Recruiting Character / Work Ethic

Can vouch that the two young men from Lake Charles (Smith and Jones) are quality character guys and will represent us well both on and off the field.

I think there is a non-scientific way to calculate on whether they are taking a character risk. Just ask your self the following question:

How easy would it be for LSU to fill the same need with somebody else?

If the answer is "easily," then you can bet LSU is going to be able to take the talent pool and separate players of similar ability based on things like academic risks, work ethic, and the pride they think the player will take on the name on the chest (as opposed to the name on the back).

If the answer is "They're scrambling to find someone," then I think you can bet they are more likely to roll the dice on somebody who might have character red flags.

Think about it. Where did LSU struggle to fill a need this year? And what happened when the player didn't meet his obligation academically? LSU took him anyway, right? But in other areas, where LSU had no trouble finding comparable players, it was much more picky.

That makes LSU like anybody else, basically. Here's the difference: LSU is a in a talent-rich area, so one would think it could separate the "winners" from the "turds" in most areas and for the most part, I think LSU does a good job of that.

Conversely, some schools in less talent-rich areas (perhaps Tennessee, perhaps West Virginia) will dive into the hotbeds looking for players and will often come out with talent, but not so much with character guys.