. Add to the fact that Les is no longer burdened by the idea that he won't play freshmen. He's only redshirting 5 or 6 guys this year. With the exodus of 3-year players every year at LSU, freshmen have to be ready to play. That youth infusion every year is going to making winning championships very hard but that pipeline to the NFL will stay wide open.
I would think a bad season at a great school would be a gold mine. Instead of pitching "You will compete with 3 five stars, an All American and a junior Heisman candidate." You can say, "We need your azz and you will start if you can beat out the guy that average 2.4 yards per carry and I would not be in Podunk, Tx, if I was not sure your could." Seems like a no brainer, and we specialize in those!
Top recruits don't want to go to a school that never wins. But a school that wins 80%, is a perennial top-10 team, has a famous coach, famous football tradition, has 8 wins in bad years, and goes to a national championship game every 5 years gets a lot of attention. Especially when steady turnover offers early shots at playing time at a place where coaches send a lot of players to the NFL, often early.
Why don't you wait till signing day sport???? Right now we have a higher ranked class than last year and we finished #2. There are several highly ranked recruits who are leaning to LSU. You have no clue as to what is driving recruits other than a sophomoric idea of someone who never sniffed a scholarship though may have sniffed a jock or two.
I'm not into recruiting slick. And keep the insults coming. You might bruise my fragile ego in a couple of years.
