I think you are correct which is kind of out there. I wish I knew more about him personally to get a good read on the reason for this way too early commit.
I was curious to see if he took any serious injuries this past season and is simply trying to reserve a spot in case of future injury.
Don't think so. Frank Wilson on the Tenn Staff used to be the head coach at OP Walker and reeled him in. Johnson said it just feels like home which is pretty dumb considering he has never been there before.:hihi:
I wouldn't worry too much about Johnson at this point. Pretty sure just recently he had a lot of great things to say about LSU. What I do know is LSU wasn't recruiting him half as hard as Bama/Tenn. That is ok for now, looooooooooooooong ways until his NSD. I'd like to see Miles and staff stay harder on instate recruits early on though..
Ditto. I am hoping that with some stability in the staff we can develop and maintain those links with the instate programs as our core and then selectively work on out of state programs and prospects. My guess is that having a new staff coming in this year plus a less than bumper crop of instate 2010 prospects equals not having yet established the relationships and foundation with instate programs and prospects that we'd expect.
I have talked to a few HS coaches around the state about this issue and what I have gathered it is not much of an issue. Everyone one of them has said when they have a top rated prospect that LSU comes calling 2 years before their senior year and in some cases earlier if they see a younger guy while checking in on Jr and Soph. All the top guys in 2011 have already started building relationships with the current staff based on updates. But the grey area lies in most of these guys are not getting the attention from the media recruiting outlets. We were in contact with Johnson but Frank Wilson is like a God in the OP walker area. The reason why programs across the country offer many of the top prospects out of state early on is because there is a lesser chance the OOS prospects will commit before we have completed our evaluations of the individual player and/or needs in each individual class. (When I say offer, I mean commitable offers). We see an example of this with Kevin Nelson in Florida. Fans think it is a no brainer to offer but the staff is holding out because they are not sure who they are going to get higher on their board and Nelson committing at this time would hurt their other efforts at LB. However, I also hear the landscape is starting to change in terms of offering kids 2 years in advance and someone on the LSU staff told me to expect to see more early offers out starting this year and next. (We already have 4 early offers out now already and 3 of the top prospects in LA say that the LSU staff said the offer is on the way after verbally offering) LSU is well aware of the trends and their chances on the OOS prospects compared to in-state in terms of who would commit on the spot.
Frank Wilswon is under tremendous pressure to come up with Louisiana Commitments for Tenn...after all Janzen Jackson's dad is waiting in the wings right there in Ohio to take his place if he doesn't pan out :nope:. In fact, I hear that the Tennessee staff is recruiting LTI and OPP real hard !!
I would say Wilson is under a lot of pressure. I believe this is his 4th job in 2 and a half years which could be another reason to not worry about Johnson until next year. According to his history there is a great chance he will not be a coach at Tenn in 2 years.
RB Jeremy Palmer out of MS 5'9 186 says ran a 4.36 on wet field but his video did not look that fast. Looks more like a bruiser. No offer but this guy is high on LSU from what I was told and pretty much confirmed by his youtube video where is list LSU 1st among his top schools and list Addai as one of his favorite players. Maybe the Lil Wayne music as well.:hihi: Should be ranked pretty high next year. We have 3 highly rated guys in-state next year so finding room could be a problem. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6qn7YyQWLU[/media]
