Tag: Blaine Bradford

Elite safety Blaine Bradford includes Oregon in his final five

An elite safety in the Class of 2026, Blaine Bradford, has Oregon in his Top 5 schools.

We always say recruiting is an ongoing proposition and the Ducks are looking towards the Class of 2026.

According to On3.com writer Hayes Fawcett, five-star safety Blaine Bradford has included Oregon among his final five choices to play college football.

This is the type of player Dan Lanning covets.

Bradford is 6-foot-1 and 200 pounds as he enters his junior year of high school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He’s a Top 50 player in the country and Top 5 safety.

Bradford said he’s considering Alabama, Ohio State, LSU and Notre Dame as well besides the Ducks. Going into the heart of LSU and SEC country is a challenge to pull players out of there, but Lanning has show the ability to recruit at a high level and if he can get Bradford, it would be further proof of his recruiting abilities.

LSU’s 2025 class building momentum for elite 2026 class

Louisiana’s 2026 recruiting class gives LSU the chance at another elite group.

LSU’s 2025 recruiting class is shaping up to be the best in Brian Kelly’s career and the best LSU’s had in a long time.

Its led by five-star QB and No. 1 overall recruit [autotag]Bryce Underwood[/autotag]. He’s joined by two more five-stars in CB [autotag]DJ Pickett[/autotag] and RB [autotag]Harlem Berry[/autotag]. Both players are considered the top recruits at their respective positions too.

The 2025 class is far from finished. With just 18 commits, LSU will look to add more. Ensuring the current commits make it past the finish line is critical too.

But it’s never too early to look ahead to 2026 when LSU could assemble a class just as strong. Louisiana is set to have one of its best high school crops ever next year, setting LSU up for another elite haul.

According to On3, 247Sports and Rivals, defensive lineman [autotag]Jahkeem Stewart[/autotag] is the top player in the country. Stewart hails from St. Augustine High School in New Orleans, a place that produced the No. 1 overall recruit 10 years ago in [autotag]Leonard Fournette[/autotag].

Stewart gives LSU the chance to land the nation’s top player in back-to-back classes. There’s a long way to go in his recruitment, but the On3 Crystal Ball gives LSU a 90.9% chance of landing Stewart. Underwood and Stewart in consecutive years is the type of core you can build a national title team around.

Stewart isn’t the only Louisiana product in the top 10. Offensive lineman [autotag]Lamar Brown[/autotag] sits at No. 5 overall. Given how strong LSU offensive line coach [autotag]Brad Davis[/autotag] is at recruiting Louisiana, it would be hard to imagine Brown going anywhere else.

Not further down the list, Baton Rouge safety [autotag]Blaine Bradford[/autotag] is on his way to earning a five-star. He’s out of Catholic High School, where LSU has several previous connections.

LSU has three five-stars committed in 2025 and the Tigers may not even leave the state to reach that total in 2026. With Stewart, Brown and Bradford, LSU can land the strongest core the state’s produced in some time.

There’s also OT [autotag]Brysten Martinez[/autotag] and safety [autotag]Aiden Hall[/autotag], two more top 50 recruits in Louisiana.

What might have LSU fans particularly excited is how good the Louisiana defensive tackle group is in 2026. Stewart’s at the top, but [autotag]Richard Anderson[/autotag], [autotag]Dylan Berymon[/autotag] and [autotag]Darryus McKinley[/autotag] are three more top 300 prospects that LSU won’t have to go far to get.

Davis was able to turn around LSU’s offensive line after he capitalized on a strong 2022 Louisiana class that included [autotag]Will Campbell[/autotag] and [autotag]Emery Jones Jr.[/autotag]. The 2026 class can have a similar impact on the defensive side for [autotag]Bo Davis[/autotag].

The 2026 cycle has barely begun, but if LSU seizes on the momentum of 2025, it will be another special group. Kelly landed top 10 classes in 2023 and 2024. He came to LSU to work with this caliber of talent.

But there’s a difference between a top-five class and a top-two or three class. Top-five classes keep you in contention, but top-three classes allow you to compete with Georgia. That’s where Kelly and LSU look to be headed.

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Oklahoma offers 2026 defensive back Blaine Bradford

Oklahoma Sooners offer 2026 safety Blaine Bradford out of Louisiana.

The class of 2026 has a ways to go before it gets to college campuses, but recruiting those players starts long before then. Oklahoma has offered multiple athletes from that class and hosted many more to various recruiting events over the last few months.

Recruiting is built off relationships, and most, not all, take time to develop. Oklahoma’s decision to pay attention to the 2026 class early makes a lot of sense. Oklahoma offered 2026 defensive back Blaine Bradford out of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, last week.

Bradford’s offer came from Brandon Hall, signaling the Sooners likely view him as a safety at the collegiate level. Bradford checks in at 6-foot-1 and weighs 185 pounds as a rising sophomore, indicating there’s still room for him to grow.

In addition to Oklahoma, Bradford has been offered by Arkansas, Baylor, Colorado, Florida State and in-state powerhouse LSU.

LSU’s track record with defensive backs makes it a threat in recruiting players in the secondary. Considering Bradford is a Baton Rouge native and has the home school a stone’s throw away from him, it’ll be tough to overcome the Tigers.

On film, Bradford is a proper free safety. He roams the deep middle effortlessly, shows the versatility teams look for to line up in the slot, and he plays fearless running downhill to make tackles in the short passing game. He also shows an excellent knack for play recognition, as his ability to diagnose screens immediately gave him a multi-step advantage on opposing players, ultimately resulting in short gains or negative plays.

In the big picture, this could be a tough battle for Oklahoma to win, but the Sooners’ early offer should allow them to form a relationship and see how things go from there.