7/8 - 4/6 - 11/11 - 2/1 - 6/7

Rivals/ESPN recruiting class rankings for the last 5 years.

To suggest that LSU has slipped in any way in terms of drawing the best athletes in the country to Baton Rouge is ridicules.

Here is how the 8 other "Elite Programs" fared in that same span as of 5:30 est. CST 2010:

FSU 3/6 - 21/25 - 9/12 - 7/8 - 10/6

UF 2/1 - 1/2 - 3/4 - 11/5 - 1/1

UT 5/3 - 5/3 - 14/10 - 5/3 - 3/2

OSU 12/10 - 15/20 - 4/6 - 5/3 - NA/14

OU 9/7 - 14/NA - 6/8 - 13/11 - 7/5

USC 1/2 - 2/1 - 8/7 - 4/4 - 2/8

UA 11/18 - 10/17 - 1/3 - 1/2 - 5/3

UGA 4/4 - 9/13 - 7/5 - 6/6 - 16/11

In those 5 years, out of the elite 8 teams listed LSU finished compositely ranked tied for 6th in '06, tied for 3rd in '07, tied for 6th in '08, tied for 1st in '09, and tied for 4th this year.

That my friend is consistency.

Every year there will be a couple of teams that have great recruiting classes that push LSU's ranking higher or lower. In '06 it was ND, '07 PSU, '08 the U, '09 UNC, and this year AU. Those teams all had the same thing in common...none of them had finished in the top ten of either of the rankings more than 3 times. NONE finished with a composite top 10 ranking.

ND came close after finishing '06 at 5/8, '07 at 8/8, and '08 at 2/9. But the wheels came of the wagon finishing '09 21/14, then a 14/21 class this year.

With the strength of this years class, Auburn also come close with a '06 class of 10/12, followed by a '07 class at 7/7. However, '08's 20/19 class and '09's 19/25 finish kept them out of consideration.

Another SEC stalwart, Tennessee had a shot with a banner 3/5 class in '07, a 10/15 class in '08, and this years 9/9 class. But '06's 23/20 class, and the top 25 goose egg class of '08 killed them.

Of the elite 8 teams LSU competes with, NONE have had more than one year where they fished with a composite class above a top 15 ranking.

From '06 to '10...

ONLY UF, USC, AND LSU HAVE NEVER HAD A CLASS RANKED BY RIVALS OR ESPN RANKED HIGHER THAN 11TH!

GEAUX TIGERS!