Previewing a Key Weekend for LSU Football Ahead of 2022 National Signing Day
Brian Kelly and his staff will be all hands on deck for the final weekend ahead of Feb. 2 national signing day. The Tigers will be hosting linebacker Harold Perkins as well as safety Jacoby Mathews, giving the program one last crack at landing a pair of potential future stars.
Landing one or both of these players would be a dramatic change of trajectory for this 2022 class that only has one safety and one linebacker committed to the group. Kelly has done a tremendous job building up this 2022 roster but the long term future at both positions could use some work.
It doesn't get much better than being able to land players like Mathews and Perkins at this late stage in the recruiting process. They would join an elite class headlined by quarterback Walker Howard, offensive lineman Will Campbell and defensive lineman Quency Wiggins. The future of this defense could really use potential stars at all three levels and Wiggins was a fantastic start to the Kelly era.
The fact that both Mathews and Perkins elected to wait to national signing day has given the Tigers new staff some bonus time to make their pitches, culminating in an important series of tours, meetings and pitches this weekend.
More times than not it bodes well for a program to get the final visit with a certain prospect and while anything can happen with these two players in particular, LSU has to feel good about where it stands. Mathews was a long time Tigers commit who opened things back up in the fall.
It’s hard to find a true safety with the physicality to play in the box like Mathews, while also being able to cover a shifty running back out of the backfield in man coverage.
Perkins just recently committed and decommitted from Texas A&M in the span of a month, with the Aggies and Florida both pursuing the Texas prospect and Louisiana native hard. Perkins is a special player that comes off the edge and chases down quarterbacks, meaning his talent and position are highly ranked commodities. He was also most recently named to the SI99 final rankings as the No. 16 player, while Mathews came in at No. 79.
Again it's important to note that these are two players who care very much about relationships and with defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Matt House still with the Kansas City Chiefs playoff run, it could be a difficult pitch, especially for the linebacker Perkins.
These are two potential game changing prospects and making a strong impression this weekend with both will go a long ways.
