OL and DL recruiting is Why LSU has dropped to 2nd tier!!!

You sir are spot on! Anybody that doesn’t see that we got manhandled by Bama is a complete dumbass!

Players leaving early is why LSU has dropped. I’m not taking about 1st or 2nd round picks. I’m talking about 3rd or later. How many linemen leave after their jr year that should have come back? Bama seems to keep these players.

Fehoko-Lawrence-Logan-Alexander-Shelvin were higher rated than Buggs-Williams-Davis coming out of high school. Farrell and Mathis were basically a wash.

You can't simply focus on where the pay sites ranked these guys out of high school and even you did you'd see LSU DL was at least equal if not higher rated. The gap happens after arriving on campus and where the S&C program has them once they start playing on Saturdays. 350 pounders arrive at LSU and eat their way out of the program. 290 pounders arrive and are 290 their junior years and are no more ferocious. At Alabama, 350 pounders out of high school are 320 animals by their junior year and 260 pounders are 290 and causing havoc. LSU's problem starts with the most important hire a HC makes, the S&C program. Our guy has been resting on his laurels for a decade and it's time to make him a professor emeritus and get someone with the times.

He might notice but what is he doing to fix it?

Leslie did a terrible job recruiting the lines his last couple of years

We need 3 SEC tier OTs every 2 classes, including 1 all conference player in that group. We haven't historically had problems with guards and we have had the occasional drop off in Center, but we never seem to have more than 1 great OT at a time and rarely a lights out one since Rodney Reed/Andrew Whitworth days. Our continued focus should be getting as many actual tackles as possible, convert TEs as necessary, move defenders to the line with this in mind.

As far as defense, assuming we're essentially 3-4 for the foreseeable future, we need 1 SEC tier NT in 3 out of 4 classes, with ideally 2 all conference types. Same numbers for DT and for DE.

With a 3-4, we need AT LEAST 2 elite pass rushers from the lb position, whether a guy who is a freak from the inside (Dev) or a dedicated outside pass rusher (Key, Chaisson) type, so for simplicity we need at least 1 of either type in every class, alternating.

And this really doesn't allow for many misses.

We're clearly not doing that. We are getting quality guys and a few in the categories I've mentioned, but about half. If we were up to par, it would not matter that Bama has 5-star guys playing 4th string. We would be able to compete in the 2-deep chart, year in, year out. The only advantage having guys 4 deep is that you get insurance for an injury bug (like our OL at the beginning of the year) and much more stability over time (assuming you're phasing guys in and making them wait).

Our system of recruiting 3-year guys has worked in spots (RB, WR, CB), but is not providing the trench players we desperately need. Going JUCO isn't working. We're not developing them. Our line play is simply sub par and that is the reason for our struggles.

Now - I say all of that but point out - the OL, in particular, has shown flashes of greatness this year. That's encouraging, but relatively limited by their inconsistency. Part of this is injury/depth. Part of it is the league we play in (it's difficult to find Front 7 squads remotely as good outside of conference - I mean, Clemson, Miami, a few others, but the SEC has probably 6 or 7 out of the best 15 in football).

But ultimately we are missing:

Elite, game changing running back
Elite OT
Elite pass rusher (with KC's early season injury)

From being a playoff contender. IF we had all three of those pieces - I'm NOT saying we beat Bama this year - but we beat Florida and could perhaps slip into the playoffs at the end.

We would certainly end the season as the best 1-loss team and perhaps the best team not in the playoffs.

But, we don't have those players and we're not there.

While I agree those two were colossal misses and would have made immediate contributions,that still leaves the same Oline.The main problem imo

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While I agree those two were colossal misses and would have made immediate contributions,that still leaves the same Oline.The main problem imo

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I don't disagree, but:

Bigger problem - we rarely seem to even be in the running for elite OTs - Deculus was well regarded and a pure tackle - be we've had to convert folks seemingly for decades - I think both Reed and Whitworth were TEs (of course, both projected as OTs).

Just for 2019 - of the Top 10 - Tennessee is getting 2 and Bama 2 (likely 3). We are getting Parker and Bradford, but Bama's 3rd (or likely 4th) best OT prospect for the upcoming class is comparably regarded as Bradford.

So, basically neither of our OT recruits would likely compete for playing time at Bama, depending on their development.

:letthatsinkin:


Now - we ARE getting OL help. Thomas needs a little conditioning, but he's the best high school guard since Salyer (UGA) last year, to be honest and should come in day 1 as the best guard on the team - him alone, healthy and in ready-to-play condition will improve our run blocking.


When Louisiana does produce the rare elite pure OT, seems like *ahem* someone is there to grab him at just the right time (CRob most recently).

Cole Smith is going to be a good center, but at least a year out. And, of course, Bama is likely getting the best OC for 2019.

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OL and DL recruiting is Why LSU has dropped to 2nd tier!!!

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So second in the SEC is 2nd tier????? We probably end up 10-2 in the SEC West the toughest conference and toughest division in college football and that is second tier????? We hold Bama to the lowest point total of the season and we are second tier.

No one is facing the facts Bama is a fricking juggernaut plain and simple. Everyone they have played they have destroyed. Every single team needs to improve, including LSU, to be able to beat Bama and yes the OL and DL recruits are the recipe to beating Bama, but to call us 2nd tier because we lost to the #1 team in the country, the team that also won the NC championship last year and 5 of the past 7 is stupid! Every single team in the country is playing catch up to Bama and they continue to play catch up with the NFL, is just plain stupid!

Same reason we lost to Florida. Even the players that left early were man handled. Clapp and the other OL personnel we beat up by BAMA. At what time is coaching and strength questioned?