Question to the LSU Fans

[TexasTideFan]

I was listening to Rivals on Sirius this AM on the way to work and the subject of Joe McNight going to USC came up. My question is what kinda hard feelings are there amongst the LSU Nation against John Curtis and JT Curtis, the Head Coach, in general over this? It seems a powerhouse like Curtis would be a pipeline into LSU, especially for a stud like McNight, but that doesn't seem to be the case. I also got a hunch that Saban will be recruiting that school hard since I know that he and JT Curtis are close, which should only add a little more fuel if there is already a fire there.

 

[GrayTide]

I am not an LSU fan but something like this seems to happen every year. 2-3 years ago the top prospect in TN and a Parade All American, Patrick Turner spurned UT and every other SEC school and signed with USC. I think he is a junior and played quite a bit as a freshman with Bush and Leinart. Some kids are drawn by the lure of Hollywood and the tradition of USC and of course their success since the arrival of Pete Carroll. Also I think the perception is that going to USC is a fast track to the NFL. $.02 worth.

 

[GORILLA BALL]

i can't speak for all lsu fans, but Joe Mcnight is old news. i wish him well at usc - thats it. as far as curtis and saban being close i can't recall many curtis players signing with lsu - i'm sure there has been some - but it never has been a "pipline" - ever.

 

[red55]

Joe McKnight apparently selected USC and secretly committed over a year ago but was advised by coach Curtis to keep LSU in his list to the last to avoid distracting pressure from local fans in his senior year. Both schools were loaded with tailbacks, so it won't be an easy start, but his stated reason that he picked USC was that he wanted to major in sports media. USC has a giant media school and is in the middle of Los Angeles with all of those Hollywood opportunities.

There are some who think he mislead LSU and may have scared away other recruits, but since Miles got another top-5 class, it's hard to say that he cost us anyone specific. But that stuff happens all the time in recruiting. You lose a big one sometimes and you land a big one sometimes, too. #1 QB Perilloux signed with LSU late after committing to Texas.

No one blames the school for anything. They produce a lot of NCAA football players, mostly to smaller colleges. It's hard to blame the coach for doing whatever he can to protect the best interest of his players. It ain't John Curtis' job to recruit for LSU.

There are a half-dozen Louisiana High School coaches like Curtis. Men who've been at their school for a career, win a lot of football games and send a lot of players to college. LSU gets most of these players over the years and relations between LSU and the schools has always been good. There are John Curtis players at LSU. These top coaches send a lot of top talent to LSU, especially Don Shows at West Monroe.

From time to time one of these silverbacks will start feeling like the college recruiters should be kissing his butt. Dennis Dodd at Evangel was like that, but he's gone now, largely because Gerry Dinardo didn't pucker up. Dodd got annoyed and tossed public barbs at Dinardo, but hit LSU instead. LSU stopped recruiting Evangel players for a while and Dodd lost his job.

Nick had cordial relations with most of the Louisiana High School coaches, but couldn't be described as warm. After Nick was hired at Bama, one of those coaches was quoted as saying Louisiana HS coaches respected Nick, but "you'd have a tough time finding pallbearers" among them. :biggrin2:

Nick has a leg up on most new SEC coaches in that he knows Louisiana High schools very well. He'll get in on some because of his network, but he won't likely be landing them like he was still head coach of LSU.

Les has been a bit more personable and is recruiting Louisiana very well plus adding much out-of-state talent. He usually gets who he wants in Louisiana, so when a big fish like McKnight gets away now and then, it doesn't really hurt. We were annoyed for about a week and now it's "Joe who?".

 

[Proxigean Tide]

I think having a single "big time" state school makes LSU fans more sensative than most about blue chippers heading out of state. If a top recruit leaves Louisiana, there is no doubt that he spurned the purple and gold in doing so.

I was around Baton Rouge when Warrick Dunn headed off to FSU. Anyone who thinks LSU fans took this development casually would be sorely mistaken.

Although LSU fans heap alot of dispersion on any "traitors" that spurn night time football in Tiger stadium, I don't know if they really hate these kids or just raise such a fuss to make any future transgressors think twice.

 

[SoldierForTide]

From time to time one of these silverbacks will start feeling like the college recruiters should be kissing his butt. Dennis Dodd at Evangel was like that, but he's gone now, largely because Gerry Dinardo didn't pucker up. Dodd got annoyed and tossed public barbs at Dinardo, but hit LSU instead. LSU stopped recruiting Evangel players for a while and Dodd lost his job.

I think you are referring to Dennis Dunn?

I always thought it odd that players from Evangel never went to LSU. Even Chase Pittman didn't originally pick LSU. They all seemed to go off to Texas schools.
The Evangel "powerhouse" was largely disrupted due to internal problems, mostly concerning religion (NOTE: The Booty family). Part of the "core" staff branched off to another local Christian school (Calvary), to help start a team there. It went beyond even the football team, down to the teachers/students/congregation.
None of which had anything to do with LSU not recruiting Evangel. They were doing just fine getting kids to other big time schools: Texas(Pittmans), TTech(Kyante Dawson), OU(Brent Rawls), USC(John David Booty), Florida/Miami(Brock Berlin), Arky(Richard Smith), Bama(Zach Schrieber), and other smaller schools or lesser known players.
Most of the guys I knew would have loved to play for Coach Saban (Hester), whether it be LSU or some other school.

 

[CapstoneGrad06]

Coach Saban is going to get one or two from Louisiana from time to time, but no 'Bama fan will ever claim he'll own the state. Mostly he'll get the guy who chooses Alabama because of Coach Saban alone. We all know the majority of Louisiana blue chippers will head to LSU, but you can only sign 25, and Louisiana is going to produce a lot of talent each year.

 

[CornBiscuit]

Coach Saban is going to get one or two from Louisiana from time to time, but no 'Bama fan will ever claim he'll own the state. Mostly he'll get the guy who chooses Alabama because of Coach Saban alone. We all know the majority of Louisiana blue chippers will head to LSU, but you can only sign 25, and Louisiana is going to produce a lot of talent each year.

It would be a whole lot easier to steal recruits from LSU in Louisiana if the state had another football team worth a damn. Not many kids dream of going to Tulane.

 

[TIDE-HSV]

Or LA Tech...

 

[red55]

I think you are referring to Dennis Dunn?

Yep, my mistake. He's coach at Division III Louisiana College now, I think. A tiny Baptist school.

I always thought it odd that players from Evangel never went to LSU. Even Chase Pittman didn't originally pick LSU. They all seemed to go off to Texas schools.

Well, LSU has signed a number of top Evangel players (All-SEC QB Josh Booty, Abram Booty, Pittman, Hester and several others). LSU can't go after all of them, most Evangel players go to small colleges. John David Booty came along in a year that LSU signed Matt Flynn and Jarmarcus Russell, so he wasn't pursued.

The Evangel "powerhouse" was largely disrupted due to internal problems, mostly concerning religion (NOTE: The Booty family). Part of the "core" staff branched off to another local Christian school (Calvary), to help start a team there. It went beyond even the football team, down to the teachers/students/congregation.

All true.

None of which had anything to do with LSU not recruiting Evangel.

Of course not, but Dunn lost the support of most of the LSU nation in Louisiana, when he could have used it. LSU did back off several Evangel players, largely because of honesty issues with Dunn.

But that was then. Now Evangel has a new coach and so does LSU and they get along fine.

 

[SoldierForTide]

Yep, my mistake. He's coach at Division III Louisiana College now, I think. A tiny Baptist school.

Ha, I didn't know that. That must have been recent, I moved about a year and a half ago, so I must be out of the loop.

Well, LSU has signed a number of top Evangel players (All-SEC QB Josh Booty, Abram Booty, Pittman, Hester and several others). LSU can't go after all of them, most Evangel players go to small colleges. John David Booty came along in a year that LSU signed Matt Flynn and Jarmarcus Russell, so he wasn't pursued.

I get what you're saying. I guess my point was that Evangel wasn't really feeling any heat by not having LSU as the #1 school to go to from Evangel. I honestly think it was any number of things really. Evangel was out of the good graces with the community for some time, with regards to perceived recruiting and then the Dunn incident with a student. The only thing I'd say would be the number of good players was few and far between. I find it unfortunate that both schools couldn't benefit more from each other. I never heard much about the comments about LSU from Dunn, so I guess that's where it stems from.

 

[TexasTideFan]

LSU can't go after all of them

Nice read. Since I am from Louisiana, I know that once LSU sets it's sights on a recruit, more than likely they are going to get him. It's the advantage that LSU has of being the top dog in the state. The only time this situation doesn't work out is when another top school comes in and offers. Then a whole lot of factors come into play. Will the recruit get immediate playing time or will he sit for a while at LSU? Is the rival school going to give the recruit more perceived exposure? Will the recruit get to play the position he played in high school or have to change positions at LSU?

I saw first hand how this played out with a kid from my hometown of Monroe, LA named Robert Lane. He was a pretty good QB at my high school who was also a pretty decent baseball player. He was a commit to LSU but he was also on the fence as to possibly getting a chance to play pro baseball. When the rumors started flying that he might go the baseball route, LSU decided to shop and as I recall, they honed in on another QB. It kinda chapped the Lane's who thought that Robert was the only QB that LSU was after and it opened the doors for Ole Miss to come in and eventually sign him when the baseball thing didn't work out. I can see both sides and can't blame LSU for shopping but that didn't scare Ole Miss. Furthermore, it turned alot of die-hard LSU fans from Monroe against Robert because they really wanted to see him play at LSU and I think this is the case for most in-state recruits that leave to go play elsewhere.

 

[red55]

I saw first hand how this played out with a kid from my hometown of Monroe, LA named Robert Lane. He was a pretty good QB at my high school who was also a pretty decent baseball player. He was a commit to LSU but he was also on the fence as to possibly getting a chance to play pro baseball. When the rumors started flying that he might go the baseball route, LSU decided to shop and as I recall, they honed in on another QB.

Actually two other quarterbacks--Jamarcus Russell, the #1 draft pick and Matt Flynn the Bowl MVP. Both of whom worked out well for LSU, while Lane never worked out as a QB at Ole Miss and finished his career as a tight end. LSU made the right decision.

It kinda chapped the Lane's who thought that Robert was the only QB that LSU was after and it opened the doors for Ole Miss to come in and eventually sign him when the baseball thing didn't work out. I can see both sides and can't blame LSU for shopping but that didn't scare Ole Miss.

Yeah, the Lane's wanted to play both sides. Robert wouldn't commit to play football for LSU, but he expected LSU to hold the QB position for him exclusively, while he dawdled on his baseball decision. It was a really bad strategy.

Furthermore, it turned a lot of die-hard LSU fans from Monroe against Robert because they really wanted to see him play at LSU and I think this is the case for most in-state recruits that leave to go play elsewhere.

Just ask Joe McKnight or Luther Davis. I think most fans understood Lane not wanting to compete against Russell and Flynn for four years. I'm surprised to hear that he took flak from Monroe area fans for it. But perhaps I shouldn't be. Davis has a quicker chance of playing time at Bama than at LSU, but he took some heat, too. They are passionate up there in Monroe!

I'm a little different. I'd rather see the hometown boys start at Ole Miss or Texas A&M so I can see 'em on TV, rather than be a seldom-seen reserve at LSU.

 

[TexasTideFan]

Both of whom worked out well for LSU, while Lane never worked out as a QB at Ole Miss and finished his career as a tight end. LSU made the right decision.

LSU made the right decision for sure, but I think that if Robert would have had better coaching, he would have probably turned into a good SEC QB rather than a TE. He was a stud in high school and really fun to watch.

I'm surprised to hear that he took flak from Monroe area fans for it. But perhaps I shouldn't be.

I don't think Monroe is an isolated area for LSU fans to give out flak for guys leaving the state. I think that LSU fans in general expect the local talent to go to LSU if LSU is recruiting them. Case in point, Joe McNight.