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LSU Football: Recruiting, Rankings and everything in-between

By Joshua Ivy

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It has been an eventful week for LSU Football fans to say the least. Tiger fans have gone from teetering on the edge of a ledge to a complete #mancrushthursday with the announcement of Ed Orgeron and Kevin Steele being hired to the coaching staff, as earlier reported our own Eric Slater.

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Four of five recruits enrolled early

LSU announced Wednesday, amongst all of the new coaching hires, that four of their five expected recruits enrolled early. One name that was missing from the list was JUCO defensive back transfer Jeremy Cutrer. Cutrer did not meed the academic requirements to enroll early; instead he will be enrolling this summer. This will give Tolliver, 5-star corner, plenty of time to solidify his place in the starting line-up.

Recruiting picks up steam

Less than 24-hours after being hired, Coach O and Steele have hit the ground running, trying to change some minds with the recruiting lull finally behind us, and February 4th vastly approaching. Hot on the recruiting trail Thursday, their first stop was Prince Tega Wanogho Jr, a 4-star defensive end out of Elmore, AL. Wanogho is heavily favoring Auburn with Alabama second, but the Tigers hope to change his mind:

Coach O made a big splash with Wanogho as reported by 247sports.com:

"Before Orgeron met his first high school coach while wearing the purple-and-gold, he was already busy coaching up a Top 100 prospect. ‘I was a little late for the meeting with them, and I walked into the room and Coach Orgeron was already on the ground teaching Tega some new defensive line moves,’ Edgewood Academy head coach Bobby Carr said. “It was something to see. I can definitely tell you that I was impressed with him.”"

Wanogho will have his official visit Saturday, January 17th. After meeting with Wanogho, the duo got back on the road heading to Glen Saint Mary, FL trying to sway 5-star defensive end CeCe Jefferson, who announced Monday that he would make an official visit to LSU on January 30th. CeCe would be a killer pick-up for the Tigers and has yet to verbally commit to any school:

These next few weeks are absolutely crucial. While Coach O and Steele were out perusing Georgia, Florida and Alabama, Coach Miles and Frank Wilson spent most of Thursday morning pursuing 4-star inside linebacker Leo Lewis in Brookhaven, Mississippi, followed by a short drive to Bassfield, Mississippi to meet with 4-star safety Jamal Peters. Peters will be a hard sell to convince that he should transfer out of Mississippi. 

Today, Coach O and Steele head to Florida to meet with 5-star defensive end Byron Cowart and then to Monroe, LA, possibly meeting with 3-star defensive tackle John Washington. Keep us dialed in for updates on recruiting.

2015 Preseason Rankings

Yes as absurd as it sounds ESPN’s Mark Schlabach released his preseason picks for 2015. LSU finished the season unranked, their first time since 2008. Schlabach released his poll earlier this week, so this is a very early look at teams that will look a good bit different by the time the season starts. Schlabach has LSU ranked No. 17 and went as far as to give his reasons why they may be ranked higher or lower, everything revolved around the play at quarterback position at LSU.

"“If LSU can fix its quarterback problem, it might be one of the most-improved teams in the country this season. Unless the Tigers can add a transfer quarterback or Anthony Jennings or Brandon Harris improve dramatically during the offseason, they’ll probably continue to sputter on offense.”"

Schlabach was referring to the rumors of Big 10’s two-time player of the year and Ohio State quarterback Braxton Miller. Coach Les Miles came out yesterday and said it’s unlikely reported by WGNO sports Ed Daniels:

Keep in mind that Les made this comment prior to Cardale Jones’ announcement to forego the draft and come back for his junior year.  I find it hard to believe that Braxton Miller will stay put with both Barrett and Jones on the team. Does this mean he will transfer to LSU? Only time will tell.

All-SEC Team Predictions

Since the National Championship game is behind us you can expect to see more and more “predictions” to keep interest during the off-season. With that, Brian Pedersen of Bleacher Report has released his 2015 All-SEC Team predictions and the Tigers have three players in the mix, one just stepped on campus this week.

On offense it is no surprise to see sophomore running back Leonard Fournette, who finished the season with an amazing outing in the Music City Bowl. Also on offense is senior offensive lineman Vidal Alexander, who is expected to have a monster season and greatly improve his draft stock.

A surprising name to see on the list was recently enrolled and incoming 5-star freshman cornerback Kevin Tolliver II, who finished the 2013 season with 36 tackles and 2 interceptons

2015 is shaping up to be a great recruiting class and has the potential for a better season than most Tiger fans expected.

Stay tuned as the LSU train continues…

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