re: Morris Claiborne is an LSU Tiger

Not another college geek pissing contest--

allright, im gonna tell you a story,2 guys sign with lsu in different years.player #1-plays for a school that sends video of every player on the team to every college,recruiting service,magazine,and guru in the united states.player #2- plays for a school that doesnt have enough textbooks to go around much less a vcr,or video camera,or someone to do such leg work.player #1 gets a few offers but is rated a 2*.player #2 gets a few offers without anyone seeing him,no video,no recruiting service,etc.he is also a 2*.

#1= jacob hester
#2= morris claiborne

quote:

---

Look at the schools that offered Hester.

---

exactly

not to mention fullback prospects aren't racking up the stars in any recruiting services

the Hester analogy as it pertains to Stars needs to die forever

quote:

---

They took the juco DT because we're going to be losing 3 DTs this year

---

at 6'6, I'd bet he'll be an End for us... that sort of heighth in our interior doesn't exist and for very good reason

So, with that logic his "immediate need" may not be such...with Pep, Alem, Corley, Agheyere, Clement, etc. we have a good mix of experience and talent ready to step in ...its not like any of the above players are projects

The guy runs a 4.45 forty per rivals. And from everyone is saying, he plays for a VERY small school, which means no weight training and conditioning program. He has potential to be even faster, and we need more speed on the field!

Scout.com moved him from a 1-star to a 3-star in the past day.

quote:

---

The guy runs a 4.45 forty per rivals

---

Thats' what I would have guessed based on what I saw

.

quote:

---

And from everyone is saying, he plays for a VERY small school

---

Fair Park is 4-A...about 850 students and they play BTW, Benton, Haughton, etc.

quote:

---

, which means no weight training and conditioning program. He has potential to be even faster, and we need more speed on the field!

---

I will agree with this. Fair Park is far from a solid program. It's an inner city school that is finally getting steered in the right direction by Bruce Daigle.

Claiborne is going to surprise some of you.

quote:

---

I haven't seen Clairborne play an entire game. That being said, various scouts and coaches and recruiting services have been exhaustively assessing this class of Louisiana football palyers since they were freshman (if not before that). None of the scouts or recruiting services believe that Clairborne is one of the best players in the state. Moreover, none of the other coaches from the premiere BCS programs in the area believe that he is worthy of a scholarship offer. He doesn't have an offer from one other SEC school. His only BCS offers are from two lower echelon teams.

Now, it could be the case that somehow Clairborne is a brilliant player who just inexplicably slipped through the cracks and wasn't recognized by either the recruiting services or the other coaches. It's possible, but unlikely. It's more likely that he simply isn't as good as the higher rated and more sought after Louisiana recruits. That's what the evidence and reason suggest.

---

Sure, if Claiborne has gone to Nike Camp and Rival camps, etc and the scouts there weren't impressed, then sure, that'd be something. Or if Claiborne has some film out there for people to evaluate, that would be something as well. But for all you know, no talent scout has ever gone to see Claiborne play. You act like there is this huge scouting industry that scouts out every single one of the thousands of high school players that play in Louisiana. If that was the case, we'd be able to buy professional publications by scouts that evaluate and rank Louisiana football talent (like they have in Texas). But the way it stands now, all we have is Sonny, Mike, Dandy Don and the local sportswriters at our local newspapers. Scouting in Louisiana is a rinky-dink industry.

Remember Trindon Holliday? In high school he led Northeast High to back to back 2A State Semi-Final appearances. He was two-time All State. As a junior, he rushed for 1,870 yards and 26 touchdowns. As a senior, he had 2,210 yards rushing (11.4 per carry) on 193 carries and 34 touchdowns. He averaged 27.6 yards per punt return. In track, he was the four-time state champion in the 200 meters and three-time state champion in the 100 meters.

Yet, according to wikipedia, nobody recruited him. Not LSU, and not even ULL invited him to their camps (the only reason he ended up at LSU's camp was because his coach took him along with another player that LSU had invited).

Scout.com had nothing on him, so they listed him as a 2-star. They say the only offer he got was from LSU -- LINK

According to Rivals.com, he was a 3-star and he had offers to LSU, Southern Miss, La Tech, ULL, UL-Monroe, and Southern -- LINK

The point is that you'd think someone that was as impressive as Holliday was in high school would be noticed by the scouts that you claim "have been exhaustively assessing this class of Louisiana football palyers since they were freshman (if not before that)." And you'd think that someone that was as impressive as Holliday was in high school would be recruited by other major programs besides LSU, but he wasn't.

The eyes and ears of the college football scouting industry is nowhere near as great as you think it is. Rivals and Scout do a very good job of evaluating talent, but only if somebody sends them film or if the recruit shows up at one of their evaluation camps. If that doesn't happen they aren't going to know anything about the recruit. As for local Louisiana scouts, like I said, that is a rinky-dink industry. All we have is Sonny, Mike, Dandy Don, and the local sportswriters at our local newspapers. Weeeee!!!

Also, you claim that "None of the scouts or recruiting services believe that Clairborne is one of the best players in the state" -- yet both the Advocate and Dandy Don have him listed as a top 40 recruit out of the thousands of high school seniors on Louisiana football teams, and both Sonny and Mike are impressed with him.

quote:

---

Scout.com moved him from a 1-star to a 3-star in the past day.

---

I thought you were joking, being that i saw that he was a 1 star on scout just yesterday. But yes, you are right, he has already gone straight to a 3-star:

LINK

That also say that Alabama and Arkansas were interested in him, did they say that before? I can't remember if I paid attention to the schools that were interested in him or just the schools that gave him an offer, but I'm pretty sure I didn't see Alabama and Arkansas on there until today.