re: What makes LSU so good at finding diamonds in the rough?

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M Claiborne, T Mathieu, K Sheppard, Lavar Edwards, Lamin Barrow

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T. Mathieu was a 4 star recruited heavily by Tennessee, he was not in the rough. Barrow was a 4 star for most of the recruiting cycle but got bumped down to a 3 star during the final rankings. He was from the Nola area and was well know. Also not in the rough. Lavar Edwards was a Katrina displacement I believe who had talent but no real position, and Miles took a chance on him that worked out. Claiborne and Sheppard certainly were underrated by the services, but Sheppard also had a Tennessee offer as Chavis liked his talent since HS.

I think it's a misconception to say these guys were diamonds in the rough. All big programs take chances on 3 stars that they believe have the potential to either contribute or completely outplay what they show in HS and recruiting camps. the ones you listed all happened to work out, while numerous others with similar ratings that signed with big programs fizzled out or never saw the field outside of special teams.

UHHHH, we awesome, thats why!

One of the biggest reasons for LSU's recruiting success with lower profile players is

SAM NADER

Sam's been around LSU for a LONG time. He has developed his system for spotting talent at an early age. He probally has an indepth list for the '16 signing class.

As for the players specifically. Look no farther than the river region and the west bank. That area probally produces a couple dozen Corey Websters, Jarvis Landrys and Laron Landrys every year. Guys that are 5'10" to 6'1" and weigh 175 to 190 lbs. LSU has been able to spot and sign the better ones.

These kids are just great athletes and can play multiple rolls on a team, WR and DB with a few RBs sprinkled in. Some fillout to be LBs. The big ones turn into D-linemen.

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The only reason Mathieu ended up at LSU is because we hired Wilson and Wilson insisted Mathieu was for real. He then came to camp and proved it. He got an LSU offer and a ratings bump.

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The recruiting sites do respect LSU's evaluation ability. I do notice "unknowns" getting bumps once they get LSU offers. It's not quite the same with "known" prospects. Cameron Sims won't get a bump up if he gets an LSU offer, for example. But if LSU were to offer somebody like a Quentin Gibson or a Davon Godchaux, then those guys may bump up based on LSU's interest.

To take it a step further, if LSU were to become crappy at evaluating talent and this isn't noticed by the recruiting media, it could become like a "Notre Dame" effect. Guys were still getting bumped up for getting ND offers or committing to ND even when it was well known that ND was doing a poor job evaluating talent and recruiting in general. This resulted in a bunch of guys getting overrated.

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And lots of coaches who don't try to get players noticed.

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THIS

A lot of kids out there aren't really diamonds in the rough , they just don't get the pub from the recruiting gurus for whatever reason. The ratings in the recruiting game are of dubious value, because as you guys know most of these so called experts have never seen most of the kids who are out there play.