Will Priest Willis come from AZ to be a part of "DB U"?

LSU has been stuck on 22 commitments for a while now, and it seems pretty clear that they're targeting only a select few for those final few spots.  If LSU closes the way they'd like to, and the way I think they will, then this class will finish up as one of the tops in the nation, without question.  When you factor in the way this class meets the needs of the program, specifically at quarterback, defensive line and in the secondary, then you have to consider it a home run for LSU's staff.  But first thing's first....LSU needs to close strong.   And here are the top five most likely targets left on the board:

Kevin Minter

Well now, that feels better doesn't it?   A week ago, we saw a ho-hum performance  against North Texas where LSU's team looked like it was merely going through the motions for the majority of the game.  We were left with a lot of questions and even a few concerns.   The season ending injury to Chris Faulk during the week only added to those concerns.   But as expected, LSU ramped up the intensity against Washington and in doing so, they answered a lot of those questions and eased some concerns.  It wasn't perfect by any means, but it was an absolutely dominating performance.  And it was noteworthy.  The defense was suffocating, and the offense balanced a devastating run game with some very effective passing.  

As always, here are some thoughts:

• One concern after North Texas was LSU's ability to protect the quarterback.  They did much, much better this week.  In fact, it was very good.   Mettenberger was not sacked or hurried once, and the only time I remember him getting hit at all resulted in a roughing the passer penalty.   I thought Mettenberger had a much better day, too.  If not for some drops by his receivers, he may have had just one or two incompletions in the entire game.  He was very sharp.  

LSU rolled to a relatively easy and mostly uninspiring 41-14 win over North Texas on Saturday night.  Watching the game in Tiger Stadium, I was aggravated for most of the game.   I felt that the team played sloppy and lacked emotion.   However, a look at the stat sheet shows a pretty dominating performance, especially on the ground.    Here are some observations:

• Even though this game dragged on and the team lost interest at times, the first quarter, when the team was 100% into things, was pretty impressive.  LSU led 21-0 just a few seconds into the second quarter and had already rushed for 133 yards on just 10 carries.  Defensively, LSU held North Texas without a first down. 

The main course of college football's week one finally arrived after a long, lousy off-season that saw one of the most historic programs become shaken down to its foundation and one of the most prolific, exciting, and flamboyant players on one of the most prominent teams in the country was booted off the team. If you are like I am, college football just couldn't get here soon enough.

Week one's slate of games were, for the most part, warm-ups, or scrimmages that mean something, for most of the major conference programs. Beat-em-down, cupcake, rent-a-win, whatever you want to call them, that's basically what it was for week one. But, hey, at least college football is finally here.

Despite the lack of quality opponents that most teams faced, there are some impressions that can be taken from week one. Some teams surpassed expectations, others met them, and still others disappointed in their 2012-2013 debuts.

Week 1 Winners:

Alabama – The Tide rolled over the Big Ten's alleged “best” team in JerryWorld. Nick Saban had his team ready to play (like he almost always does) and they looked like the defending national champions they are in their complete dismantling of Michigan.

I was fortunate to sit down with Allen Kenney of the Crystal Ball Run to talk a little LSU Football earlier this week.  The Crystal Ball Run is Bloguin's primary College Football blog, and it has really taken off recently.  It's a VERY well done site and jam packed with content and quality writing every single day.  Allen and the rest of the guys do a great job.  

We actually recorded this podcast on Sunday night but I haven't been able to post it due to Isaac knocking out power and causing a big mess of things.  But as much of the state begins to pick itself up and get ready for the Tigers' season opener, this podcast could be a great way to prepare and get you back into college football mode.   Of course, all thoughts and prayers go out to those that have had their lives drastically altered by this storm.  

I've come a long way with podcasts.  They never used to be my thing, but now I've got one in my ear nearly every time I go running or work out in the yard.  And the Crystal Ball Run has one of the best around.  

Here is the link to the show over at CBR.  You can listen on the site or download from iTunes.  Hope you enjoy.   

My Bloguin friends over at College Football Zealots asked me to give some thoughts on LSU's upcoming season for their series of season previews they're putting together.  They've got LSU as their pre-season #3 team in the nation.  We talk about the Honey Badger's absence, Zach Mettenberger, and just about everything else before I give some predictions.

Check it out right here.

 

Tre'Davious White - The State's Top Player?

Now that the spring evaluation and summer camp circuit is complete, it was time to revise my recruiting rankings for the State of Louisiana.   A number of guys moved around, and we have three new players to the list that weren't on there in March for the initial list.  We also have a new player at the top of the list.  As always, the rankings are complete with evals of each player and video of the prospects whenever available.  I've also got a watch list of players who were considered for inclusion but just didn't quite make the cut.  

LSU is well represented on the list, as expected.  Eight of the top ten prospects in the state are verbally committed to LSU.  If I were doing rankings, I'd draw the line between four star prospects and three star prospects right in between #12 and #13 of this list.  

As always, the "SNS Top 21" can be found under the "Recruiting Pages" menu at the top of the site for you to reference at any time.

Here is the Link

It's time for the LSU Defense to eat again

Much like we did for the offense, we decided to take a roundtable discussion approach to previewing LSU's defense this year.  We've got the same panel together again:

Kris Brauner (@snslant) - That's me, I run this site
Jordan Grove (@LASportsDude) - Contributor here at SNS
Chandler Rome (@Rome_TDR) - Sports Writer at The Daily Reveille
Justin Goar (@tigertangents)- Contributor at Tigalaya.com and former contributor at CollegeFootballNews.com, SIOnCampus.com, and FoxSports.com


Kris:  After the 2010 season, LSU lost an All-American caliber player from each level of the defense in Drake Nevis, Kelvin Sheppard, and Patrick Peterson.   Everyone thought the 2011 defense would be badass, but I was skeptical that LSU could recover so easily from losing those guys.  I was wrong.   LSU's defense was beyond badass last year.   Now...here we are again.   LSU lost a pair of first rounders in Morris Claiborne and Michael Brockers, along with some other outstanding players in Brandon Taylor, Ryan Baker, and Ron Brooks.  Now, we learn they'll be without the Honey Badger too.  LSU can't possibly just recover so easily again from these losses, can they?  When you look at this group on paper, it looks like LSU will again have outstanding defense.   As in...Top 10 to 15 nationally good.  But can it match last year's incredible dominance, when factoring in the loss of the aforementioned players? 

It's finally here.  The pads are popping over on the Ponderosa and, alliteration aside, the team is getting ready for the 2012 season.  So we're going to get you ready for the season too.   After six days of fall camp, Les Miles has closed practice to the media indefinitely, so any tidbits that can be gathered from watching 20 minutes of drills will no longer be available. 

Rather than go through a traditional position by position breakdown of the team or opponent by opponent breakdown of the season, we decided to do something a little different this year.  Jordan and I got together with some friends for a roundtable discussion about various topics concerning this team.  We figured that four opinions and viewpoints are better than one or two.  Here are the participants in this roundtable discussion:

Kris Brauner (@snslant) - That's me, I run this site
Jordan Grove (@LASportsDude) - Contributor here at SNS
Chandler Rome (@Rome_TDR) - Sports Writer at The Daily Reveille
Justin Goar (@tigertangents)- Contributor at Tigalaya.com and former contributor at CollegeFootballNews.com, SIOnCampus.com, and FoxSports.com

So here we geaux:  The first installment of our roundtable series, discussing LSU's offense for 2012:


Kris:  The four year ping-pong match between Jarrett Lee and Jordan Jefferson has come to an end.  Does that mean we'll finally see some consistency schematically?  Common sense tells us that with a clear #1 guy at quarterback in Zach Mettenberger, a pro-style pocket passing type, the 2012 offense will resemble that of the first half of 2011 when Jarrett Lee was at the helm.  In my opinion, that stretch was the best that LSU's offense has looked since 2007.  Things were simple, and the offense had an identity.  LSU trotted out a physical running game with some play action sprinkled in, and they wore teams down with their depth.  They also absolutely refused to turn the ball over.  So we're going to see something awfully similar in 2012....True or False?

Eric Reid (photo via 247 Sports)

I've been reading all of the updates from the various media outlets that have been attending the first week of LSU's practice, and I've been able to sift through them and put together a few thoughts.  

• Jarvis Landry is ready to break out in 2012.  Every day, every site is in agreement that he is one of the most impressive players on the field.  He's catching everything, and we already know how physical he is.  On a field full of stars and future NFLers, he is one of the top performers every single day.  

• Anthony Johnson has dropped about 20 pounds since last year and says he let the hype around his recruitment get to him a bit.  At the same time, Sam Montgomery has gained almost 30 pounds from last year, bulking up to around 260 pounds in efforts to become a more complete defensive end.  The guy looks like the Incredible Hulk.