What do you like BEST about this class? And Least?

Best -- The fact that we got Randle. I know he's just one guy, but we put so much time & energy into him, and fought some other major programs so hard for him, that it felt really good for it to work out in our favor. After the McHomo situation a couple of years ago, it was good to see the best talent in our state stay home.

Least -- Kenny Bell. Not because we lost some stud receiver, but because we invested so much time & engergy into a kid who was apparently too scared to compete with the big boys from the get-go. The fact that he went to Bama doesn't bother me at all. They've made a habit of going after our sloppy seconds (coughSabancough). I don't see this as a sign of Saban taking over Louisiana...not one bit.

 

Taking over? Agreed, not even close. He did nip at our heals a bit this year though. I believe this is the first time, at least officially, they got players we offered and wanted. Saban is going to keep coming to Louisiana and will get more players. We just need to keep the very best ones from him and it wont be much of a factor.

 

Agreed.

re: Randle's ultimatum, whether it came from Rueben or his dad, should be the last one. His azz now belongs to Les and his staff. If dad gets in the way, Les can tell him to back the F off and get out of his face.

A terrible shame that this sort of thing came into play.

 

We need to take 2-3 RBs next year for sure. I would've liked to have had Trent Richardson, but we'll be okay there.

Singleton was not a last ditch effort. We were on him from the get-go, he just didn't want to play FB.

 

Again, what worries me is the lack of quality backs in LA, particularly big backs. This time last year we already knew about Ford, Lacy and Conner, but there doesn't seem to be any premier backs in state. We have just witnessed how hard it is to pull great backs in from out of state, losing out on Pratt and Richardson. I think our last starting rb from out of state was Joseph Addai which is quite a while back. I guess you could argue we may have been able to get Christine Michael this year, but he is cut from the same 200 Lb. mold. Is there a worthy RB that we have an inside track on that is capable of carrying the load in the future?

 

I love that we got Shepard early & had him as a cheerleader for our class. He is easily my favorite recruit - ever. Dominique Allen & Sam Montgomery are my other 2 favorites from this class, but honestly it's tough not to love a lot of these guys.

I mean, Michael Ford is a BEAST & has been completely solid to LSU all along. Chris Garrett chose competing with the talent at LSU over Mississippi St when his dad was the freaking President of one of their Alumni groups. Chris Faulk & Davenport - two tremendously talented guys with character who helped us recruit, and several others.

 

BEST:

1. It seems we've done a good job of recruiting players with class, a good attitude, and a head on their shoulders, in addition to their monstrous skills on the field.
2. We've grabbed a few gems that seem to have exceptional leadership skills, which we lacked this year, and will come in VERY handy in 2010-2012 when we're vying for the NC again.
3. Shepard - I've thought for a long time that a Pat White style QB would be a dream in Crowton's system. I can't wait for him to give defenses fits.
4. Ford and Allen - This duo will be crushing and cruising past some LB's in a couple of years.
5. Barrow, Minter, Mingo - I expect big things from these guys at LB in 2-3 years.
6. Montgomery, Logan, Hicks, Downs, Davenport - I expect these guys to make our LB and DB's jobs even easier.....ala 2004/2007.
7. I'm very glad that while continuing to do a good job of recruiting in state, that we are doing an even better job of recruiting nationwide. Pulling in players like Shep, Minter, Montgomery, Hicks, Allen, etc. helps to make potential future recruits see us as a viable option. Its very difficult to pull players from across the nation, which is more evidence that our coaches are great recruiters.

LEAST:

Well, let me just edit and add to a previous post:

I do think we kinda slacked off in recruiting O-Linemen this year. I hope that doesn't come back to haunt us with depth concerns in years to come.

Losing Pratt and Jackson was big, IMO. I didn't really care much for Bell, except that he took up a WR slot and now we are one WR short for the class. It would have been great is we had focused on Brown, Patterson, or one of the many others and had them in tandem with Randle ( but we also thought we had Benton ) The whole WR situation sucks! We're lucky we already have some studs on board, but we better pull in some good ones for 2010, otherwise we'll be in a bind soon.

Also, while I never jumped on the C. Michael bandwagon, I am beginning to become somewhat disappointed that we did not take a 5-star running back when we had the chance. He desperately wanted to come to LSU, and I think that we might regret not taking him, as well as P. Patterson ( another highly touted recruit who was ALL LSU if he had simply been offerred.....especially since we lost Bell and Benton ) He might not have been as afraid of the competition.

Overall, I am very happy with this recruiting season. I can't wait to see how all this talent pans out in the coming years!

Jester

:tigereye:The Past :crystal:'03:crystal:'07 AND The Future :crystal:'10:crystal:'11:tigereye:

 

what i like most about this class are the playmakers you know the ones put into the athlete category.....Sheppard,Claiborne,and Calhoun i look for these guys to have huge careers. I definately like claiborne...i dont like the fact we cant seem to recruit well at linebacker with exception of minter we are too thin at linebacker for my taste. although we should be fine because of the way we reload on the d-linel...I think RR's father should be ashamed of himself absolutely ridiculos if that story is true,yet he forced miles hand i think he made the right choice it took two years for benton to get eligible and may i remind everyone he still is not cleared..the situation with janzen is not good but hey sometimes you get burned trust me his dad got promised something, he will be coaching somewhere after a few calls are made....overall we did very well would have liked to have seen two more linebackers but hopefully chad jones gets moved to linebacker. we could use another corner but i like jai eugene and patrick peterson, hawkins is not gonna get the job done. at reciever a trio of lafell,tolliver,and randle would be awesome...and would someone tell the press to stop over looking the fact that jordan jefferson is the starting quarterback he is better than shepard trust me,if JJ doesnt start im not giving taf another dime because the mistake of not playing him cost us at least 3 games..:angryfire And hopefully just hopefully crowton will give trindon and richard murohy more carries i still think murphy is the best back we have.....:wave: