National Championship Team, Recruiting Rankings Leading Up To This Year.

[LSUDad]

 

LSU, 2019

 

(Photo: Mark J. Rebilas , USA TODAY Sports)

2015: No. 5; 2016: No. 2; 2017: No. 7; 2018: No. 15; 2019: No. 5.

LSU might have gotten more out of its true freshman class than most; it yielded All-America cornerback Derek Stingley, a cornerstone of the defense. The offensive cornerstone wasn’t an LSU recruit per se, with Joe Burrow arriving as a graduate transfer for the 2018 season before smashing record books and winning the Heisman Trophy in 2019. But he had buckets of talent around himself, including Biletnikoff winner JaMarr Chase, a sophomore who was the No. 84 overall player in the 2018 247Sports Composite, and more under-the-radar recruiting discoveries in Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Justin Jefferson. Stingley’s secondary partner was another five-star cornerback, but from 2016, Kristian Fulton. Seemingly the entire defense around the five-star players — Rashard Lawrence (2016) and JaCoby Stevens (2017) both earned the coveted fifth star — were four-star players, including a heavy crop from 2017 that included K’Lavon Chaisson, Jacob Phillips, Kary Vincent, Grant Delpit and Patrick Queen.

[houtiger]

I read somewhere that the top 5 recruiting classes are all equal.  There is not that much difference between them.  I can believe that, mostly.  The one exception I will take is that recruiting at the QB position has a big influence on the success the next few years.  After many years of not getting QB recruits that could really operate the passing game (and a crappy offensive scheme), we were underperforming.  Then came Ensminger, Brady, and Burrow; a willingness to change (put O in that camp), and a QB that could execute the modern offense. 

Move to today.  The path to winning the west still goes through Tuscaloser.  They will probably start Mac Jones, and we will probably start Myles Brennan.  Based on what I saw of Jones, I think we will have the better QB this year, for the second year in a row.  We have not seen much of either of them, but that is what I saw.  I'm sure with work, Jones will get better, and the same is true for Brennan.

InbredGumps just signed Bryce Young, the top QB in the land, 5*.  We're going to have to keep pace.  When recruits look at the offense we will be running, that should attract good passers, and that is a better position than we've been in for a long time.

It will be important for Brennan to succeed this year and next, so recruits know it was not all just Joe Burrow.  They will have to see that it is Ensminger and the staff that can produce the success.