This is something I've seen discussed a lot on other boards, with fans afraid we'll lose our pipeline to Louisiana schools or that other schools will develop pipelines into our state. Let's be clear: EVERY Louisiana high school, except maybe one, is an LSU "pipeline". We can't take every good recruit from the state, so some are going to go to other big schools. This does not substantially affect LSU now or ever (although we hate to lose any prospects we really want). The whole idea of pipelines is tremendously overblown by fans. LSU has made great inroads in Florida (thank you Earl Lane!), but we don't have any pipelines in that state - nor any other besides Louisiana. What we have is good relationships with high school coaches throughout the state and good visibility to all the athletes there. This is all that is important. Whether a former player from that school is on the LSU team or not is not really important (but it doesn't hurt). We didn't get Orelus because we got Ernest McCoy 2 years ago. We got him because we were able to get him over here & let him check us out, which was due to our relationships with the coaches and our visibility as a great D1 option.
Did you mean J Curtis Highschool? Yesterday there was a thread about Orelus committing. So, did we get him or not?:huh:
Yes, we got Henry Orelus. We got him not because we got McCoy two years ago but because of Henry Banks Visibility & Recruiting of Florida high schools & because we got a Damn Stong Program!!! I think thats what CParso said... wasn't it???
But, you can ruin relationships with schools. That is what I'm worried about here. There is a waiting period right now to see what LSU does now that Conner let it be known he wants to be a Tiger, and be one now. Don't think for one second that High School coaches don't watch what is being done with their players. Don't think for one second that they don't see and believe in preferential treatment of some schools over others because of this "pipeline" myth. LSU is the flag-ship school for this state and when a player comes through that is billed as a can't miss prospect and you don't offer, but you offer someone else from a rival school that they don't feel is even close to being as good you build a riff' that becomes hard to break. This is reality whether you or I like it or not. That is my only worry about this whole deal with Conner.
Sure you can but the positive side of that is you can't "Ruin" them if you don't have one in the first place. I'm not familiar with Conner but from what I read, you seem to have a very good working knowledge/understanding of specific skills and football, in general so I'm not doubting your word; however, how much of this could be the local bias that we also see with every hometown hero? Course, if LSU offered him, that says a lot in and of itself and supports what you're saying. I have a feeling Miles "Evaluates" him quickly and this won't linger long. You are making me nervous about it. :shock:
You can damage them, but they can be rebuilt. For instance, LSU used to have a terrible relationship with the New Orleans schools (I've heard) but Saban came in & made amends. The Conner situation may be straining our relationship with his coaches, but we can definitely repair that relationship. It won't be a matter of offering Conner, it will be a matter of explaining to them our logic behind offering other players instead of him/why we didn't accept his commitment right away.
I don't think there's anything "obvious" about his ability to play either position at LSU... Does it? I haven't seen Mingo's film, but obviously his growth as a player over the course of that single year was enough to impress the coaches. Again, you are basing your opinion on non-determining factors. So what that Conner is bigger, stronger, and playing better right now. That's not the issue. Perhaps Conner is at the top of his game and he won't get any better, while Mingo obviously has not come close to his potential. I'm not sure that you do... How many big time prospects come out of Ouchita? Just curious, as it seems that Conner has a cult-like following from fans of the program. My suspicion is that the school rarely produces big time prospects like him, and now that they have one they all think he is LSU worthy, regardless of what our coaches think.
