National Signing Day Wrap-up

Thursday officially ended the 2008-09 football recruiting season for LSU as Barbe defensive back Janzen Jackson, who had verbally committed to LSU months ago, signed a national letter of intent to play football at Tennessee. Many LSU fans were angered by Jackson's decision, especially since he was committed for so long and publicly reaffirmed his commitment as recently as last week.

Jackson's dad, Lance Guidry, is a friend of Tennessee assistant coach Ed Orgeron, and Orgeron was instrumental in getting Jackson to pick Tennessee.

Notwithstanding the loss of Jackson, LSU signed one of their finest classes ever, earning the No. 1 ranking by ESPN and CBS. Something to note was that nearly half of the players came from outside the state of Louisiana. Of the 25 signees, twelve were from out of state.

One of the keys to landing such a great class was assistant coach Larry Porter, who was named national recruiter of the year by Rivals.com on Thursday. Porter signed three five-star recruits in the Tigers' top-ranked class: QB Russell Sheperd, S Craig Loston and DT Chris Davenport.

In LSU Basketball news, the men's team (18-4, 6-1 in SEC) returns to action on Sunday when they host Alabama, the only team to hand them an SEC loss. Tip-off in the PMAC is scheduled for noon.

The Lady Tigers recorded a 68-53 win over the Razorbacks on Thursday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. The ladies are now 12-8 overall, and 5-3 in the SEC.

In LSU Softball news, a milestone event in the history of LSU Athletics is about to take place. LSU will open a new softball stadium on February 11 when the Tigers host McNeese State in the inaugural game at Tiger Park.

This will be a noteworthy event for a number of reasons, not least of which is the significance it plays in the history of women's athletics at LSU. The new Tiger Park represents the largest single financial commitment ever made to a women's sport at LSU.

In LSU Baseball news, lost in the hoopla of National Signing Day was the fact that the baseball team christened the new Alex Box Stadium on Tuesday, holding their first practice in the new complex. The 2009 season begins on February 20 when LSU faces Villanova in the new stadium, which will seat approximately 9,000 fans.

Finally, thanks to all of you that purchased TigerDroppings.com t-shirts at the Bayou Bash on Wednesday. The shirts were sold at the Tiger District booth. We hope to begin selling the shirts online at TigerDistrict.com as soon as this weekend.