LSU trending heavily to land 4-star WR Jelani Watkins

Houston (Texas) Klein Forest four-star wide receiver Jelani Watkins grew up in New Orleans. While he’s set to finish his high school football career in Texas, a few more years in Louisiana could be on the horizon.

The LSU Tigers are the clear favorite to land the blue-chip wideout, according to the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine (RPM). The Bengal Tiger’s Shea Dixon had already logged a pick for LSU to land Watkins, but the recruiting insider bumped his confidence level up to 95% on Friday.

Dixon is one of four experts that predict Brian Kelly and the Tigers to receive the pledge of Watkins, giving LSU a 98.7% chance to lockdown the commitment. Texas A&M is now a far-and-away second, sitting at less than 1%.

Since March, Watkins has taken four visits to Baton Rouge, including an official visit, which came on June 22. His latest trip came on July 28, as he was one of the many prospects in for the Bayou Splash. Passing game coordinator Cortez Hankton and associate head coach Frank Wilson are leading LSU’s recruitment of the 5-foot-10, 160-pounder.

Tigers battling Texas A&M for Watkins

Though Texas A&M has welcomed Watkins to College Station for multiple visits over the course of his recruitment, including a visit directly after the Bayou Splash, Dixon still sees the speedster making a return to the Pelican State, picking the Tigers over the Aggies.

“The Aggies have hung around here, but I haven’t wavered off my stance that he wants to be at LSU – and that’s where I feel he winds up,” Dixon wrote of Watkins. “He’s got an opportunity to run track and play football for the Tigers, and they have laid out the complete schedule and plan for how he balances both. Now, the Louisiana native is inching closer to shutting things down.”

Watkins is the No. 191 overall prospect in the 2024 cycle, per the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He is also the No. 32 WR and No. 35 player in Texas.

LSU rising with large class

The Tiger’s 2024 class checks in at No. 13 in the nation and No. 6 in the SEC, though it continues to grow. Kelly and his staff currently have 22 pledges, the second most of any team in the SEC, behind Georgia. Of the pledges, a whopping 14 are four-star prospects.

Leading the way is Jackson (La.) Zachary tight end Trey’Dez Green, the No. 73 player, No. 6 TE and No. 3 player in Louisiana in the cycle. Green, Orlando Edgewater cornerback Cai Bates and Denham Springs (La.) safety Dashawn McBryde are all top-100 recruits.

Watkins would be LSU’s fourth and highest-ranked four-star wide receiver commit, joining Houma (La.) Terrebonne Kylan Billiot, Fairburn (Ga.) Langston Hughes Joseph Stone and River Ridge (La.) Michael Turner.