I think the recruiting is changing and LSU will either be one of the first to see it or be the first not to. What I mean by that is with NIL and transfers, it looks like the LSU staff is putting a higher priority on Louisiana recruiting or strong ties to Louisiana for the loyalty factor.

You can sit here and say that’s not the right answer but in time it just might be exactly what teams will have to lean more heavily on. Either that or NEVER create real quality depth and experience within your program. If other programs have tons of movement within their roster and LSU keeps their players together for 3-5 years then we will have the upper hand down the road.

Other teams will continually try to create a new team every year while LSU keeps developing and building within. While I don’t think we will ever be able to completely go away from the transfers portal, bringing in only 1-5 players a year while others are bringing in double digits will absolutely have an impact on the ability to build within their programs.

I think this will slightly change over time but will now always rely heavily on Louisiana talent or those who have LSU at heart. Of course I think we will also reach out to get the best talent in the region on occasion, it will be those who really want to be a Tiger and just need the right messaging.

When Louisiana has elite talent, is when we will see those top 3 classes. I’m of the opinion that Louisiana always has elite talent, some years it’s just not as advertised as others. But I don’t think we can go wrong by relying heavily on Louisiana talent, it’s proven when you look around the country and see all these Louisiana kids making huge impacts on other teams.

Here’s what I would do though until it’s fixed. I would focus heavily on the DL around Louisiana and the entire country until this thing is fixed. We have to get that area up to standard. I think the rest of the defense will be fine but just like they focused so heavily on the OL when CBK came here, we absolutely need to do the same on the DL. Stack those guys up and let go of the ones we miss on. Eventually we will end up with a very good DL. I just don’t see the same intensity on the DL yet, and maybe I’m missing something or maybe it’s coming but I don’t see it yet.

I like the kids we have now but I think we needed more in last years HS and this years HS recruiting to be able to keep building within. I don’t see how we can step away from the portal at the DL position just yet. Not until we start landing 5-6 studs evey year out of HS, like we are on the OL. I like some of the DEs we have but we need more from the inside DT spot. We need at least 3-4 every year and 2-3 DEs, since the DT spot is the weakest. If we can land like 5-6 in back to back seasons, I’ll start feeling better. Then you just let go of those who you don’t see as impact players. I don’t understand how we have a perfect plan for OLman, from size, body type, football smarts and mean streak but don’t have the same thing for the DL? That baffles me?