Previewing a Critical 2022 Early Signing Period for LSU Football

This is the day that LSU football has been building towards long before Brian Kelly was hired as coach.

In what is an extremely deep class, particularly within the Louisiana borders, the Tigers are trying to get a handle on many top recruits who will be making their college decisions this week. Let's start with the positive news about the current crop of commits.

The class's two biggest lands in quarterback Walker Howard and offensive lineman Will Campbell are all set to sign with the program on Wednesday. As the nucleus of this 2022 class, both prospects are excited to put pen to paper and finally get to campus next month.

"I'm super excited as it's been a lifelong dream of mine to sign with the Tigers," Campbell told LSU Country. "Couldn't be happier with the group of guys we should get."

In addition to Campbell and Howard signing on Wednesday, local commits like offensive lineman Emery Jones and defensive lineman Fitzgerald West have announced they will be signing on Dec. 15 as well.

With 11 commits secured and at least some ready to sign, the attention shifts focus to the uncommitted players, many of whom were on LSU's campus over the weekend. There are a few main targets LSU hopes to secure a signature with, including receiver Shazz Preston, defensive lineman Quency Wiggins, receiver Landon Ibieta and safety Jordan Allen.

All four players reside in Louisiana, with Ibieta currently the only player committed to another program, Miami. Ibieta and Allen are the first two players to be offered during the Brian Kelly era in the hope that both will elect to stay home and play for the Tigers.

Preston and Wiggins will be the two big names to follow as both are among the highest regarded prospects at their respective positions. Wiggins is set to sign at 9 a.m. at Madison Prep's gymnasium, deciding between LSU, Florida and Alabama. He's an absolute disrupter off the edge and would be a great complementary piece to what LSU already has in BJ Ojulari and Maason Smith.

As for Preston, the St. James receiver has drawn praise from nearly everyone who sees him play. One scout described him as almost like a mini Justin Jefferson in the way he runs his routes so keeping him in state would be a massive addition next to Kayshon Boutte and the abundance of soon to be sophomore weapons LSU has coming up the pipeline.

Here are a few announced times uncommitted prospects will be making their decisions:

Quency Wiggins- Madison Prep defensive end (9 a.m.)

Shazz Preston- St. James wide receiver (2 p.m.)

Jordan Allen- Lafayette Christian safety (2:30 p.m.)

DJ Wesolak- Boonville, Missouri defensive end (3:30 p.m.)

There are other highly regarded players making decisions down the line, including linebacker Harold Perkins and safety Jacoby Mathews. Other names to keep an eye on down the road are running back TreVonte Citizen (a long time LSU commit), defensive lineman DJ Wesolak and offensive lineman Juilan Armella.

With plenty of work to be done to fill out a complete class, Kelly and the entire LSU staff will continue to work the lines to get a good gauge of who could possibly be heading to Baton Rouge.

"Recruiting is a priority. It always has been and always will be at LSU, and that part has not changed," Davis said. "We are focusing on signing a really good class. We have some guys targeted that I think will be immediate impact guys for LSU, so that hasn’t wavered in any of the transition."