LSU football: All eyes are on this five-star athlete on National Signing Day

The 2024 college football recruiting cycle culminates with National Signing Day on Wednesday. For LSU football, all eyes are on a five-star athlete that Brian Kelly would love to add to his roster.
Linebacker Greg Penn III 30 celebrates after an interception as the LSU Tigers take on Texas A&M
Linebacker Greg Penn III 30 celebrates after an interception as the LSU Tigers take on Texas A&M / SCOTT CLAUSE/USA TODAY Network / USA
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National Signing Day is the final day high school recruits can submit letters of intent to a college program. December's early signing period has stolen much of the commitment limelight. However, several notable prospects opt for more time to make their decisions.

Terry Bussey of Timpson (Tex.) is one of such athletes.

Bussey is slated to announce where he'll play college football at 9 a.m. CST on Wednesday. As such, we'll find out if the five-star prospect will stick with Texas A&M or flip to LSU.

Adding Bussey to his 2024 recruiting class all but guarantees Brian Kelly will finish the cycle with his second top-five finish. Moreover, bringing Bussey to Baton Rouge means the Tigers will gain a trio of five-star freshmen this Fall.

Not bad for a head coach that the naysays claim "cannot recruit in the South."

I typically don't advocate for star-chasing in recruiting cycles, but Terry Bussey is special. Hayes Fawcett agrees, per his recent X (Twitter) post highlighting Bussey's eye-popping high school stats.

Bussey could be the cornerstone of the next "DB University" movement in Baton Rogue. Conversely, LSU football would benefit from adding another dynamic wide receiver with Kayshon Boutte's freshman season type of talent. Better yet, Kelly's roster can benefit from Bussey playing both sides of the ball.

Bussey has advertised his desire to continue playing two-way football in college. Indeed, the emergence of Travis Hunter in Colorado has many significant skill position prospects chomping at the bit to follow suit. I doubt we see any young player assigned the number of reps in Baton Rouge that rivals Hunter in Boulder.

Conversely, I think Kelly would support Joe Sloan by adding a few plays designed to get Bussey the ball on offense. But of course, I am assuming Bussey would mostly play defense with the Tigers.

Ultimately, I have no idea where Bussey would play in LSU, but his status as an "ATH" means he's a jack of all high school trades with the potential to play any of them once in college. In Baton Rouge, I think we all agree that a top athlete is needed to shore up the secondary.

Kelly and his staff have worked hard to entice Bussey to flip his commitment from Texas A&M. Bussey committed to the Aggies during Jimbo Fisher's tenure but reconsidered his options after Texas A&M changed its head coach.