LSU's Wives Sealed The Deal For Fournette

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LSU pulled out all the stops for Fournette
Shea Dixon - 18 minutes ago 4
LSU Newsletter

As LSU’s recruiting coordinator, Frank Wilson has seen it all, going head-to-head with many of the top schools in the country each year as he and the staff pursue the nation’s best high school football prospects.


(Photo: Jim Brown, USA TODAY Sports)
So when Wilson joined ESPN104.5’s Sports Today on Wednesday, it didn’t take host Jimmy Ott long to ask one of the most well-known recruiters in college football about his biggest catch to date: five-star and No. 1 overall prospect Leonard Fournette.

And Wilson delivered, passing along a story of the behind the scenes efforts that go on as heavyweights like LSU and Alabama battle for one of the most talked about prospects to ever come out of New Orleans.

Alabama running backs coach Burton Burns was the head coach at St. Augustine - Fournette’s high school - before he joined the Tulane staff in 1994. And it’s not lost on LSU fans that Wilson, like Fournette, also graduated from St. Augustine, which has become a central storyline as Burns and Wilson battle for prospects in Louisiana. Each time their paths cross, the connections are mentioned.

So when it came to battling Burns and Alabama for Fournette, it’s evident that Wilson had his pulse on where things stood the entire way - and while the end result was a good one for LSU fans, knowing the reality of the situation down the stretch could bring an ulcer.

"Leonard was always very mild-mannered and very modest, and his parents were intricate players involved in the recruitment of him,” Wilson said. "His mom really liked both schools, but had a certain relationship with the other school - head coach's wife and Burton’s wife - so we had to kick it into another gear.

“(Kathy Miles) and (Tiffany Wilson) had to go to work to make up ground. We are doing our part as coaches. The reality is people don’t see that part of it. But coaches spouses and kids all play a role in it. Where they were, at one point, pulling their hair because the head coach’s wife at Alabama and the position coach’s wife at Alabama had won the mom over.

"So we had to regroup our wives.”

What makes the story even more intriguing is the timing - the final month before Fournette signed his letter of intent and faxed it into LSU.

"After he committed at the Under Armour deal, she went up for an official and then another time for an unofficial,” Wilson said. "And they really tried to drive it home then. And just constant phone calls.

"So, we had a meeting with the wives. At the end of the day, she was the champion. She was the one. Dad and son were all good to go, but mom had the final say. We had to recapture her. We had her at one point, and they moved ahead, and we thank those two wives for pulling us through.”

Fournette broke LSU’s freshman rushing record last fall and enters his sophomore season as a candidate for the Heisman Trophy.

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