Five-star pass rusher [autotag]Colin Simmons[/autotag] will announce his commitment on Aug. 10. According to On3 and ESPN, he’s the second-best recruit still available with most five-stars already announcing a destination.
Texas and LSU have been the front runners in the Simmons sweepstakes for some time now. Last summer, LSU was seen as the leader before Texas pulled in front earlier this year.
Now, coming off Simmons’ visit to LSU, the battle is heating up. The 247Sports Crystal Ball still has Simmons to LSU while On3’s Prediction Machine reads Texas but has LSU making up ground.
I don’t like to over analyze the impact of a single recruit. Simmons isn’t going to make or break LSU or Texas. But this is an LSU class that needs firepower at the top.
LSU has 21 commits but sits outside the top 10 classes in both the On3 and 247Sports ranking. The class features 14 four-stars, which is good for third in the country. Despite the depth of the class, LSU lacks a five-star.
Georgia, Ohio State, Florida, Alabama, Clemson and Auburn all have two five-star commitments. Tennessee and Texas A&M each have one. Those are the programs LSU needs to compete with at the top.
You’d have to go back to 2012 to find the last LSU class that didn’t include a single five-star.
Things can change. Last year, [autotag]Da’Shawn Womack[/autotag] and [autotag]Zalance Heard[/autotag] weren’t consensus five stars entering the fall. But LSU’s 2024 class doesn’t have a single player who’s top 100 on every recruiting site, so I wouldn’t bank on current commits rocketing up the board.
Simmons changes the outlook on this class. It would give LSU a headliner at the top and if RB [autotag]Caden Durham[/autotag], Simmons’ Duncanville teammate hops aboard too, then LSU’s class is vaulted into the top five.
It goes from a “just okay” class to what’s expected at LSU.
Simmons isn’t LSU’s last big target. Defensive lineman [autotag]Dominick McKinley[/autotag], the top recruit in Louisiana, remains uncommitted and could be winding his recruitment down soon. Right now though, the focus is on Simmons.
Again, Simmons is one recruit. And while he won’t come to define LSU either way, his decision will affect how we talk about Brian Kelly’s 2024 signing class.
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