LSU Football: Tigers among top schools for elite 2021 DL
By Zach Ragan
LSU football is among the top schools for one of the best 2021 recruits in the nation.
2021 five-star defensive lineman Maason Smith revealed his top eight schools on Saturday and LSU football, unsurprisingly, made the cut (along with Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Miami, Oklahoma, Oregon, and USC).
Smith, 6-foot-5/316 lbs from Houma, LA (Terrebonne), is rated in 247Sports’ composite rankings as the No. 1 player in the state of Louisiana and the No. 2 defensive tackle in the nation. He’s also rated as the No. 20 overall recruit in the nation.
LSU has made Smith one of their top targets during the 2021 recruiting cycle. He’s a player that’s considered a “must-get” for the Tigers.
247Sports midland region recruiting analyst Gabe Brooks says Smith has “impressive size that is definitely college-ready and translates to multiple fronts”. Brooks notes that Smith has an “early-round NFL Draft ceiling”.
Who is LSU football’s biggest competition for Smith?
Last week, Smith talked to Rivals about his plans for upcoming official visits (whenever recruiting is allowed to resume — the recruiting dead period currently runs through August 31).
Smith said that Alabama, Georgia, LSU and Miami are the programs he plans to visit for sure.
“Those four are the teams that have stuck out the most to me so far and are recruiting me the hardest,” said Smith.
USC will probably be a program to watch here, too.
That’s because Smith has expressed interest in playing with five-star defensive end Korey Foreman in college.
The Trojans are strongly in the mix for Foreman, so it wouldn’t surprise me if the elite defensive line duo took an official visit together to USC at some point.
It’s notable that Clemson isn’t in the mix for Smith. Foreman is a former Clemson commit and he’s still considering signing there.
However, the fact that Smith doesn’t have Clemson in his top eight means that if the two end up playing together, it won’t be at Clemson.
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LSU is going to be in this one until the end. They’re in a good spot to land Smith, but it’s still too early to call it.