Commitment of Sage Ryan A Huge Win for Ed Orgeron, LSU Football Recruiting Class
LSU landed its twentieth verbal commitment for the class of 2021, and it’s a huge recruiting win for the Tigers. Sage Ryan will be an impact recruit for LSU that can play multiple positions.
With the commitment of Ryan, LSU now has an impact safety recruit within its recruiting class. In fact, he’s the type of player LSU coach Ed Orgeron can build his defense around. It’s also good for the Tigers to earn Ryan’s commitment because there’s a good chance he would have ended up in Tuscaloosa if he did not plan to come to Baton Rouge.
The 5-foot-11, 195-pound Ryan was important because he’s really talented, and he hails from Lafayette (La.) Lafayette Christian Academy. Roughly an hour from Baton Rouge, it’s a big deal to land a prospect of this magnitude that also lives near the LSU campus.
There are prospect offer lists that are impressive, and then there are those that truly stand out. Ryan’s list of suitors holds cache. LSU, Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, Florida State, Auburn, Baylor, Virginia, Michigan and Ole Miss represent a wide-range of college football programs. Even more reason LSU needed to land the talented Lafayette prospect.
Louisiana produces quite a bit of talent, but a truly elite player like Ryan can come to Baton Rouge and make an impact as a freshman. He possesses the mental and physical makeup to influence the depth chart from the outset of his LSU career.
Not Your Typical Recruit
Most importantly, Ryan is mature for his age. He is not as likely to be overwhelmed with the big stage of the SEC like many other college prospects. Just by the way he carries himself on the high school gridiron, Ryan deserves respect. LSU needs more of this type of personality in its program moving forward.
Every program needs leaders. Not all of them have to be juniors, seniors and fifth-year seniors either. Ryan is the type of player that could help in many ways off the field. Weight room, academics, and social life responsibilities often lead to success or failure during Saturday games. Having Ryan will most likely help the LSU program in all those regards.
Players must hold other players accountable, and Ryan fits that profile. He wants to win. College football is won or lost 365-days a year. That’s why leadership is so important from the coaches down to the last man on the roster. As a player, he also provides several position options.
Position Flexibility
While Ryan did not yet update his senior HUDL film, Ryan’s junior film is more than enough to showcase his wide set of skills. A versatile player that could play wide receiver, safety, or running back during his college career, there’s another position that Ryan could also help LSU.
The hybrid linebacker position fits Ryan well. With teams like Florida, Ole Miss, Alabama, Auburn and Texas A&M possessing potent spread passing offenses that also provide the ability to run the football, LSU needs a big safety that can play in the box to stop in the run while being able to defend fleet-footed slot wide receivers as well. It’s a difficult task.
Every program needs a couple of these players, and Ryan could be asked to play in LSU’s nickel and dime packages during the early stages of his LSU career. Against a more traditional offensive formation, Ryan will be able to play either safety position.
At this point in Ryan’s career, there’s no reason to pigeonhole him into any one particular position. He’s capable of adapting to what LSU needs, even if that’s week by week. A strong student, Ryan has the mental capacity to learn different schemes. Athletically, he’s what LSU needs as well.
He’s physical, possesses excellent closing speed, and takes good angles to the ball carrier. Along with fellow safety LSU commitments Matthew Langlois and Khari Gee, this is a tremendous group of safeties.
Class Impact
LSU looks to be close to cementing a spot in the top five of the recruiting rankings. Adding Ryan was a big part of that success. Now Coach Orgeron and his staff need to close out the class with a few more big names, most notably Houma (La.) Terrebonne defensive tackle Maason Smith.
The 6-foot-4, 315-pound defensive tackle is much like Ryan, a must have recruit for the Tigers as they battle Alabama, Florida, Georgia and other national program’s for Smith’s services.
Stay tuned to LSU Country for more coverage of the Tigers’ recruiting efforts.
