Nice overview, and some good points. DL and LBer positions simply are sever weak links and I don't know if this team can overcome it this season.

I know people have stated that the early departures have killed this team, but at the DT position for example, LSU lost Brockers and Logan (both wouldn't be here this year). Johnson and ferguson had 1 year of eligibility left, but Ego had been here four years.

Those losses hurt, no doubt, but the fact that players leaving 1 year early left such a game goes entirely on the coaching staff's head. Their recruiting at DE and DT has been mediocre at best since 2010.

2010, we took three DEs and no DTs, turned one into a DT (Ferguson) and another into a FB (Copeland) while Allen stayed at DE. (3 DL players of which only 2 stayed on DL).

2011, Two DE prospects and Two DT prospects (seems reasonable), except one DT prospect has done nothing (Mickey Johnson) and was chosen over Chucky Hunter, Anthony Johnson was okay, and Quentin Thomas has been okay and shifted to DT. So we had Rasco as our only DE in that class.

So far, you have 5 Defensive lineman that are participating from those two classes which is down right horrible.

2012 - LSU takes ONE freaking Defensive line player and its D Hunter. While he's been solid, and Toshiro Davis was another option, neither had any shot at playing DT and we took none.

That's 4 players that play DT in 3 years with one not even playing after 4 years.

2013 - LSU loads up on DL with 7 recruits. Herron, Patterson, Bower, LaCouture, Neal, Bain, and Gilmore. Because of the depth issues from 2010-2012, these guys are going to struggle and not get time to be developed or are simply busts.

In the end, this is my issue with Les' recruiting. They try to fix problems with one year of high volume recruiting rather than consistent recruiting and that is the difference between LSU and Bama right now. Saban doesn't take a year off from positions, and it shows with consistency despite early departures.

LB is another pure example of this. LSU takes 2 mediocre LBs in 2010 with only 1 still on the team (Welter) then 1 in 2011 (Randle) that isn't even on the team anymore. So from 2 recruiting classes, LSU had 1, ONE!, LBer and it was Welter.

2012 resulted in overkill at the position with 6 LBers and only one has developed into anything consistent (Kwon). 2013, we took 3, converted one into a FB that isn't even starting, another and tried to make him a DE can't get on the field ahead of Welter, and the 3rd looks to be a special teamer.

There is a huge flaw in Les and Company's recruiting strategy and therein lies the issues with this team. It's not just about attrition.