LSU Football: Tigers’ top 2021 recruiting target may have some new plans

LSU football’s top 2021 recruiting target may have played his last high school football game.

The 2021 recruiting cycle is going to be a unique experience for players and schools — especially for players from California, like LSU football‘s top 2021 target, five-star defensive end Korey Foreman.

That’s because the California Interscholastic Federation announced this week that high school football in California will be delayed until 2021. The playoffs would be scheduled for mid-April.

Foreman, who plays high football at Centennial in Corona, CA, tweeted a strong response to the announcement on Monday.

This appears to indicate that Foreman would head straight to college and skip his senior year of high school football. Which would make a lot of sense, considering Foreman has nothing to gain by playing in the winter/spring months.

He has a lot to lose, though. If Foreman suffers an injury, he’d still be a highly coveted recruit that could essentially pick his college destination. But an injury could force him to miss time as a true freshman.

As far as Foreman’s actual recruitment goes, LSU is still strongly in the mix to land the elite five-star recruit. But the Tigers need to get Foreman on campus if they’re going to hold off Clemson and USC.

Will LSU football be dealing with a different recruiting calendar in 2021?

California’s decision to delay the start of high school football could have a massive ripple effect when it comes to recruiting.

Not every player in California is like Foreman (or four-star LSU commit Raesjon Davis, a 2021 recruit who is also from California and will have a major decision to make). Most high school football players in California will never play a down of college football. Only a small percentage get a scholarship offer to play at the next level. An even smaller percentage get offers to play at a Power-5 program.

For most high school players in California, the 2021 season is their final shot to impress college coaches and earn a scholarship offer. That will be nearly impossible for players to do if the recruiting calendar doesn’t change (early signing period in December, National Signing Day in February).

Programs have a limited number of spots to fill. It seems unlikely they’d be willing to wait on players who may or may not impress during their senior seasons.

It’s hard to imagine the recruiting calendar not changing — especially if other states follow California’s lead and delay the start of their seasons.

2020 has been a weird year so far, but 2021 looks like it will have plenty of weirdness of its own as well.