A lot of people are expecting 5-7 players being transferred, kicked off the team, not making the grades, etc. I could easily see 7 total players leaving the team. Francois and Clemons are often mentioned. And at least one of the kickers. Early departures. RJF is gone. What about Black, LaFell, Scott? What about Mitchell playing baseball full time? Decent chance. It doesn't appear on the surface we would have any room, but the natural order of the universe says it will indeed happen.
:geaux: Lot of speculation that J. Lee could be transferring as well due to JJ's performance and the incoming QB's. :LSU231:
Dandy Don went as far as naming two schools this morning: SFA (Stephen F. Austin) or McNeese. That's pretty specific. I-AA means he doesn't have to sit out a year.
The transfers take care of the 85 total scholarships, but don't affect the 25 we can count toward this year's class and that is where the problem lies. For everyone you take over 25 someone can't enroll. Usually it is because of grades, greyshirts, etc. I don't think we will sign that many players that don't qualify or have that many we have offered that will be willing to greyshirt. The real question is who would be willing to greyshirt and who won't qualify? Answer those two questions and it tells you how many kids we take over the 25 limit. Anyone care to speculate?
I am almost certain we have 2 spots to count back to 08. That could be Benton and Duplessis. So if we take 30 and we can move 2 of them to the 08 class, then having to balance 28 is a lot better than 30.
hasnt Hatch been hurt the last half of the season? couldn't they pull some strings and do that deal where he stays on scholarship but doesn't count towards the 85 limit because of a career ending injury? no idea if he'd go for that considering he transferred from Harvard to LSU for football not academics and if J Lee transfers they will need Hatch as insurance. guess what im getting at is there are many ways to get down to 85.
For all we know Lee and Hatch could easily be gone by the end of Spring, since we will have Jefferson, Shepard and Garrett along with walk-on McCarthy. In fact I expect at least one of them gone and maybe both.
Time to update my projections: QB - Done RB(0/1) - Richardson (15%) WR(1/2) - Randle (80%), Debose (65%), Kelly (40%), Brown (10%), Patterson (5%) TE(0/1) - None OL(1) - Su’a-Filo (40%), Martinez (25%), Hall (15%), Fluker (15%), , Nixon (5%) ATH(0) - Done DL(2/3) - Montgomery (50%), Logan (50%), Campbell (50%), Dye (25%), Stinson (20%), Cox (15%), McCallister (10%), Chaisson (5%), Sentimore (1%) LB(1/2) - Mingo (95%), JJones (30%), TJones (25%), Telfort (15%), Stewart (10%), Bostic (5%), Jenkins (5%) S(1/2) - Loston (100%), Myles (55%), Armstrong (25%), Johns (25%), Holloman (10%), Moore (5%), Webster (1%) DB(0/1) - None Even though I did not boldface it, I think LSU will either get another O-lineman or a 2nd LB. That would put the number at 28 plus Benton and Duplessis for a grand total of 30. If we get the commit from Campbell, then he is all LSU since he is enrolling in the Spring. That means Logan would be out. Tahj Jones could still be a sign and place if we don't get another LB. Ford gets his 5th star or Benton counts in this class as a 5 star. LSU finishes with 7 five star players. Either Claiborne or Allen is elevated to a 4th star. 7 five stars 16 four stars 5 three stars 4.07 average star rating
going into next season with a guy starting his 3rd game and 2 true freshman backing him up would be a disaster in the making all over again IMO.
