State talent monopoly leads to success at LSU

By Lee Roberts  |   Thursday, July 31, 2008  |  Comments( 2 )

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Despite its relatively small size, the state of Louisiana is a hotbed of football talent. Although it’s not Florida, Texas or California, Louisiana still produces dozens of Division 1 football players each year. With no other in-state recruiting rival, the majority of local players end up in Baton Rouge.

There are only three other schools in the state -- Tulane, Louisiana-Lafayette and Louisiana-Monroe -- that compete in the Bowl Subdivision of Division 1 football. Tulane may be the best of those schools, and it finished just 4-8 last year while playing in Conference USA. UL-Lafayette and UL-Monroe both face multiple SEC schools each year, but usually they're on the wrong end of blowouts. Last season, though, in its biggest win in school history, UL-Monroe upset an Alabama team that would finish a mediocre 6-6.

So, when recruits are approached by one of those schools and LSU, it isn’t a difficult decision. The monopoly is an advantage LSU holds over its main competitors for SEC and BCS championships. In the SEC, Auburn and Alabama fight one another in recruiting wars; Florida must battle Miami, Florida State and South Florida; Georgia competes with Georgia Tech; Tennessee fights Vanderbilt; Ole Miss and Mississippi State vie for talent; South Carolina and Clemson are at each other's throats; and Kentucky must square off with Louisville. Truthfully, Arkansas and LSU are the only SEC schools without real in-state competition for recruits.

Sure, not every Louisianan player stays home, and LSU faces recruiting competition from within the SEC and outside it. Moreover, many of LSU’s top players also come from out of state. Ricky Jean-Francois is from Florida, as is Demetrius Byrd. Brandon LaFell is a Texan. Andrew Hatch, the likely starter at quarterback, is a Nevadan by way of Harvard.

That said, 60 players on LSU’s roster are from Louisiana. And it’s not the last 60 guys on the bench, either, the three running backs expected to carry the load -- Keiland Williams, Richard Murphy and Charles Scott -- are all Louisiana natives. Trindon Holliday is from Zachary, La., while Tyson Jackson and Kirston Pittman (the starting defensive ends) are also local products.

In-state talent is the lifeblood of any school’s football program. With no real recruiting rival in Louisiana, LSU has its choice of the state’s top players. Considering that talent just led LSU to a national championship, it’s no wonder Les Miles turned down Michigan to stay in Baton Rouge.
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About Lee Roberts

Born in Richmond, Va, I moved south to UNC-Chapel Hill for college and received a degree in Journalism and Mass Communication. I currently live in Charlotte, NC and cover Auburn, LSU and the ACC.
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