While Saturday Night was a make or break game for LSU's hopes of making the College Football Playoff, it also in many ways was a make or break day for LSU's recruiting efforts. The LSU Football program had nearly 100 recruits in the building, the Basketball program had a few recruits on campus, and the rest of the programs had a ton of recruits in the building.
The Tigers started the day off hot landing in-state defensive back Jacob Bradford after he was hosted on his official visit last weekend. His commitment in turn put LSU in the drivers seat for his younger brother Blaine Bradford who is a five-star recruit and the top safety in the 2026 recruiting class.
On3's @SWiltfong_ has logged an expert prediction for LSU to land elite 2026 safety Blaine Bradford🐯
— On3 Recruits (@On3Recruits) October 12, 2024
Bradford ranks No. 9 NATL. (No. 1 S) in the 2026 On300.
Read: https://t.co/3yS2ZJh7vy pic.twitter.com/63rtMzNT3z
The positive vibes continued into the pregame and LSU couldn't have asked for a better group of alumni to show up for the game. If you're a football recruit, Justin Jefferson, Odell Beckham Jr, and Clyde Edwards-Helaire were all in attendance. If you were a basketball recruit, Shaquille O'Neal was on the sideline while for Baseball recruits, Paul Skenes was there.
Then the game unfolds and while it wasn't pretty for the vast majority of this game how about that ending? LSU drove down the field and scored on fourth down forcing overtime keeping the night rolling. In overtime, the defense did its job and then Garrett Nussmeier found Kyren Lacy in the endzone sending Tiger Stadium into chaos.
The fans stormed the field creating an incredible party on the field which looked like an incredible time. Four-Star Edge Rush commit Damien Shanklin shared a video celebrating on the field after the game and it looked like an atmosphere any recruit would fall in love with.
Tigaaazzzz🐯🐯🐯 pic.twitter.com/wuyAjSXu2u
— Damien “Dame” Shanklin (@D_shanklin42) October 13, 2024
We will see in the weeks to come what this weekend meant for LSU on the recruiting trail but, it'll certainly help with keeping the committed players in the class while it should give LSU momentum with the players it is trying to flip.