Previewing LSU Football's National Signing Day Needs and Potential Targets
LSU enters a critical 24 hours as it looks to close its recruiting class with a bang. The purple and gold currently have 22 players either signed or committed to the class and have many prospects who could elect to sign with the program on Wednesday.
As far as positions of need go, the Tigers could always use an extra piece in the secondary or at linebacker after losing Jabril Cox to the NFL. LSU has already signed inside linebacker Nevonteque Strong and outside linebacker Zavier Carter who are both enrolled in school.
One name that's popped up in the secondary lately is Dontae Balfour out of Florida, who is also heavily considering Auburn. The Tigers just jumped into his recruitment, making an offer in mid December but he should be someone to monitor on Wednesday. Safety has been the main recruiting emphasis in the secondary as Damarius McGhee is currently the only cornerback signed to the class.
But it appears the biggest areas LSU will hope to fill with its final three spots will be the offensive line and receiver. The big name to follow is Walker High School's Brian Thomas, a big and electric receiver who would add to an already impressive crop of talent.
With four wideouts all on board, will that be too many to steer Thomas towards SEC rival Alabama? One of the premier talents currently in the class, Chris Hilton, is very good friends with Thomas and has been recruting him probably more than most over the last few months.
Thomas has been very secretive about where he ultimately ends up so nothing would be shocking at this point. As far as the offensive line talent, the Tigers are hoping to land JUCO prospect Jordan Moko, who's one of the top offensive linemen on the JUCO market.
Moko is a native of Austrailia and spent last season at Snow College in Utah. LSU has two offensive linemen in the class with Garrett Dellinger and Kimo Makaneole but bringing in Moko would solidify the o-line that is returning its entire starting unit in 2021. While Orgeron did say there are a few players the program feels good about, it sounds like it could be a light national signing day this season.
With 20 signed and two more (Jones and Makaneole) expected to sign on Wednesday, Orgeron said he wants to leave two spots available for graduate transfers. Doing the math, that means the program expects or could bring in only one new player to the 2021 class.
"We have one or two guys we're kind of 50-50 with, we'll see what happens tonight, we've still got some recruiting to do," Orgeron said on Off the Bench Tuesday. "I need to leave at least two scholarships for transfers and we've done great with graduate transfers and we're going to continue to do it."
Linebacker Raesjon Davis was a longtime LSU commit before opening things up in December and appears set for USC. He recently released a final lists of schools that not only includes the Trojans but Ohio State and LSU as well. He'll be committing during the National Signing Day recruiting show.
LSU will have some options and of course could land a player in the transfer portal somewhere down the line if they miss out on Thomas or just don't fill out all 25 spots. Keep in mind the Tigers can only have 81 scholarship players because of the self imposed ban on recruiting for violations committed by the program.
