re: Jennings RB Travis Etienne commits to A&M

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Why didn't LSU offer him?

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not sure, but they are dropping the ball

He's not open to possibly playing Safety at the next level or even being recruited as an Athlete?

Again, Saban (and other SEC coaches) do this a lot when they have a position they need to stock up on. Saban didn't give a frick about Etienne when Akers was committed. Now he's lost a guy higher on the board and has landed at Travis. Bama needs depth at RB bad, so Saban is trying to fill the spots he set aside to fill that need. There's no telling how many other kids he's telling the same things, and if he has someone else higher on the board commit then Etienne's phone will magically stop ringing. LSU simply doesn't need RBs so badly that the coaches are willing to blow smoke up an instate kids arse only to potentially have to withdraw his offer if someone higher on the board commits. I've seen the kids film and he's a talented athlete but he is as raw as they come at RB. He will need a lot of coaching to be a productive RB in the SEC. LSU will be just fine at RB.

You need a few RBs every year mate, esp elite level guys in your home state.

Key word being elite. There's 40 kids in this state who can play D1 ball some years, and they can't all get an offer. Hope he proves me wrong somewhere else, but the tape says he's an ATH playing RB.

I have no idea what tape he is watching and just chucking him up to being raw.

His tape jumps out at you. He has incredible acceleration and he doesn't just run away from people.. he actually runs through defenders with an impressive push from what I can remember. He looks elite.

I don't want to compare recruits, and I very much want Akers, but Etienne's film "wows" me. I recognize they are different style backs and perhaps LSU feels Akers fits their style of rb more.. but I sure hate to see Etienne go elsewhere.

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what tape you watching?

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Obviously not the same one you are. I see a good ATH running flat footed around a bunch of 5'6" white kids' arm tackles. He's got talent, but I don't see a lot of the skills it takes to play RB in the SEC. He shows little to no lateral movement or cut, never drops his pad level, and spends way too much time running east and west. I'm not saying he's garbage, I'm saying he's gonna need to learn the position, and I can see why LSU may feel like there are more polished guys availiable.

That's what jumps out to me, he is really only effective in space. When he gets to the next level and the LBs are faster he's gonna get bogged down at the LOS. He needs to play in a spread system or somewhere he can line up in the slot if he insists on playing offense. If he changes his mind about that I would love to see LSU line him up at nickel.