LSU Football: Why Raesjon Davis signing with USC hurts deeply

Four-star linebacker Raesjon Davis was one of LSU football‘s first commits to its 2021 recruiting class.

On Wednesday, Davis signed with USC instead of LSU.

This wasn’t a signing-day flip — Davis decommitted from the Tigers just before Christmas. And the expectation was that Davis would end up signing with the Trojans, which is his hometown school.

But it still stung….a lot.

The loss of Raesjon Davis is a tough pill to swallow for LSU football

When Davis committed to LSU — on New Year’s Day 2020 — the Tigers were atop the college football world.

LSU was preparing to play Clemson in the National Championship game. They were coming off big wins against Georgia (in the SEC Championship game) and Oklahoma (in the College Football Playoff semifinal). It felt like the Tigers were on the verge of becoming the next Alabama — a program that dominates the sport on an annual basis.

And then things came crashing back to earth. The Tigers lost 14 players to the 2020 NFL Draft. Passing game coordinator Joe Brady left for the NFL. Defensive coordinator Dave Aranda became the head coach at Baylor.

The 2020 version of LSU was nowhere close to the 2019 version. The Tigers struggled their way to a 5-5 season.

The program that Davis committed to was a program that was competing for a national championship. The program that he was committed to in late 2020 wasn’t that same program anymore.

So Davis went with his gut. He decided to stay home. I can’t blame him one bit. Why go across the country for a program that just finished 5-5 and was nowhere near the College Football Playoff?

Now, that doesn’t mean that LSU won’t return to that level. They certainly could.

But it’s not automatic. There’s work to be done to get back to that level. And maybe it won’t happen. No one knows.

Davis eschewing LSU for USC symbolizes that LSU is still far from being a perennial powerhouse in college football. This is a reality that I had suppressed for the last several months.

But seeing Davis sign with the Trojans made it impossible to ignore anymore.

Ed Orgeron and his staff have a long way to go if they’re going to prove 2019 wasn’t a one-hit wonder.

It’s a tough pill to swallow — just like the loss of Davis — but it’s LSU’s reality.