Is Clayton Smith a possibility?

There is a lot more to look at than what a player was ranked coming out of high school. The LSU coaching staff are looking for players in the portal who are ready to play or fill a hole in the roster. The staff is not looking for projects from the Portal.

Let's take Smith for an example: In two years he has appeared in less than 10 games and has produced less than 10 tackles with zero sacks. Basically, he has not cracked the starting line-up and is not listed in the OU 2-deep depth charts that I was able to locate on the web. Does that sound like a guy you bring in to replace BJ Ojulari? Maybe at a back-up to the jack linebacker position, but that would be a luxury and not a necessity. And the limited transfer portal spots will be used on positions of need and filling holes in the roster. Additionally, at 241 lbs he is too small to replace Ali Gaye at DE.

The coaches are looking at Bradyn Swinson from Oregon to fill this role. Swinson has prior starting experience under the previous staff at Oregon, but has been under utilized by Lanning.

Forget the stars and look for the fit. On3 has Smith ranked a 3 star (89) at position #56 in their top 100 portal entrants.

ETA: Also, don't forget the talented recruits we have coming in as edge rushers (Howard and Womack).

You make fair points. I do think there’s value in bringing in guys with multiple years of eligibility left so we don’t have to go so heavy in the portal every year while we’re rebuilding this roster. BK has stated that he wants to build through the high school ranks aka bringing in players with several years of eligibility to build continuity in the roster.

Smith Redshirted his first year under Cain and then what’s to say he wasn’t under utilized by his new staff as well? Top 40 recruits at positions of need don’t grow on trees.

I agree he’s not a DE, strictly a Jack LBer.

If nothing else, you swap him in the place of Desmond Little and you get a more talented reserve with more years of eligibility left.

If you haven’t already, I’d recommend watching his senior highlights. You can’t teach that sort of athleticism.

You also make some fair points and I am not implying that he will not be offered by the staff. I just think he would be more of a backburner candidate to receive an offer at this time. The priorities are immediate starters at positions of need.

Let's look at the big picture for a moment. Currently, with the expected returning players and commitments we are at approximately 75 spots filled on the roster (assuming no further attrition from the current roster; which is unlikely to happen). That leaves 10 spots open for additional commits and transfers. We should land at least four more commits from the high school ranks. That would leave 6 spots open for the late signing date and transfers.

Now, let's look at projected transfer portal needs:

A plug and play jacklinebacker.
2 plug and play or at least one plug and play and a challenger for starting playing time at CB.
A plug and play TE
A plug and play DT
At least a rotational DE.

That is six necessities. There are other issues with the roster.

An experience safety
Inside linebacker
Interior OL or 2
Possibly a game changing RB
Kick and punt returner.

Filling each of these needs means additional attrition from the current roster, which I believe there will be at least another 5 to hit the portal.

All I am saying is Clayton Smith is a luxury that the roster may not be able to afford.

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There is no limit on transfers

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There is an 85 scholarship roster limit, which will impact the number of transfers that can be taken. So in essence as I clearly delineated in the prior post, there will be limited transfer portal spots.

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If there’s a player we want and they want to come here then we will make room.

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No doubt.

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No transfer limit

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I think you are misunderstanding what I said in the previous post and trying to argue against something that was not implied at all.

Personally, I think LSU will take somewhere between 9-12 transfers in this cycle, because there will be additional attrition from the present roster and there are pressing needs that need to be filled. This is after taking a net of 4 to 7 additional commitments from HS players.

Using the best-case scenario delineated above:

75 current commits and returning players
7 addition HS commits
12 transfers
94 total

requiring attrition of 9 to reach the magic 85. Worst case scenario delineated above would require attrition of 3. The most probable outcome falls somewhere in between these numbers. Please note that these numbers are computed after current announced portal departures and declarations for the NFL draft; and attrition as used herein applies to both additional current roster transferring and additional current players foregoing remaining eligibility to declare for the NFL Draft.

Since you seem to want to beat the "unlimited transfers" drum to death, my question for you is:

If the staff finds 85 players in the portal they want that want to come here, would the whole roster be turned over? How about 50? 30? 20? 15?

At some point critical mass is reached.

Now, do you understand my use of the term "limited transfer portal spots"?

At some point there is no longer dead wood to be culled from the roster, whether it is 10, 15, 20 or even 85.

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There is a lot more to look at than what a player was ranked coming out of high school...

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Holy cow. Intelligent commentary. Thanks.