Can somebody explain our scholarship situation now

The last I saw was the LSU football roster had 71 scholarship players on the team at the beginning of the season. I do not know where that currently stands but for the sake of discussion let's just go with that number.

So to start with LSU has 14 scholarship positions open.

Through normal attrition (leaving early, edibility expires, grade causality, transfers, processing, etc., etc.) an average of 25 kids leave the program every year.

So a good estimate for the 2023 class LSU can fill it's roster to 85 scholarship players with a combination of high school recruits and transfer players for a total of 39 players (25 + 14).

It's probably a few less than 39 because I don't believe 25 kids will leave an already depleted roster. The total number is probably closer to 34 total to get to 85.

Also note, Kelly has said that he wants to fill the 85 spots with high school kids before transfer portal players. High school kids are his priority but he is also open to transfer players.

It's literally impossible to know right now what the scholarship situation will be after the year. We have a number of old guys who could return but who knows if they will (Banks?). We will have guys enter the portal. We have guys who can declare for the NFL should they choose (Garner, Roy, etc).

Until we know those numbers, we wont know how many in the class and portal we can actually take. I will say, I think we'll have a full 85 going into next season, or at least very close to that. It appears to me we are more than comfortable taking close to 30 high school kids this class.

Y’all are awesome with the info.

Thanks

Is it safe to say, we will be close to “normal” at the beginning of next season

But still having a very young team?

Looks like this right now.

41 on offense
40 on defense
3 on special teams


QB
Jayden Daniels sr
Garrett Nussmeier so
Walker Howard so
----Rickie Collins 6-3 200 fr

RB
Armoni Goodwin jr
Noah Cain sr
Josh Williams sr
----Kaleb Jackson 5-11 200 fr
----Trey Holly 5-8 195 fr

WR
Kayshon Boutte sr
Landon Ibieta so
----Kyle Parker 5-10 180 fr

Malik Nabers jr
Chris Hilton Jr. jr
----Jalen Brown 6-1 175 fr
----Khai Prean 6-1 185 fr

Jack Bech jr
Brian Thomas jr
Kyren Lacy sr
----Shelton Sampson 6-3 190 fr

TE
Kole Taylor sr
Jack Mashburn sr
Mason Taylor so
----Mac Markway 6-4 265 fr


LT
Will Campbell so
Bo Bordelon so
——Zalance Heard 6-6 315 fr

LG
Xavier Hill sr
Garrett Dellinger so
Kimo Makaneole so
----Paul Mubenga 6-4 290 fr

C
Charles Turner sr
Marlon Martinez sr
Fitzgerald West so

RG
Miles Frazier jr
Anthony Bradford sr
Kardell Thomas sr
——DJ Chester 6-4 320 fr

RT
Emery Jones so
Marcus Dumerville jr
----Tyree Adams 6-6 305 fr

=======================defense

SDE
Savion Jones jr
Quency Wiggins so
----Dashawn Womack 6-3 265 fr
----Jaxon Howard 6-4 260 fr
——Dylan Carpenter 6-3 250 fr

NT
Jaquelin Roy sr
Jacobian Guillory jr
Tygee Hill so
Bryce Langston so

DT
Maason Smith jr
Mekhi Wingo jr
----Darron Reed 6-4 290 fr


buck
BJ Ojulari sr
Zavier Carter jr
Desmond Little sr
----Joshua Mickens 6-4 235 fr

WILL
Harold Perkins so
Kolbe Fields so
Demario Tolan so
——Christian Brathwaite 6-0 210

MIKE
Greg Penn jr
Mike Jones sr
West Weeks jr
----Whit Weeks 6-2 220 fr


SS
Major Burns jr
Derrick Davis so
----Ryan Yaites 6-0 195 fr

FS
Matthew Langlois jr
----Kylin Jackson 6-2 195 fr
----Michael Daugherty 6-1 185 fr

____NICKEL____
Sage Ryan jr
Jordan Allen so

CB
Demarius McGhee jr
Raydarious Jones sr
Jaelyn Davis-Robinson so
----Ashton Stamps 6-0 180 fr

CB
Mekhi Garner sr
Laterrance Welch so
----Daylen Austin 6-1 175 fr
----Jermiah Hughes 6-0 170 fr

SPECIAL TEAMS

Slade Roy jr
Nathan Dibert fr
Peyton Todd so

quote:

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Does the 25 player cap come back next year or some other time on the future?

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Not unless the NCAA changes it. Now if you lose 25 players and you are under the 85 player scholarship cap you can sign up to 25. If you are under the 85 cap 20 players you can sign up to 20. If you are under the 85 player cap 50 players you can sign up to 50. The 85 scholarship cap is the governing metric.

quote:

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Looks like this right now.

41 on offense
40 on defense
3 on special teams

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And form that list it looks like 10-12 guys will be gone. With the current commitment list of 25 accounted for in your list we will still have 10-12 spots open.

I can see the commitment list being filled with 5 or 6 more high school commits and 4-6 transfers.

ETA: the number this year may also be impacted by the 2024 prospects the coaches have high on their list. The point is Kelly may not try to fill the entire roster this year because he may expect low attrition next year and he can reach the roster cap of 85 with 20 or so commits next year that are higher priority than current 2023 prospects.

Is anyone else concerned that if we take ~35 high school players this year that the attrition in 3-4 years with players graduating / leaving early for draft will be insane and put us in the same situation?

I think there is a balance of high school players / transfers that is necessary for the next few years to avoid having the same problem down the road.

quote:

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And does Bramblett have another (COVID) year, if he chose to?

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I’m 99% sure I heard him say he has this year and next. Makes me wonder if Todd sticks around

We have something like 72 scholarship players right now. We will graduate some players. Some players will transfer. We might even have a few get told to look elsewhere. The main rule is we can have 85 scholarship players for next season due to covid. I am thinking we can probably sign close to 35 and still be ok.