re: Besides more hardware, what makes a recruit from Louisiana go to a hated rival?

I also think that at some levels, this is an administrative issue as well. I guess what I mean is, if there's a coach at an elite (or not even elite) high school in the state who is pro-Bama, well let's just say that there should be some sort of "misconduct" or "unsatisfactory evaluation"; something to replace them with a coach who is pro-LSU. I guarantee you are unlikely to see a pro-LSU guy coaching at any high profile Alabama high school. Louisiana has to operate the same way.