How LSU football’s best recruiting tool paid off in the middle of a pandemic
By Zach Ragan
LSU football has one of the best recruiting tools in the nation.
LSU football has one of the best recruiting tools in the nation and it proved to be incredibly effective in the middle of a pandemic.
The Tigers excel when it comes to recruiting for numerous reasons. For one, Ed Orgeron is one of the best recruiting head coaches in the nation.
There’s also the tradition of LSU and the pageantry of playing in Tiger Stadium.
But the best recruiting tool the program has right now is its ability to get players to the NFL.
That’s the ultimate goal for elite recruits. College is supposed to be a great experience, but it’s also a tool to get to the next level. And more often than not, elite recruits are going to sign with a program they believe will help them reach their NFL dreams.
And that’s why LSU was able to land one of the top grad transfers in the nation.
LSU football landed linebacker Jabril Cox without a visit to Baton Rouge
Jabril Cox was lightly recruited out of high school as a two-star linebacker. He ended up signing with North Dakota State and becoming a star.
Cox could’ve left North Dakota State and entered the 2020 NFL Draft after the 2019 season. But he wanted to become a better football player. The Kansas City native landed with LSU and will immediately be a starter for the Tigers.
Nothing about Cox’s decision to transfer to LSU, however, was normal. Because of the pandemic, Cox wasn’t able to visit Baton Rouge. So he decided to head all the way across the country, passing up a chance to be a first-round draft pick, to go to a school he had never seen.
And it’s all because of LSU’s ability to develop linebackers.
Jabril Cox says he saw #LSU have three linebackers drafted in the NFL. That right there, he says, was one of the main reasons he was sold on coming to Baton Rouge.
— Brooks Kubena (@BKubena) September 10, 2020
Cox doesn’t want to just be a first-round pick. He wants to be a better football player. And he believes in Coach O and Bo Pelini’s ability to make him a better player.
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The fact that LSU is able to get elite players to come to Baton Rouge without a visit, thanks entirely to their reputation for developing players, is an extremely strong recruiting tool.
And it’s especially strong in the middle of a pandemic that has no end in sight.