The biggest storyline of the 2025 recruiting cycle was far and away the recruitment of the Nation's top quarterback Bryce Underwood. The Five Star quarterback has the 5th highest grade ever for a Quarterback according to 24/7 Sports which speaks to the level of talent everyone believes he has. The Tigers landed Underwood's commitment in January of 2024 and for the next few months it was pretty smooth sailing.
Then chaos started to ensue as Michigan struggled to field an offense that could pass the ball. Dave Portnoy expressed his desire to pony up money for a top quarterback and from there behind the scenes Michigan started to emerge as Larry and Jolin Ellison got together what's being reported as the biggest NIL deal to date. Underwood then flipped to Michigan just under two weeks from early signing day.
The loss was obviously a massive loss for LSU as the Tigers started to see a few other recruits leave the class. LSU then did its best to mitigate the effect getting Garrett Nussmeier to return for one more season which gives LSU the chance to adjust its plan.
The loss of Bryce Underwood in the class turned into a positive for LSU in the short term given their transfer portal success.
Losing the No. 1 prospect Bryce Underwood was not the worst thing in the world for LSU...@JTalty explains ⬇️@Geaux247 pic.twitter.com/QZkHOr4aqM
— 247Sports (@247Sports) March 4, 2025
While Bryce Underwood could go on to win Heisman's and National Championships nothing is a given as top rated recruits have flamed out time after time. The difference is that rather than pouring an abundance of resources into one player, the LSU Football program went out and signed its best transfer class yet.
The Tigers don't have the elite five star recruit in the quarterback room but, the Tigers did go out and get a solid piece at Quarterback in Michael Van Buren. In his freshman season, Van Buren was thrust into action and showed a ton of promise passing for 1,886 yards and 11 touchdowns with 7 interceptions while rushing for five touchdowns. Does Van Buren have the talent upside of Bryce Underwood, probably not but, he's a proven commodity that will also spend a year developing and learning before he takes the field again.
The most important part of Bryce Underwood leaving the class and LSU's pivot to attacking the portal is what it could mean long term. If the Tigers have success this season after going All-In on the transfer portal it could lead LSU toward pushing for top transfer classes every year. Prior to this offseason, the Tigers transfer portal approach was mostly adding players who wanted to return to Louisiana and while LSU found some success in the method the method we saw this year gives LSU the best chance at making a College Football Playoff run.