When either Ego Ferguson or Anthony Johnson get drafted during the May NFL draft  it will mark the 11th straight year the LSU Tigers have provided a defensive lineman to the NFL via the draft.

No other school in college football can make that statement today and the Tigers have in my opinion the next breakout star defensive lineman in Danielle Hunter.

The 6-5, 255 pound defensive end was the most dominant defensive player in the spring for the Tigers and the former Morton Ranch High School in Texas standout has many admirers on the team.

“Danielle had a super spring,” said LSU offensive tackle La’el Collins. “He is just a terrific athlete with real long arms and he is explosive off the snap. He has gotten stronger and he is just not beating people with speed, but with “power” moves also. I’m glad he is on our side and we don’t have to play against him. He’s a special talent.”

Last season Hunter recorded 57 tackles, 8 tackles for losses, 3 quarterback sacks and 5 quarterback hurries.

Watch out for #94 in 2014.

Coming out of the LSU Spring game the one thing that really stood out was how talented the LSU offensive line was. The Tigers return 4 starters from a year ago including tackles  La’el Collins and Jerald Hawkins, offensive center Elliot Porter and offensive guard Vadal Alexander.

All four will get a chance to play at the next level and three of them, Collins, Hawkins and Alexander are potential early round selections.

In addition the Tigers bring back a very gifted sophomore center in Ethan Pocic, who could potentially start at either guard or tackle and there is quite at battle for the final starting spot at guard between Evan Washington and Fehoko Fanaika-who is 6-5 ¾, 342 pounds.

While there will be plenty of debate about the quarterback situation between Anthony Jennings and Brandon Harris, and both are in the growing stages of their development, LSU’s offensive line is the real strength on the 2014 football team for talent and depth.

In the past LSU’s offensive line was known for their run blocking, but what I saw was dramatic improvement on the technical side as pass blockers with the addition of Jeff Grimes as their new offensive line coach.

It’s early, but Grimes could do what LSU wide receivers coach Adam Henry did when he hit the Baton Rouge campus and that is raise the level of play of the talent on hand.

With the young players in place and the potential of one of the most lucrative recruiting classes ever at LSU in 2014 the Tigers look like a team that could play for all the college football marbles in 2015.

It should come as no surprise that LSU has landed one of the top defensive end prospects in the nation in Douglass High School of Oklahoma standout Deondre Clark.

The 6-3, 235 pound defensive end was regarded by many recruiting analysts as the best player in the state of Oklahoma and why he chose LSU is very obvious. LSU is known for their ability to develop defensive linemen and they are the only school in college football to be able to say that they have produced a defensive lineman that has been selected in each of the past 10 draft classes. That alone is staggering and something that doesn't go unnoticed by top high school defensive linemen.

You can say what you want about gaining an education, but the reality of big time college football is that for many it is the stepping-stone to reaching the pro ranks.

Even when top schools like Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, Georgia, Alabama, USC, Florida, Clemson, Notre Dame, Texas, Texas A&M and a host of others offered, the Tigers and defensive line coach Brick Haley were able to haul in another top recruit and arguably one of the top 5 defensive end prospects in the nation.

It is something that carries over from last year and that is the fact that LSU has the recruiting tentacles to reach out and grab top talent, especially defensive talent, from across Football USA. In the 2013 recruiting class LSU landed two defensive line prospects from Louisiana, 2 from North Carolina, and one from New Jersey, Florida, Tennessee and Nebraska respectively.
In watching film on Clark the first thing that came to mind was that he looked so much like former LSU Tiger defensive end Sam Montgomery when he came out of Greenwood High School in South Carolina. Both are about the same size and have the same body frame entering their senior year of high school football. Both have a long frame and long arms and get off the snap quickly. But what really looks the same is how they both played with good leverage skills, have the ability to close in on the quarterback quickly and have excellent acceleration skills in the backfield. And both were excellent high school basketball players.

Clark knows how to use his long arms and leverage skills very well for a prepster to get around would-be blockers and he gets excellent penetration from the outside. Like Montgomery, Clark knows how to extend out and gain room to work. On film you can also see that Deondre is rarely off his feet and he has very good football instincts in tracking down the ballcarrier.
His totals in 2012 of 99 tackles and 22 quarterback sacks are very impressive along with also rushing for 275 yards and 4 scores as a rusher and catching 9 passes for 160 yards and 3 touchdowns as a receiver.
One college assistant coach who was recruiting Clark told me that he thought that Clark would need to spend more time in the weightroom to physically get stronger and add some weight, but that he has the skills to play very early in his career.

"Playing in the SEC you are playing in the big boy league and it is just not about being fast and athletic, but also matching up physically to take on and defeat blockers size wise and quickness wise they have never seen before," said a college assistant who recruited Clark. "Deondre does a good job in run support at the high school level, but he will need to get stronger to take on and defeat those mammoth tackles you see each week in the SEC. He's a good kid, a smart football player, well versed in using his arms and hands and Deondre is coachable. LSU landed a real good prospect and with some added strength he has a chance to play and play quickly for them."

With his explosive tendencies, his ability to get off the snap fast and play with good body balance and leverage the Tigers may have just landed another Sam Montgomery in Deondre Clark.

D-Lineman University continues to add to the resume at LSU with the addition of Deondre Clark.        

In one of the most talent rich classes in the history of Louisiana prep football, LSU has landed commitments from top players from in-state, and from across the country.

In the 2013 recruiting class LSU signed 26 players, and the fruits of playing in big games helped nationwide as 12 highly-rated high school players from other states and two signees from junior college, that were not from Louisiana, signed on with the Tigers.

In 2013 the Tigers landed three players from Florida, two players each from Georgia and North Carolina and one each from New Jersey, Illinois, California, Tennessee, Nebraska and two junior college players in wide receiver Quantavious Leslie, who grew up in Georgia and tight end Logan Stokes, who grew up in Alabama.

In the 2014 recruiting class LSU has commitments from 12 high school athletes and seven of them are from out of state.

Already the Tigers have commitments from wide receiver Tony Upchurch from Dawson High School in Texas, cornerback Chris Hardeman from Alief Taylor High School in Texas and safety Ed Paris from Timberview High School in Texas. Along with the three prep commitments from Texas the Tigers also landed outside linebacker/defensive end Sharieff Rhaheed from Fort Prince Central High School in Florida and wide receiver/strong safety Devin Voorhies from Wilkinson County High School in Mississippi.

This past week the Tigers landed the top-rated overall player in Oklahoma in defensive end Deondre Clark. The 6-feet 3-inch, 235-pound pass rush specialist from Douglass High School in Oklahoma City selected the Tigers over Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Notre Dame, Clemson and USC.

LSU also got a verbal commitment from one of the top cornerback/safety prospects in Florida in John Battle. The 6-2, 180 pound Battle had over 30 scholarship offers and the Hallandale High School product selected LSU over USC, South Florida, Florida State, Ohio State, South Carolina, Tennessee and North Carolina State.

There is a motto in the Southeastern Conference that holds true today, if you don’t land top prospects in recruiting you better be prepared to play against him.

For LSU, which has built its core unit mainly on Louisiana players, the ability to reach out for some of the top players from across the country is happening in a big way.

Mike talks to the Niners Inside Blog about San Francisco's first-round pick of Eric Reed from LSU. Read the full story here.

It’s never too early to look into next year’s NFL draft class and right now for LSU offensive tackle La’el Collins and defensive tackle Anthony “The Freak” Johnson, both juniors, are the two best football players at LSU.

Both have the potential to be first-round choices in 2014, but there are two other players to keep a close eye on in 2013.

On offense watch for wide receiver Odell Beckham, Jr. to emerge as one of the top wide receivers in the Southeastern Conference in 2013.

Last season, the speedy Beckham struggled to catch the ball cleanly early in the season and seemed to be looking to want to hit a home run every time he touched the ball instead of making the sure grab and move the chains. Last season Beckham caught 43 passes for 713 yards, averaged 16.6 yards per catch and scored two touchdowns. But, he will always be remembered for his 89-yard punt return for a score against a pesky and talented Ole Miss team that sparked a 41-35 victory. This spring Beckham was outstanding in spring drills and he practiced with great confidence. In the LSU’s spring game, Beckham caught six passes for 202 yards and two touchdowns.

In 2012, the story on defense was the breakout performance of middle linebacker Kevin Minter. Minter played at an All-American level throughout the entire season and was the best player on a talented Tiger defense.

Minter’s exploits didn’t mask the most improved player on LSU’s team in 2012 and that was outside linebacker Lamin Barrow. Barrow was second on the team in tackles with 104 and he also recorded 7½ tackles for losses, five pass break-ups, a forced fumble and two fumble recoveries.

The 6-2, 230 pounder has worked at both middle linebacker and on the weak-side this spring, and he will be a key cog in helping a young Tiger defensive front mature and be productive in 2013.

If I were LSU coach Les Miles, he would be my middle linebacker this season.

The former John Ehret High School product is also a very good leader and he has something you can’t teach, great instincts to quickly diagnose what is front of him.

Right now, both Barrow and Beckham grade as second-round picks, but don’t be surprised to see both these young men emerge as first team all-SEC performers in 2013 and raise their draft stock.

Since the mid-2000's, the Southeastern Conference has become the premier league in college football.

From Alabama to Auburn to LSU and Florida, the BCS national champions have come from the SEC over the past few seasons.

From week to week, no conference plays defense or produces as many NFL caliber players like the SEC.

Over the past five seasons, the University of Southern California has produced the most NFL players drafted into the league.

Despite suffering the sting of an NCAA investigation, mainly centered around former USC and New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush, and the strict penalties following the investigation, the Trojans have produced 34 draft choices to the NFL over the past five seasons. Six of those players were first round selections.

The Trojans have produced seven players over the past two drafts.

Alabama, LSU and Georgia each had more than seven players picked in this year's NFL draft.

But with a reduction of scholarships and a poor selection of a head coach in Lane Kiffin, the Trojans will soon be passed by the SEC's top programs.

Over the past five seasons, Nick Saban and Alabama have produced 33 players drafted into the NFL, including 14 first-round picks in that frame.

Those first-round selections from Alabama are cornerback Dee Milliner, offensive guard Chance Warmack, offensive tackle D.J. Fluker, halfback Trent Richardson, safety Mark Barron, cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick, linebacker Dont'a Hightower, defensive lineman Marcell Dareus, wide receiver Julio Jones, offensive guard James Carpenter, halfback Mark Ingram, linebacker Rolando McClain, cornerback Kareem Jackson and offensive tackle Andre Smith.

Before Saban landed in Tuscaloosa, the Crimson Tide's last first-round picks were in 2000 with offensive tackle Chris Samuels and halfback Shaun Alexander.

And it would take 24 years of previous drafts (1985-2008) for Alabama to tie Saban's mark of 14 first round draft choices in five years.

Over the past five seasons, Les Miles and LSU have produced 32 draft choices to the NFL and six of them were first-round picks.

Outside linebacker Barkevious Mingo, safety Eric Reid, cornerback Morris Claiborne, defensive tackle Michael Brockers, cornerback Patrick Peterson and defensive end Tyson Jackson were all selected in the opening round of the draft. All six of LSU's first-round picks were defensive players.

There are various opinions on Miles' coaching expertise, but you can't argue that he has done a very good job filling in the huge moccasins left over by Saban at LSU and the Tigers have emerged, like Alabama, as one of the college football's marquee name schools.

It is never easy to walk in someone's shadow and follow a program-builder like Saban was at LSU, but say what you will, Miles has done a very good job attracting talent, especially on the defensive side of the ball. His staff has done a very good job developing that talent defensively.

But Saban also left his mark at LSU from 2004-2008. During his tenure in Baton Rouge, the Tigers had 29 players drafted and eight first-round selections.

Last month, LSU set a new record by having nine players drafted and an additional seven other players signed free agent contracts, but Miles and his staff could again be a huge talent vein to the NFL in 2014.

Seven senior players — halfback Alfred Blue, quarterback Zach Mettenberger, fullback J.C. Copeland, offensive guard Josh Williford, outside linebacker Tahj Jones, outside/middle linebacker Lamin Barrow and safety Craig Loston — all have the potential to get selected in the 2014 NFL draft.

And if you throw in highly-rated junior eligible players like defensive tackles Anthony Johnson and Ego Ferguson, offensive tackle La'el Collins, halfbacks Jeremy Hill and Kenny Hilliard and wide receivers Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham, the Tigers could break this year's mark of the most draft choices in one season.

Georgia has tied LSU with 32 players that were drafted by the NFL in that five-year frame, and the Bulldogs have produced five first-round pick selections. While Saban and Miles have battled it out for the SEC championships and for the best recruits in the Deep South over the last few seasons, they both have had to defeat Georgia to get to the national championship game. Georgia coach Mark Richt has become college football's version of Marty Schottenheimer. Richt has posted a 46-21 record the past five seasons at Georgia, but he hasn't been able to get his team to college football's championship game.

But Richt and his staff have done a very good job recruiting the football talent rich state of Georgia.

From 2009-2013, the three SEC juggernaut schools have produced 97 players to the NFL.

In a conference that is loaded with great coaches and a tremendous amount of football talent, Alabama, LSU and Georgia have been the kings of producing NFL talent, but with Texas A&M, Florida, South Carolina and an emerging Ole Miss following close behind, the pressure to win and recruit the best talent in the land will again lay in the hands of Saban, Miles and Richt.

 In the 1970’s Penn State was considered Linebacker University. The Nittany Lions produced 19 linebackers for the NFL in that 10-year span.

Over the last 9 years when it comes down to producing defensive linemen for the NFL the top school in that category has been LSU.

In 9 seasons LSU has produced 14 defensive linemen that went on to get selected via the NFL draft and they are the only college school from 2005-2012 to have a defensive lineman selected in every draft class.

2004                       Marquise Hill-DE.             2nd Round            New England Patriots

                                Chad Lavalais-DT.             5th Round             Atlanta Falcons

2005                       Marcus Spears-DT.          1st Round             Dallas Cowboys

2006                       Claude Wroten-DT.         3rd Round            St. Louis Rams

                                Kyle Williams-DT.             5th Round             Buffalo Bills

                                Melvin Oliver-DE.             6th Round             San Francisco 49ers

2007                       Chase Pittman-DE.          7th Round             Cleveland Browns

2008                       Glenn Dorsey-DT.            1st Round             Kansas City Chiefs

2009                       Tyson Jackson-DE.           1st Round             Kansas City Chiefs

                                Ricky Jean-Francois-DT.  7th Round           San Francisco 49ers

2010                       Al Woods-DT.                    4th Round             New Orleans Saints

2011                       Drake Nevis-DT.                3rd Round            Indianapolis Colts

                                “Pep” Levingston-DE.     7th Round             Seattle Seahawks

2012                       Michael Brockers-DT.     1st Round             St. Louis Rams

While the Tigers have produced four 1st round picks in that 9-year frame (Spears, Dorsey, Jackson and Brockers) it has been Kyle Williams, a fifth round pick in 2006 that has emerged as the most productive defensive lineman from LSU since 2004.

Williams, a two-time All-Pro defensive tackle (2009 and 2010)was hobbled by a foot injury most of the 2011 season after signing a 6-year, $39 million dollar contract last summer and $17 million of that deal was guaranteed.

Buffalo Bills head coach Chan Gailey says that the former Ruston High School standout defensive lineman is a “one of kind” football player.

“There are defensive tackles in this league bigger, stronger and faster than Kyle, but no one plays with more heart, more passion for the sport and has better instincts,” Gailey said. “He’s one of those guys that maybe don’t look real athletic, but he can move well and he just has a knack for slipping blocks and getting penetration from the interior. He comes from a great program at LSU and they know how to play defense in the SEC. We love those SEC guys here in Buffalo and Kyle is one of my favorite players. He is one of the best defensive tackles in the league and it is not just me saying it.”

But while LSU has a long list of former defensive linemen in the NFL it is what may hit the league in 2013 that is eye-catching. The Tigers have three defensive linemen in defensive ends Sam Montgomery, Barkevious Mingo and defensive tackle Bennie Logan that I have rated in my top 15 players that could be available for the 2013 draft.

Along with the 3 probable 1st round draft choices next April the Tigers also have a potential fourth defensive lineman that could be selected in the 2013 draft in senior defensive end Lavar Edwards.

I have always believed that finding quality defensive linemen is the hardest area to find on the defensive side of the football and LSU defensive coordinator John Chavis agrees.

“I agree with you 1000% on getting quality defensive linemen,” Chavis said. “Those guys are really difficult to find and we put a premium on athletic, very fast, fast flowing defensive linemen who can hit hard and attack from all angles. I am fortunate to have those type players here. There is not a better defensive end tandem in the country than Sam (Montgomery) and Barkevious (Mingo). I wouldn’t want to try and figure out how to keep them blocked and they are fast and relentless. In Bennie Logan he may be the most underrated football player in the country. He has no quit in him and he is fast, athletic, country-strong and he has a knack for quickly finding the ball. You don’t have to be a football genius to coach these guys and I love their intense nature and they hate to lose or get beat. And we got guys like Jermauria Rasco, Anthony Johnson, Ego Ferguson and Josh Downs waiting to hit the field for us also.”

When you look back at what defensive linemen mean to SEC schools just think about the 2007 LSU club which featured Glenn Dorsey, Tyson Jackson, Al Woods, Marlon Favorite, Ricky Jean Francois and “Pep” Levingston.

In 2008 the Gators were led by Tim Tebow at quarterback, but it was the tremendous play of defensive linemen in Carlos Dunlap, Jermaine Cunningham and Justin Trattou-all now playing in the NFL, that help propel the Gators to the national championship.

In 2009 the Alabama Crimson Tide won the national championship led by a huge presence in the middle in Terrence “Mount” Cody, defensive end Luther Davis and one of the most talented defensive end/tackle prospects in the nation in Marcell Dareus.

In 2010 Cam Newton was certainly the most dynamic offensive player in the land, but it was defensive tackle Nick Fairley who was clearly the most dominant defensive player.

In 2011 Alabama featured the best array of linebackers in the country in Dont’a Hightower, Courtney Upshaw, Nico Johnson and C.J. Mosley, but it was the stellar play of the defensive front led by Josh Chapman, Nick Gentry, Australian-born Jesse Williams and one of the most underrated players in the SEC in defensive end Damien Square, that stood out each week in their advancement to the National Championship game.

Chavis says that getting good defensive linemen is the key to victory in the Southeast Conference.

“We have had great success and the numbers prove it, but look at what Nick Saban has done at Alabama and they have had a host of very talented defensive linemen hit that campus. Cam Newton was awesome at Auburn, but in that championship year, there was not a better defensive lineman than Nick Fairley. When Florida and Georgia have had their run to the championship it was built on defense and along the defensive line. When I was at Tennessee we were very successful, but I also had Leonard Little, Shaun Ellis, Albert Haynesworth, John Henderson, Aubrayo Franklin, Robert Ayers, Justin Harrell, Turk McBride and Dan Williams and all of those defensive linemen went to the NFL. It’s an easy connect the successful dot in this league.”

And for LSU it will be their ticket to play in another BCS National Championship game in January of 2013.

April 15, 2012

                LSU Battles to Stay on Top of College Football’s Version of Mount Everest….

            The story of just how dominant the LSU Tiger football team has been, despite a population drop due to the ill-effects of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Gustav, is a story that has flown under the radar nationally and to be honest in some cases locally.

            In early 2005 Louisiana had a population of 4,523,628,000. When Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the state and basically affected every inch of land in the lower part of our state, there was plenty of relocation to the upper regions of the state and migration out of the state.

            Within a year the state’s population had dipped 5%, more than 1 million Louisiana residents had been displaced by the storm combination, it is estimated that more than 1,600 people were killed in both storms and an estimated 220,000 homes were destroyed.

The lives of just about everyone were changed forever due to the damaging effects of the storms and with the loss of people in the lower region of the state the football talent level below the I-10 was changed also.

We saw in the years right after Hurricane Katrina and Rita the LSU Tigers sign more players out of state than what we had seen in the past, especially in the Nick Saban time in Baton Rouge.

In the 2007 recruiting class for LSU 15 of the 26 players signed came from players that played prep football out of the state of Louisiana.

            In the 2008 recruiting class for LSU 11 of their 25 signees came from players that played their high school football out of the state of Louisiana.

In the 2009 recruiting class for LSU 12 of their 25 signees came from players that played high school football out of the state of Louisiana, and only 6 of them played their high school football south of the I-10 corridor.

In 2010 LSU signed 27 players and 14 of those players came from talent that played high school football out of the state and that number didn’t include punter Brad Wing, who played his final season of prep football at Parkview Baptist High School in Baton Rouge after growing up in Australia.

But things started to change for LSU in the 2011 recruiting class as the population in the state started to get back to pre-Katrina numbers and the Tigers hired one of the elite college talent evaluators and recruiters in running back coach Frank Wilson to be their recruiting coordinator in 2010.

The recruiting class of 2011 of the 22 signees only 7 of them came from out of state schools and many of them came from schools in the southern region of our state and also from the Baton Rouge area.

Last season we all saw the talents of players like wide receiver/special teams ace Jarvis Landry from Lutcher High School, halfback Kenny Hilliard from Patterson High School, defensive tackle Anthony Johnson from O.Perry Walker High School in New Orleans, wide receiver Odell Beckham from Isidore Newman High School, halfback Terrance Magee from Franklinton High School and offensive lineman La’El Collins from Redemptorist High School in Baton Rouge.

Add defensive end Jermauria Rasco from Evangel Christian High School in Shreveport and it has become obvious that the talent level in the state of Louisiana has returned and in a big way.

In the 2012 recruiting class for LSU 11 of the 24 signees did come from out of state schools, but of the 13 signees in the state in what most recruiting observers believe was an above average recruiting year 12 of the 13 signees came from schools below the I-10 corridor and talents like halfback Jeremy Hill from Redemptorist High School and outside linebackers Ronnie Feist from West St. John High School and Lamar Louis from Breaux Bridge High School have already impressed the LSU coaching staff in their short stint in Baton Rouge.

            But despite all those setbacks LSU has continued to be one of the elite schools in college football.

There is no debate that the world of college football in the Deep South and in the state of Louisiana changed forever on November 30, 1999 when the Tigers hired Michigan State head coach Nick Saban as the new head coach at LSU.

            For many years schools from across the nation had raided the football talent rich state of Louisiana and the likes of halfback Marshall Faulk (San Diego State), quarterback Peyton Manning (Tennessee),safety Ed Reed (Miami (Fla.),wide Receiver           Reggie Wayne Miami (Fla.),halfback Warrick Dunn (Florida State),quarterback Eli Manning (Ole Miss), and defensive tackle Pat Williams (Texas A&M)

all left the state to pursue their college football careers elsewhere.

            That all changed when Nick Saban came to Tigertown. Saban and his staff built a high levee around the state and kept most of the top talent in the state and in particular at LSU.

            Over the past ten draft classes LSU has finished 5th in the country in players selected by NFL teams.

In that time frame LSU is in the elite category:

           

1.) USC             70 players

            2.) Ohio State    67 players

            3.) Miami (Fla.)  63 players

            4.) Georgia        58 players

            5.) LSU             56 players

            6.) Florida         54 players

            7.) Oklahoma    49 players

            8.) Tennessee    48 players

            9.) Florida State            46 players

            10.) Texas         45 players

            Once Saban departed to the NFL and the Miami Dolphins Les Miles used the same strategy of recruit and develop and LSU is considered one of the most fertile football schools in the nation.

Since the 2005 NFL draft LSU has led the Southeast Conference in total NFL draft picks:

            1.) LSU             40 players

            2.) Georgia        38 players

            3.) Florida         32 players

            4.) Alabama      28 players

            5.) Auburn         28 players

            6.) Tennessee    26 players

            Since the 2005 NFL draft LSU has produced more 1st round selections than any other school in the SEC.

1.) LSU             9-1st round picks

            (Marcus Spears, Joseph Addai, JaMarcus Russell, LaRon Landry, Dwayne Bowe, Glenn Dorsey,

             Craig “Buster” Davis, Tyson Jackson and Patrick Peterson.)

            2.) Florida         8-1st round picks

            3.) Alabama, Tennessee and Auburn- all with 7- 1st round picks

            6.) Georgia        5-1st round picks

It took LSU 26 years (1979-2004) to accumulate 9 first round choices combined. What took 26 years to do before the team of Nick Saban and Les Miles came to Tigertown it took the duo just 7 years to produce the same number.

Those type athletes have made LSU one of the elite schools and Les Miles one of the most successful coaches in the country.

            Since 2005 Miles has won 75 games and lost only 18.

            Of the 18 losses, 17 of them came from SEC schools and his only non-conference loss

              was a (19-17) defeat by Penn State in the 2010 Capital One Bowl game.

            In his 7 seasons at LSU he has went to a bowl game every year and won 11 or more games in 5 seasons.

            Miles has led the Tigers to 3 SEC West titles, 3 BCS bowl games, 2 BCS National Championship games and 1 national championship game win in 2007.

In 2011 LSU had 38 former players on NFL 53-man rosters and 25 of them were from the state of Louisiana. LSU finished 4th overall in producing players on NFL rosters for 2011.

Schools Producing the Most NFL Players during the midpoint of the 2011 NFL Season

1. Miami (Fla.)                   41

                2. USC                                   40

                3. Texas                                39

                4. LSU                                    38

                5. Ohio State                      37

           

Saban and Miles have been blessed by a football producing ground that has cranked out top college and professional players at the highest level. Louisiana has either been first or second per capita in producing players into the NFL over the past five seasons.

For 2011 Louisiana is one of just three states that have a ratio of less than 1-to-250 prep football players to sign Division I FBS scholarships and it finished second in the country producing a ratio of 1 in every 171 prep football players to gain a football scholarship with 87 Division 1FBS scholarships.

Only the talent rich and heavily populated state of Florida did better with 344 Division 1FBS scholarships and that ratio is 1 of every 111 prep football players in the state.

Florida is first with 344 Division 1FBS scholarships and that is a ratio of 1 in every 111 prep football players in the state.

                Another southern state, Georgia, finished third with 170 Division 1FBS scholarships and that is a ratio of 1 in every 185 prep football players in the state.

            Now in 2012 LSU is on the verge again of producing a large number of players to the NFL.

            LSU is projected to have 3 players, cornerback Morris Claiborne, defensive tackle Michael Brockers and wide receiver Rueben Randle, all go in Round 1.

            Also expected to get drafted from LSU are safety Brandon Taylor, tight end Deangelo Peterson, and cornerback Ron Brooks.

            Offensive center/guard T-Bob Hebert, outside linebacker Ryan Baker, offensive guard Will Blackwell, fullback James Stampley, defensive end Kendrick Adams, linebacker Karnell Hatcher and quarterbacks Jordan Jefferson and Jarrett Lee are expected to sign free agent contracts.

            Schools from across the country have flooded the Louisiana high school ranks again to try and recruit talent that is now back to almost the same type numbers before this region was ravaged by a series of hurricanes.

In 2010 296 high school players signed scholarships to play football at the next level.

            In 2012 the number has grown in two seasons from 296 to 389 players who have signed football scholarships from the state of Louisiana in 2012 at the next level.

Next week when the draft rolls around the fruits of this football talent rich state will again be on centerstage, and so will LSU.

And just think about what could be an avalanche of pro talent to hit in next year’s draft when cornerbacks Tyrann Mathieu and Tharold Simon, safety Eric Reid, defensive tackle Bennie Logan, defensive ends Sam Montgomery and Barkevious Mingo, and offensive tackles Chris Faulk and Alex Hurst, along with halfback Spencer Ware could all be eligible for the 2013 NFL draft and all would be early round picks.