LSU's Louisiana offer list continues to climb

The LSU football staff is making one thing evident in the 2024 cycle: evaluating Louisiana’s recruits is priority No. 1.

LSU has commitments in from 20 high school prospects, and 14 are Louisiana natives.

That’s one of the highest-marks for in-state commitments among any team in college football, and it’s clearly by design.

This past recruiting cycle, six of Louisiana’s Top 10 prospects on the On3 Industry Rankings signed with out-of-state programs. That included two of the top three prospects in the rankings in quarterback Arch Manning and safety Derek Williams, who both signed with Texas.

Now, LSU has commitments from 8 of the Top 10 prospects in Louisiana for the 2024 class.

The lone uncommitted prospects in the Top 10 are Acadiana defensive lineman Dominick McKinley and John Ehret’s Wardell Mack.

With two new offers handed out in the Bayou State on Wednesday night, it’s clear the Tigers aren’t slowing down with the push to lock up Louisiana.

LSU working to flip a pair of SEC West commitments

On Wednesday evening, the LSU staff reached out to two Louisiana recruits with news they had both been waiting on.

The Tigers were extending a verbal scholarship offer to join the program’s 2024 class.

Evangel’s Gabriel Reliford committed to Texas A&M in late-June, but he said the offer from the LSU staff was a “dream come true”.

“It was crazy. It was a surreal feeling,” Reliford told The Bengal Tiger. “I’ve been waiting on that offer for so long. My inspiration was to lock in on football and go D1. I am just really happy to receive it.”

Reliford is tabbed by the On3 Industry Rankings as a three-star prospect and Top 40 defensive lineman in the 2024 cycle. That said, the On3 staff is even higher on Reliford, and the recent update to the On3 Top 300 saw him move up to not just a four-star, but a Top 125 overall recruit and Top 5 prospect in Louisiana.

Meanwhile, the phone call to Natchitoches Central offensive lineman Joseph Cryer made a similar impact. Cryer committed to Ole Miss in early-June, but the chance to suit up in purple-and-gold is now on the table.

“Been waiting on it, and I’m excited,” Cryer told The Bengal Tiger. “Means a lot being an in-state guy. I’ve been to LSU already. I just can’t wait to chop it up with (LSU offensive line coach Brad Davis).”

Cryer, who is tabbed by the On3 Industry Rankings as a three-star prospect, is visiting LSU on Thursday. There’s also a chance he visits Oxford on Friday, meaning the battle between the two programs is already rolling.

Who the Tigers have on board so far from the Bayou State

LSU has landed verbal commitments from 14 Louisiana natives, which includes nine players on defense, four on offense and one on special teams.

Linebacker Tylen Singleton is the second highest-ranked defensive prospect of the nine-man haul, checking in as a Top 150 overall prospect. Denham Springs safety Dashawn McBryde is the lone commitment on defense ranked higher than Singleton, with McBryde entering his senior season as a Top 100 prospect nationally. Destrehan linebacker/EDGE rusher Kolaj Cobbins, Lafayette Christian Academy cornerback Ju’Juan Johnson, West Feliciana safety Joel Rogers, Westgate defensive lineman De’Myrion Johnson, Ruston defensive lineman Ahmad Breaux and Warren Easton defensive back Wallace Foster are the other Louisiana commitments in on defense. Louisiana native Xavier Atkins remains committed to the Tigers at linebacker, though he moved to Texas this offseason to play his senior season in the Houston area.

On offense, the highest-ranked commitment from the Bayou State is four-star Trey’Dez Green, who is ranked as the No. 72 overall prospect in the class. Terrebonne wide receiver Kylan Billiot, John Curtis wide receiver Michael Turner and John Ehret offensive lineman Khayree Lee are the other commitments on offense.

There’s also a special teams pledge on board – and it’s from the nation’s No. 1 kicker prospect in Parkway’s Aeron Burrell.

Why recruiting Louisiana can pay off for LSU

When LSU head coach Brian Kelly left Notre Dame and took over in Baton Rouge, he was asked a number of questions about why he decided to make the move.

One answer he often circled was the chance to have the state of Louisiana as the starting point to building a roster.

Across the past five NFL Draft classes (2019-23), Louisiana ranks second nationally in “Draft Talent Ratio %“, an On3 metric that tracks the ratio of draft blue chip players to the population share. Louisiana’s draft talent ratio percentage across the past five classes is 330%, while Mississippi sits at No. 1 with 345%.

In the five draft classes prior (2014-18), Louisiana ranked No. 1 nationally with a draft talent ratio percentage of 314% – while no other state eclipsed the 300% mark.

There’s likely another data set the LSU staff can lean on in years to come that strengthens the “Louisiana first” mentality even further.

With the NCAA moving into the Transfer Portal era, are college football players less likely to transfer out of a program if they are an in-state signee? This past offseason, the Tigers had 18 players enter the Transfer Portal, but only five were from Louisiana. Kelly has also targeted Louisiana natives in the transfer portal in each of the past two offseasons.

If LSU is able to build a roster with talent from the Bayou State, the approach likely brings with it not just talented prospects, but a built-in buffer to cut down on the number of players who might enter the portal in a given offseason.

These are questions college coaches across the country are asking, and as the recruiting calendar turns to the month of August, it’s evident the LSU staff has a plan in place for how they want the 2024 class to look by February’s National Signing Day.