P.J. Smith (Louisiana Safety / Class '08)

[nughaud]

There was an article out today, it's not free, so I can't read it, but says he has 3 visits setup for Arkansas (1/25/08), Nebraska (1/18/08) & Baylor (1/11/08).
He has Arkansas and Nebraska as high interest and Baylor as medium.

He has received offers from Arkansas, Nebraska, Alabama, Arizona State, Baylor, LSU and Tulane.

He is a big tall safety 6'4" 190, who also played some WR.  His fastest 40 time is 4.6 listed, but I assume that is high.  With offers from LSU and Alabama, I'm sure it's around 4.5.

This was the latest free article: http://louisianastate.scout.com/2/697018.html back in Nov, just talking about his season and it does mention Arkansas as a school he was interested in, but mostly it's about LSU.

He's a big guy and I'd love to see a 6'4 220lb Safety back there for us.

[kclvr]

May have a shot at him.  The school he plays at is where Tony Bua was from.  There coach also dislikes LSU from what I am told after the McKnight deal last year.

[The real Hogules]

P.J. Smith will be at Baylor on the 11th, then at Nebraska on the 18th, and on to Arkansas on the 25th.

Smith has high interest in both Nebraska and Arkansas, and has an impressive list of offers from schools such as Alabama, LSU, and Arizona State in addition to the three teams previously mentioned.

I like the size and speed of this kid and would welcome him as a member of the Razorbacks family!

[The_Hill]

Having the final visit should be a definite advantage for us in this situation. The last impression is normally the best one...

[HighonSwine]

I would say Pelini at NE would be looking good to him?  Unless he prefers to stay in the best conference there is.

[seawolf93]

After reading <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hurricane-Season-Coach-Triumph-Katrina/dp/1416540709">Hurricane Season</a>, I have a pretty healthy respect for the John Curtis program and its former players.  I think this would be a good pick up for us... anyone know if his visit went well or not?

[The Realist]

Leaning Arkansas I believe.

[HighonSwine]

Visit did go well.  Between us and NE.

[Tammany Tom]

He has received offers from Arkansas, Nebraska, Alabama, Arizona State, Baylor, LSU and Tulane.

LSU did not offer PJ Smith. Doesn't mean he's not a good player, but LSU did not offer. When you look at his profile you will see the schools he is interested in and you can see which of those schools offered.

What did LSWHO do to Joe? I know he's USC(west) but why the bad blood

LSU didn't do anything to McKnight. There is no bad blood between McKnight & LSU and no bad blood between Curtis and LSU. LSU has several Curtis players on the team currently. McKnight wanted out of Louisiana. He wanted to major in communications and LA was a major draw for him. McKnight had a terrible childhood and had no parents in his life. John Curtis helped raise McKnight since he was about 13 years old. McKnight just wanted to get away from New Orleans and USC and LA was a very good destination for him. LSU wanted him bad, but there are no hard feelings.

[songofthesword]

i'm not that impressed with him. wouldn't be all that hurt if we didn't get him. has a good nose for the ball but basically a glorifed linebacker.

[tendu]

P.J. Smith had huge UA Visit


http://arkansas.scout.com/a.z?s=10&p=2&c=724181&ssf=1&RequestedURL=http%3a%2f%2farkansas.scout.com%2f2%2f724181.html

[Hogs12]

  I really think we need to get Mr. Smith. He seems like an awesome Safety. At least that is what he is being recruited as. What other Safety do you think we are going to get this late in the ballgame? I would be happy with the 15th best player coming out of Louisiana and 45th best Safety in the country. With Coach Ward and the other factors he supposedly has, I would have a good filling he will be a good one. I have a pretty good feeling we will get him. No offense to Nebraska but he would play in the best Conference, his family can watch pretty much all of his game without all that much hassle. I think it is a pretty easy drive( 3-11 he drives) from River Ridge to most of the SEC campuses.

[seawolf93]

i'm not that impressed with him. wouldn't be all that hurt if we didn't get him. has a good nose for the ball but basically a glorifed linebacker.

So what you're saying is that we could line him up at Strong Safety, walk him down in the box and ask him to stop the run... don't see anything really wrong with that. 

I don't know why you're not impressed with him, but I think we could do a lot worse this late in the game with a fairly big need at safety.  The kid played with good players for a good coach against good competition in Louisiana.  With some good coaching he ought to be as serviceable as anybody we have on campus right now.

[The Realist]

So what you're saying is that we could line him up at Strong Safety, walk him down in the box and ask him to stop the run... don't see anything really wrong with that. 

I don't know why you're not impressed with him, but I think we could do a lot worse this late in the game with a fairly big need at safety.  The kid played with good players for a good coach against good competition in Louisiana.  With some good coaching he ought to be as serviceable as anybody we have on campus right now.

What did we do with Matt Hewitt?  Exactly the same thing

[HamShank]

P.J. Smith had huge UA Visit


http://arkansas.scout.com/a.z?s=10&p=2&c=724181&ssf=1&RequestedURL=http%3a%2f%2farkansas.scout.com%2f2%2f724181.html

Sounds positive, but what does "huge" mean here? 

[hogansas]

I believe people close to PJ are pushing him away from Arkansas.  They are using the "Petrino is a liar and isn't reliable" bit.  At least, that's what I found in the research I have done.

[seawolf93]

Hogansas-- you live in LA, right?  Have you ever seen Smith play live and in person?  What's your opinion on him?  Also, do you know or is there any buzz on LSU coming in at the last minute and offering if they miss out on someone already committed? 

[Purple Tiger]

What did LSWHO do to Joe? I know he's USC(west) but why the bad blood

LSU has not offered. Neither has Bama.Speed is questionable.

[songofthesword]

he is not Hella fast and I want to see some cover skills.

[Tammany Tom]

Hogansas-- you live in LA, right?  Have you ever seen Smith play live and in person?  What's your opinion on him?  Also, do you know or is there any buzz on LSU coming in at the last minute and offering if they miss out on someone already committed? 

I'm not Hogansas, but I can answer your question for you.

Here are the players left on LSU's recruiting board that they are actively recruiting. They will sign 3, possibly 4 at most more players than what is currently committed. None have any interest in Arkansas that I am aware of. LSU will not offer Smith. They are full at safety.

Antoine McClain, OT, Gadsden, AL
Greg Shaw, OT, Miami, FL
TJ Bryant, CB, Tallahassee, FL
DeAndre Brown, WR, Ocean Springs, MS
Corey Luiget, DE, Currently committed to Illinois
DeAngelo Benton, WR, Hargrave Military Institute
Mark Barron, LB, Mobile, AL currently committed to Bama
Jermaine Thomas, RB, Jax, FL currently committed to FSU

[jackflash]

I would take this kid, knowing I will move him to OLB. Jimmy Johnson took several prospects of this type. Moving to other position and was quite successful

[hogansas]

I haven't seen him in person, but I have seen film.  He is decent and may wind up being very good with proper coaching, but I don't seem him making an imediate impact.  I don't see LSU going after him at all if they haven't yet.

[Bacon The Saddle Again]

So he's not a burner for a safety.  Big deal.  Most safeties aren't burners. Atwater wasn't a blazer. Neither was Kennedy or Hamlin.  Bua was a linebacker and Hewitt was linebacker enough to make the switch to OLB for a year.

He'll get a little faster with a college running/conditioning program.  If the 4.6 is legit, he'll be fine.  The kid is 6'4".  That's awesome for a safety playing the deep middle.

[seawolf93]

thanks for the perspective from the LA guys... I think if he signs with us, we'll find his natural spot... like the idea of moving him to LB if he can handle the extra weight.  We'll see.  Gotta open up that LA pipeline in the next few years... easier said than done, I know.

[Brewerfan10]

I don't like our chances, especially since he couldn't even remember our coaches names on the rivals story

[VenturaHog]

I'm pretty sure he was offered by LSU earlier on and then had the offer withdrawn, for what its worth, similar to Tyler Wilson and Bama.

[Tammany Tom]

I'm pretty sure he was offered by LSU earlier on and then had the offer withdrawn, for what its worth, similar to Tyler Wilson and Bama.

LSU never offered Smith and he was never a target. LSU signed a great class at safety in last years class with 5 star Chad Jones, 4 star Stefoin Francois, and 4 star John Williams. LSU got  early commitments from the Taylor brothers and targeted 4 star safety Karnell Hatcher from Florida who committed in August. They didn't need or have room for Smith.

Wilson never got what is called a commitable offer from LSU. He received a conditional offer from LSU based on what other prospects decided. There are a lot of prospects that receive conditional offers from Major schools and only a handful that receive commitable offers where their commitment is accepted on the spot. LSU was very interested in Wilson and he camped at LSU this summer. After the camp Wilson wanted to commit, but LSU would not accept his commitment and asked him to wait. Wilson did not want to wait and basically told LSU that he was dropping them from consideration. This scenario plays out all the time in recruiting. 

[imisswarrenlinn]

LSU never offered Smith and he was never a target. LSU signed a great class at safety in last years class with 5 star Chad Jones, 4 star Stefoin Francois, and 4 star John Williams. LSU got  early commitments from the Taylor brothers and targeted 4 star safety Karnell Hatcher from Florida who committed in August. They didn't need or have room for Smith.

Wilson never got what is called a commitable offer from LSU. He received a conditional offer from LSU based on what other prospects decided. There are a lot of prospects that receive conditional offers from Major schools and only a handful that receive commitable offers where their commitment is accepted on the spot. LSU was very interested in Wilson and he camped at LSU this summer. After the camp Wilson wanted to commit, but LSU would not accept his commitment and asked him to wait. Wilson did not want to wait and basically told LSU that he was dropping them from consideration. This scenario plays out all the time in recruiting. 

I appreciate your thoughtful commentary on the Louisiana players that we are targeting, however it is somewhat perturbing that it seems your whole agenda with every post is to make your school look better than ours. Granted, LSU has had more success over the last decade and consequently does tend to attract better recruits. However, when a comment (not a question) is made about LSU offering a cornerback named Smith, is it absolutely necessary to give a riveting commentary on Tyler Wilson? I am so happy for LSU that they gave him this "conditional offer". Now doesn't that just make Arkansas look great that we are so proud of a guy that committed to us when all he got from you guys was a "conditional offer". I generally read much and post little, but it is hard to read comment after comment from LSU fan who is on the Arkansas message board for reasons I do not know. If you want to cheer for LSU, or whoever, that is fine, but your pompous, and not so subtle, posts are not appreciated by everyone. That is all.

[Hogginitall]

I appreciate your thoughtful commentary on the Louisiana players that we are targeting, however it is somewhat perturbing that it seems your whole agenda with every post is to make your school look better than ours. Granted, LSU has had more success over the last decade and consequently does tend to attract better recruits. However, when a comment (not a question) is made about LSU offering a cornerback named Smith, is it absolutely necessary to give a riveting commentary on Tyler Wilson? I am so happy for LSU that they gave him this "conditional offer". Now doesn't that just make Arkansas look great that we are so proud of a guy that committed to us when all he got from you guys was a "conditional offer". I generally read much and post little, but it is hard to read comment after comment from LSU fan who is on the Arkansas message board for reasons I do not know. If you want to cheer for LSU, or whoever, that is fine, but your pompous, and not so subtle, posts are not appreciated by everyone. That is all.

Don't worry about it, man.  We'll just use all the players from Louisiana that LSU "doesn't want or have room for" and beat them with those players.  That's just what we have to do.  LSU always has "more talented" and higher ranked recruiting classes than Arkansas.  And yet, we still beat them sometimes, even in years when they go on to win the NC.

[Tammany Tom]

I appreciate your thoughtful commentary on the Louisiana players that we are targeting, however it is somewhat perturbing that it seems your whole agenda with every post is to make your school look better than ours. Granted, LSU has had more success over the last decade and consequently does tend to attract better recruits. However, when a comment (not a question) is made about LSU offering a cornerback named Smith, is it absolutely necessary to give a riveting commentary on Tyler Wilson? I am so happy for LSU that they gave him this "conditional offer". Now doesn't that just make Arkansas look great that we are so proud of a guy that committed to us when all he got from you guys was a "conditional offer". I generally read much and post little, but it is hard to read comment after comment from LSU fan who is on the Arkansas message board for reasons I do not know. If you want to cheer for LSU, or whoever, that is fine, but your pompous, and not so subtle, posts are not appreciated by everyone. That is all.

There is no way a fan from another school, especially a SEC west rival school, is going to be able to say anything that is going to be able to please everyone here. I tell the truth as I know it. You may not like the information that I share with this board, but that is your problem. I never flame, am always courteous, never criticise your program and give your program credit when deserved.

If you ever read other SEC message boards then you would find out that numerous fans from other programs post on each other's message boards all the time. It gets quite boring to be on the same board all the time.

Anyway, as to my post on Tyler Wilson: I was responding to his post when he said LSU withdrew their offer from Tyler Wilson. I responded that LSU never withdrew their offer as it was conditional and Tyler chose to go another direction when LSU wanted him to wait while they evaluated more QB's. Why this information would upset you I have no idea. Arkansas at the time was not recruiting Wilson and did not offer him. LSU and Alabama were the two schools in the SEC that were front and center actively recruiting him and evaluating him while Arkansas wasn't.

I don't see how you can come to the conclusion that I was being pompous with this information. LSU gave a conditional offer while Arkansas gave no offer. LSU was still evaluating a few other prospects and wanted Wilson to wait while Arkansas was doing nothing and was therefore not interested in him. Wilson went another direction and so did LSU. No big deal. Arkansas didn't get interested in Wilson until the coaching change.

Every program has to evaluate every prospect that shows interest and see how that prospect fits into their program. LSU wanted only 1 QB in this class and after getting rejected by EJ Manuel and Dayne Crist from California they set their sights on Wilson and Jordan Jefferson from Destrahan, LA. They needed to evaluate Jefferson some more and wanted Wilson to wait a little longer which he wasn't willing to do. Again, Arkansas didn't even want Wilson at the time. So, there is no need to get all upset when all I was doing is providing some insight to the situation from the other side of the border.   

[wholehog92]

Tammany, I think your posts are more respectable than the average LSU fan .  Seriously, I do appreciate your perspective on our board.  I believe your posts are accurate for the most part and you surely believe them to be accurate when you type them.  That is more than I can say for some other school fans that "drop by" to stir the pot.

I also understand where imisswarrenlinn is coming from.  We are struggling to even fill our schollies right now and you guys are looking at eleventy billion guys to fill three or four spots.  It's hard to say that any way that doesn't sounding smug.  I hope we will be in a similar sitution soon and honestly believe we will.

Our time is coming fellas, we knew this would be a difficult time when we made our decisions, but the healing has began and our current list of commits is somewhere in the range of pretty good to average and we are making up ground every week.

[Tammany Tom]

Tammany, I think your posts are more respectable than the average LSU fan .  Seriously, I do appreciate your perspective on our board.  I believe your posts are accurate for the most part and you surely believe them to be accurate when you type them.  That is more than I can say for some other school fans that "drop by" to stir the pot.

I also understand where imisswarrenlinn is coming from.  We are struggling to even fill our schollies right now and you guys are looking at eleventy billion guys to fill three or four spots.  It's hard to say that any way that doesn't sounding smug.  I hope we will be in a similar sitution soon and honestly believe we will.

Our time is coming fellas, we knew this would be a difficult time when we made our decisions, but the healing has began and our current list of commits is somewhere in the range of pretty good to average and we are making up ground every week.

Thank you.

I think your board has over 30,000 members now. When I started posting here I think it only had about 6,000. I post here because I really like this board. It is one of the best boards anywhere. You guys have some really good knowledgeable conversations on here and I like to take part. It is a huge compliment to a board when fans from other schools post on it.

I don't like to live in a bottle. If I don't follow the other schools in the conference then there is no way that I can have a very good opinion or feeling on how LSU is going to do in the upcoming years. I have to understand what is going on with our competitors to understand how LSU's program stacks up. Right now Alabama is putting together an awesome recruiting class as is Georgia and Florida. These recruiting classes along with the coaching changes at Arkansas and Ole Miss are the biggest issues that effect LSU and our future in the SEC.

Arkansas made a very good hire in Petrino. I, for one, am very interested in seeing how it plays out. Following your recruiting as well as Bama's and Auburn's is very interesting to me. I think Petrino will be quite successful, but it is going to take him some time.  I hope your fans are patient with him and I hope he is patient with your program as well. If you both are then I think you will be very successful in 3 to 4 years.

[VenturaHog]

Tom, if you look at my post I was talking about Wilson and Bama, not LSU. Just clarifying, thanks for the info though. I have no gripe with your posts BTW, I think you contribute logical and well thought out posts which are substantiated with facts and not opinions, I only wish more of our Hog posters did the same.

[SPAL]

PJ Smith or jermain Taylor?

[ntubjr]

If BP and Bo Pellini think he is good enough who are we to disagree

[hawgsav1]

LSU did not offer PJ Smith. Doesn't mean he's not a good player, but LSU did not offer. When you look at his profile you will see the schools he is interested in and you can see which of those schools offered.

LSU didn't do anything to McKnight. There is no bad blood between McKnight & LSU and no bad blood between Curtis and LSU. LSU has several Curtis players on the team currently. McKnight wanted out of Louisiana. He wanted to major in communications and LA was a major draw for him. McKnight had a terrible childhood and had no parents in his life. John Curtis helped raise McKnight since he was about 13 years old. McKnight just wanted to get away from New Orleans and USC and LA was a very good destination for him. LSU wanted him bad, but there are no hard feelings.

There was also some very sketchy recruiting involved with McKnight.  Carroll is definitely known for his dirty tricks

[Purple Tiger]

Tom, if you look at my post I was talking about Wilson and Bama, not LSU. Just clarifying, thanks for the info though. I have no gripe with your posts BTW, I think you contribute logical and well thought out posts which are substantiated with facts and not opinions, I only wish more of our Hog posters did the same.

Tom,I post here because one can actualy have intellegent discussions re football etc. Too many immature Internet Queens on Tiger Rant. I love this site.

[hawgsav1]

So he's not a burner for a safety.  Big deal.  Most safeties aren't burners. Atwater wasn't a blazer. Neither was Kennedy or Hamlin.  Bua was a linebacker and Hewitt was linebacker enough to make the switch to OLB for a year.

He'll get a little faster with a college running/conditioning program.  If the 4.6 is legit, he'll be fine.  The kid is 6'4".  That's awesome for a safety playing the deep middle.

Hamlin was pretty fast though.

[Atreyu]

Didn't he play WR too? Did I not see that? Maybe a Marcus Monk type?

[Tammany Tom]

There was also some very sketchy recruiting involved with McKnight.  Carroll is definitely known for his dirty tricks

Since you brought it up.....

I don't like to get into accusations concerning recruiting and tend to avoid it because it always sounds like sour grapes when you lose out, but you are spot on. The stories are quite interesting concerning the recruiting of one Joe McKnight.

I can't prove anything so it's pointless to get specific, but there are several things that have been told that I believe 100% to be true concerning USC's recruitment of Joe McKnight. 

McKnight is probably the best player to come out of Louisiana in 10 years. Several schools were doing some things that were quite shady concerning McKnight's recruitment.Let's just put it this way: there is a reason why Miles used a 4 letter word during our recruiting bash last year in describing why LSU had a major rival in a certain program.   

[seawolf93]

I read the Ed Orgeron book, "Meat Market"... has a lot of interesting things to say about the McKnight recruitment... up until the final hour Coach O thought he had McKnight locked up.  Say what you will about Coach O, but he's a recruiting machine.   

If you haven't read the book, you should.  It goes into a bunch of stuff that we're seeing now... how the recruiting shuffle works, what happens when you lose a recruit at the last minute (going to kids in your back pocket), uncovering sleepers that the recruiting services miss, etc.  Great read for recruiting junkies. 

[SamBuckhart]

Mr PJ Smith appears to be a worthy recruit no matter who has offered. Some of these young men might want to live outside of a hurricane destruction/rebuilding area. The chance for a new start away from such a yearly threat for their life may weigh in their decision making process. I like the way Arkansas beat Lsu in football and basketball, too. Sam I Am

[Hambunctious]

That girl is pretty dang sharp.  She's not even from the US, and is following football recruiting. 

[Tammany Tom]

Mr PJ Smith appears to be a worthy recruit no matter who has offered. Some of these young men might want to live outside of a hurricane destruction/rebuilding area. The chance for a new start away from such a yearly threat for their life may weigh in their decision making process. I like the way Arkansas beat Lsu in football and basketball, too. Sam I Am

No offense,  but we see LSU pulling 4 and 5 star recruits every year.  What I felt when I read your posts, that LSU doesn't want Smith, because you have better players.  If I take this wrong,  sorry,  but give Petrino a chance here and we will be seeing 4-5 star signees.  Oh wait, Mallett. 

LSU is in a very unique and very fortunate situation when it comes to recruiting. We have advantages that most schools can only dream about. The primary advantages that we have are a huge talent pool within 5 hours of Baton Rouge and we are the only major program in a talent rich state.

Louisiana produces on average somewhere between 40 and 50 D1 prospects per year and somewhere between 25 and 35 SEC caliber prospects per year. LSU historically signs between 12 - 15 LA prospects per year and 12 - 14 prospects out of state.

What this means is that LSU is in a very enviable position that they can cherry pick the top players in the state and get almost all of them to sign with them as they have done since Saban came aboard in 2000. No one is saying that because a recruit wasn't offered by LSU that he is a poor prospect. OU had 2 starters this year in Chris Brown and Nic Harris that were from Alexandria and neither was offered by LSU. Both are extremely good football players and both were highly ranked coming out of high school (4 stars).

LSU has signed, since 2000, 95% of the kids that they have offered a scholarship to in-state. So when we read other boards that so and so school is getting a kid out of Louisiana and they beat LSU out for the kid we all just laugh because we know that it is total BS. Only 2 prospects (Joe McKnight and Jason Peters) last year and none this year were offered by LSU and went out of state. It doesn't mean, I and I want to make this very clear, that the prospect is not an extremely good football player and won't be a huge success wherever he goes. It just means LSU evaluated someone else a little higher and didn't have room to offer the player.

Three good examples this year are Michael Mauti (from my home town), Robby Green, and Jerico Nelson. All three are very good 4 star prospects that are going out of state. LSU did not offer any and they all are going to go to great universities. (For proof just go to Rivals and look at the box next to schools of interest showing an offer and see that LSU is not checked). These kids aren't leaving because we are hurricane ravaged or some other BS reason you want to state. They are leaving because they are very good football players and LSU can't sign every kid in the state that is a very good prospect.


I root for any Louisiana kid that plays football. Of course I root for the kids that play for LSU a lot more, but I want to see them all succeed. I hope that any recruit that you sign out of Louisiana becomes a very good and productive player for you.

[Oklahawg]

LSU is in a very unique and very fortunate situation when it comes to recruiting. We have advantages that most schools can only dream about. The primary advantages that we have are a huge talent pool within 5 hours of Baton Rouge and we are the only major program in a talent rich state.

Louisiana produces on average somewhere between 40 and 50 D1 prospects per year and somewhere between 25 and 35 SEC caliber prospects per year. LSU historically signs between 12 - 15 LA prospects per year and 12 - 14 prospects out of state.

What this means is that LSU is in a very enviable position that they can cherry pick the top players in the state and get almost all of them to sign with them as they have done since Saban came aboard in 2000. No one is saying that because a recruit wasn't offered by LSU that he is a poor prospect. OU had 2 starters this year in Chris Brown and Nic Harris that were from Alexandria and neither was offered by LSU. Both are extremely good football players and both were highly ranked coming out of high school (4 stars).

LSU has signed, since 2000, 95% of the kids that they have offered a scholarship to in-state. So when we read other boards that so and so school is getting a kid out of Louisiana and they beat LSU out for the kid we all just laugh because we know that it is total BS. Only 2 prospects (Joe McKnight and Jason Peters) last year and none this year were offered by LSU and went out of state. It doesn't mean, I and I want to make this very clear, that the prospect is not an extremely good football player and won't be a huge success wherever he goes. It just means LSU evaluated someone else a little higher and didn't have room to offer the player.

Three good examples this year are Michael Mauti (from my home town), Robby Green, and Jerico Nelson. All three are very good 4 star prospects that are going out of state. LSU did not offer any and they all are going to go to great universities. (For proof just go to Rivals and look at the box next to schools of interest showing an offer and see that LSU is not checked). These kids aren't leaving because we are hurricane ravaged or some other BS reason you want to state. They are leaving because they are very good football players and LSU can't sign every kid in the state that is a very good prospect.


I root for any Louisiana kid that plays football. Of course I root for the kids that play for LSU a lot more, but I want to see them all succeed. I hope that any recruit that you sign out of Louisiana becomes a very good and productive player for you.

As always, a welcome addition to our discussions. Tip of the Hat, TTom.

[Hogdomer]

LSU is in a very unique and very fortunate situation when it comes to recruiting. We have advantages that most schools can only dream about. The primary advantages that we have are a huge talent pool within 5 hours of Baton Rouge and we are the only major program in a talent rich state.

Which makes it all the more remarkable that LSU was mediocre for at least 20 years before Saban arrived.   

[Tammany Tom]

Which makes it all the more remarkable that LSU was mediocre for at least 20 years before Saban arrived.  

Do you know how incompetent you felt your administration has been the last 8 years or so?

Your's was far more competent than our's was from the late 80's to 2000. You have no idea how bad an AD Joe Dean was. The LSU Board, President, and Chancellor was equally as bad. Bad Louisiana politics ruled the day for about 15 years at LSU.

It all starts at the top. If you don't have strong leadership from the President, Chancellor, and AD, the Board will get you in a mess with all the petty politics. LSU was a major mess until we hired Mark Emmert as Chancellor in 1999 and he took over total control of the school and fired Joe Dean and hired Nick Saban.

[SamBuckhart]

A few years of recent success can sure translate into some Louisiana born recruits being passed by.  Losing to your SEC brothers can lead to defections too. I listen to ESPN radio out of Ruston and some of the commentary is not good for the yellow/purple. Pompous and bloviating. Sound familiar. Sam I Ar-Kansas Am.