Are we a victim of Shady recruiting and our own success ???? I would be foolish to say Saban and us Tiger Fans are not a bit disappointed. But let me stress I am NOT under no circumstances disappointed in Saban's recruiting performance. I think we all figured after last season and our #7, SEC and Sugar Bowl titles all we would have to do is hand out flyers and pick who we wanted and build another dorm for all our Blue Chip players. I think we might be the victim of our own success here. I might be viewing this through my Purple and Gold Glasses but hear me out. Justin Vincent who is arguably our star in the class is now after months of COMMITTMENT (That means little these days to kids) is now considering Wisconsin... (Good luck with all of that if you bail our on your commitment young man. I wish you the best but welcome to the Big 10 where basketball is king, the women wear parkas and rarely practice hygiene and have grooming issues, the weather is cold and LSU took their #1 team to the woodshed….) Why is that. Because he probably will not play at LSU for 2 or 3 years. With the Badgers he will start next year. Same with Ben O of Alabama. He goes to the War Eagle's because he knows LSU is stacked at WR. He will be red shirted AND probably would not get a look until Clayton moves on, or at least be the Featured WR. So yes he chooses a school that is on a downslide cannot find a DC that wants to work there and has a coach that is riding them into 7-5 seasons. BUT he will play next year and will be probably next to Cadillac their entire offense. Yet will have not QB who can throw him the ball. (However they do have a Freshman that might step up) 7-5 and Independence bowls will be his future but he will play. So while I think we are all a bit disappointed. I think this is a sign of a successful program. When was the last time you saw Florida, or Nebraska in the top 10 ???? Or Miami until this year. The only concern I have is our LB's but I think Saban was a victim of some cheap recruiting. DONT underestimate the impact ESPN and the SEC coaches caused by listing Saban for every job opening from Holy Cross swim team to NFL water boy. Our rivals used that. Some recruits said so. However I say this. Saban is SORT of responsible for this because in my opinion he did not (And still hasn't) nipped it in the bud. He failed to sign the contract, he has a no buy out clause AND he could have easily back in December held a press conference saying "I under NO circumstances plan to leave LSU any time soon. We are building...... etc etc" That never happened and the Kids took notice... So lets not burn down Tiger Stadium. We got some kids with Talent. But we have something the Auburns of the world dont. A coach that can turn a Josh Reed into the best WR in the Nation and one of the best in SEC history. Disappointing yes but disastrous... No...
One other interesting note. I work with a rabid UCLA fan. When UCLA played Washington (LSU was open) I went to his house and spent time with several UCLA fans just watching some football. There was the Mother of a Freshman OL that signed with UCLA last year. She is from Texas and is now a member of the North Texas UCLA club thingee. Her son is huge and was a 5 star recuit last year. I got to talking with her about LSU and she talked about Ben and the OL we picked up (She knew Ben) and I asked her if Saban or LSU recruited her. She said and I quote "Out of all the coaches, Saban and the LSU letters he recieved were the best" HOWEVER she said we sent the letters of interest to the school during summer break. SO her son never saw them until it was to late. She said when her son read them he was very very impressed. But had already narrowed it down to 2 schools and those coaches were at his doorstep everyday. Saban never getting a return interest moved on. She said Saban and Stoops were the two coaches she liked the best with Mack Brown being the worst.. (Which I found odd) he chose UCLA because he wanted to do the California thing. Anyway, wanted to pass that along... She said she was very impressed with LSU's presentation and that Saban is a great recruiter... Just FYI Geaux Tigers Welcome new LSU recruits. We look forward to watching you dominate in Death Valley... Remember Beat Auburn under any and all circumstances. But do it with Class.
It seems like LSU's biggest pitch to recruits should be something like, "We haven't done it yet, but we have the resources to do so in the near future." I think the fact that LSU has not won a national championship in the recent past (40 years) should give it a HUGE advantage when recruiting against Fla, FSU, Bama, Tennesse, and other national powers. To be on the team that did it first would endear the kid to the entire state of LA forever. While it would be difficult to achieve those lofty goals, the time is now and LSU is one of only about 10-20 schools in the nation that can reasonably set the bar so high every year (and I've heard the stadium is alright too).
Welcome Justin !!!!. My post was not intended to blast him, I was making a point that rumor is that he considered leaving so he can play next year. Moot point. You made the right choice. Welcome to the LSU Tigers (All Recruits) home the 2001 SEC Champions....
