Neville's Lane decides LSU the place to be All-state quarterback stays in-state. Keith Prince / General Assignment Posted on August 9, 2002 Neville quarterback Robert Lane opens his senior season Sept. 6 against Ouachita. Neville's Robert Lane picked up the telephone at 4 p.m. Thursday and gave LSU coach Nick Saban a nice present heading into the 2002 football season. "After looking at all my options I have decided I want to play college football and baseball at LSU so I called Coach Saban and committed there today," Lane told The News-Star on Thursday night. One of the nation's top recruits in both sports this school year, Lane chose LSU over 60 other scholarship offers. "It was the first college I visited this past spring and although I really liked Auburn and Colorado, I just had this gut feeling about LSU," Lane said. "The others looked good, too, but I didn't have the same feeling after visiting them. When you look at everything, you just can't beat LSU." Lane has been adamant about being able to play both football and baseball in college and said, "I feel great about both programs at LSU. Football is going great and baseball has been one of the best in the nation for a long time." Of Lane's initial list of possible colleges, all but Miami had given him the freedom to play both sports. "I understood their situation and we just took them off the list," he said. Although Lane and his parents, Bob and Paula, had established a procedure by which he would have all potential options evaluated by October, his folks weren't really surprised that his decision came quickly. "We felt it was our job as parents to set up the procedure to expose him to as many opportunities and possibilities as we could and then let him make his decision," Bob Lane said. "He has been very patient and very dedicated to this task the whole summer. We drove to Auburn's baseball camp and spent three days there. We then flew out West and he visited Colorado. "We wanted to start the visiting process so that it would end no later than October, prior to Neville's beginning its district schedule. But yesterday he said he didn't think he needed to visit Ole Miss or Florida, that he had decided on LSU." Said Paula Lane: "The decision thrilled me. To know that he will be this close and we can watch him play is very exciting." Late in the spring Lane narrowed the list to 10 schools and they included Alabama, Auburn, Colorado, Florida, LSU, Ole Miss, Louisiana Tech, Louisiana-Monroe, Notre Dame and Tulane. He then pared the list to five before deciding on LSU. Named all-state in both football and baseball this past year, the 6-3, 210-pounder is considered a potential first round draft pick in professional baseball next summer. Named the Paul Martin Award winner by The News-Star in June, designating him as northeastern Louisiana's top athlete for the past school year, Lane recently was one of 11 outstanding prep quarterbacks selected to participate in an elite quarterback camp in California. During his junior year, Lane led Neville to district titles in football and baseball. The Tigers went 10-3 in football as he passed for 2,508 yards and 28 touchdowns while running for 631 yards and 12 more TDs. In three years at Neville, he has piled up 6,376 yards of total offense while accounting for 75 touchdowns. The baseball Tigers produced a 31-3 baseball record last spring as Lane batted .509 with 12 home runs and 57 RBIs. One national baseball magazine has tabbed him as the No. 7 prep baseball talent in America going into next spring.
This is AWESOME! Robert is one of the best young QB's in the country not to mention a great baseball player. All you other recruits take note. Coach Saban is building a dynasty here at LSU. Hop on board while you can... Welcome to LSU Robert!
MLB draft Supposedly he is already a first rounder. Is he going to pass that up? We once recruited a great High school QB that was also a 1st rounder. If not for his failure to hit a good curve, he would have never played for LSU. Then wasn't that great when he got to LSU.
Re: MLB draft Well, there is always that risk. But Lane said today that his first love is football and it will take a whole lot of money to lure him away from LSU.
Lane and Baseball True, Lane is on of the better baseball players in the country. But he is better at football. I believe if he does get drafted he will play both If he signs I hope he does it like Drew Hensen did it from Michigan for a couple of years. Until he gets drafted in the 1st 5 rounds we will have to wait I have seen kids that were projected first 5 rounds and not get drafted or get drafted very low. If Lane comes he comes. If he does not then we reload we need to get to the mentality or reality that we have someone else to take his place. Look at the positive if he goes Pro and does not make it then he comes back in a few years. ITS SO LOUD YOUR DEAF
