LSU football lands five-star DT Maason Smith

The LSU Tigers have signed 18 players thus far in the early signing period.

The LSU Tigers have signed 19 players thus far in the early signing period. After losing a pair of committed players to Alabama, the Tigers also flipped three players from other SEC programs.

The biggest move of all came in the late afternoon when five-star defensive tackle Maason Smith announced he was signing with the Tigers.

The 6-foot-5, 316-pound defender from Terrebonne High in Houma, Louisiana, chose the in-state Tigers over Georgia, Alabama and Miami.

Smith explained why he chose LSU to Steve Wiltfong of 247Sports.

I think it came down to familiarity. Familiarity and comfortableness with the University. Especially with all the Covid and stuff going on today, I want to be somewhere I know what I’ll be getting out of the program and environment I’m in. With them being the program I visited the most and it being closest to home, I felt like that was the best fit for me and my family.

LSU coach Ed Orgeron had to have Smith in this class. The Tigers could not allow the top player in the state — at a position of need — to land elsewhere.

Smith should be an immediate contributor for LSU’s retooled defense in 2021.