re: Class of 2018 Recruiting MEGATHREAD: So Long Old Friend Edition

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LSU again in the mix for Tyson Campbell

PLANTATION, Fla. — LSU emerged as one of the top contenders to land Tyson Campbell in the spring.

Campbell and American Heritage (Fla.) High School teammates Patrick Surtain Jr. and Andrew Chatfield made an unofficial visit to Baton Rouge, which sparked a bevy of predictions that all three blue-chip recruits could wind up as Tigers.

LSU’s momentum took a downturn over the summer. During Nike’s The Opening Finals in Oregon, the 5-star cornerback indicated that only LSU defensive backs coach Corey Raymond was communicating with him and, as a result, the school was losing some steam. However, that lull has come to pass, and with Raymond leading the way, the Tigers have reasserted themselves as a team with momentum in the pursuit of the nation’s No.3-ranked cornerback.

“They’ve reinserted themselves back into the mix,” Campbell told SEC Country. “They have kept keeping in touch with me and that’s what got them back into the mix. They keep telling me that they need cornerbacks because they have some guys that are going to the draft and some guys that are about to graduate. This is an important class for defensive backs for LSU.”

Earlier this month, LSU lost a commitment from 4-star Baton Rouge defensive back Kelvin Joseph, who reopened his recruitment after some schools were reluctant to let him officially visit while still committed. That leaves 3-star nickel safety Ar’Darius Washington as the lone defensive back in this class, and as Campbell so eloquently stated, it’s a major need for 2018.

Surtain sits atop the board. The 5-star cornerback has maintained that LSU is his No. 1 option since July 2016. This weekend, the staff will host 5-star Houston cornerback Anthony Cook for an official visit. He already has made stops at Ohio State and Texas and will make his way back to Baton Rouge ahead of a scheduled Oct. 30 decision.

Other defensive backs of note include 4-star Texas commit Jalen Green and 3-star New Orleans nickel safety Joseph Foucha, both of whom are expected to officially visit LSU this fall or after their high school seasons. Campbell is another defensive back in play, and while Raymond and Co. have some work cut out for them, the Tigers remain a team that’s quietly still in a strong position.

LSU has work to do for Tyson Campbell

Campbell was a fan of LSU growing up, but the Tigers’ coaching staff has work to do if it’s going to surpass some other notable schools to leapfrog to the top for the U.S. Army All-American.

When asked about which schools among his top group are pushing the hardest, he said it’s Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, Miami and Clemson. LSU has been on the outside looking in.

In the spring, the Tigers looked like they were close to landing his commitment. Now, they have their work cut out for them. Why did those five schools get listed ahead of LSU?

“I don’t feel like I’m a big priority for them,” Campbell explained about the Tigers, “but I’m one of the guys that they would like and would love to have.”

Expect LSU to crank up the pressure on Campbell to return to campus at some point in the fall or after his senior season.

Like the other schools at the top of his list, early playing time is on the table at LSU. That’s a shared factor among all of Campbell’s top schools, as well as the environment at each campus. The latter is why a return visit to Baton Rouge is crucial to improving LSU’s chances down the stretch.

“The lack of depth at the corner positions, the guys that they [these schools] produce, but also that they help them become better men,” Campbell said of his top schools. “They also help them get drafted to the league, and that’s one of my dreams. That’s why I feel like these schools are at the top. I can see myself playing there, and when I visit, I feel comfortable.”

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Luke Ford has three on top in his recruitment

All it took was one visit for Luke Ford, a 4-star tight end from Carterville (Ill.) High School, to proclaim Alabama as his leader. Ford visited Tuscaloosa during the summer and immediately fell in love with the program.

The Class of 2018’s second-ranked tight end per the 247Sports composite would go on to tell SEC Country at The Opening Final in July that Alabama was still on top; however, there was doubt that the Crimson Tide could hold the lead considering his father’s comments about whether Alabama truly was on top.

“I don’t know if you should pay that much attention to what Luke is saying about that,” Tim Ford, Luke’s father, said in July. “I think it is a lot more Georgia than it is Alabama, and I don’t have any problem with saying that. We hear the other talk. We hear the dinner-table talk.”

Since those comments, Georgia landed a commitment from the nation’s No. 1 overall player, 5-star quarterback Justin Fields. Ford told SEC Country in July that he was going to follow Fields to whichever school he committed to. Does he still think that way?

“I think Alabama, Georgia and Michigan are all tied,” Ford told SEC Country’s Jeff Sentell on Tuesday. “I think Arkansas, Auburn and Texas are below it.”

While Alabama and Michigan may be tied with Georgia at the moment, those schools don’t have the nation’s best recruit texting him to come play with him.

“He’s been talking to me for a couple of weeks now,” Ford said about Fields. “He’s been like, ‘Hey, I want to play college football with you’ and ‘I want you to come with me’ and stuff, so he’s been in my ear. I mean Fields is an awesome guy and an amazing quarterback, and I love Fields.

“Who knows? I may have to go join him and Zeus [5-star running back Zamir White] there. I mean, there’s Zeus to Athens and then there is also the Fields to Athens stuff.”

Those comments certainly sting for Alabama. The Crimson Tide were in the mix to land Fields and White before they made their decisions. Missing out on them may also lead to Alabama missing out on Ford, who has been at the top of the tight end board since the summer.

But, Ford does have a close relationship with Alabama offensive coordinator Brian Daboll.

“I love Alabama,” Ford said. “Brian Daboll used to coach for the Patriots and they used tons of tight ends. … You know they are going to win national championships and are a great team.”

Daboll used to coach Patriots star tight end Rob Gronkowski when he was the position coach there before coming to Alabama. But Ford also knows that Michigan historically gets the ball to its tight ends more than either Alabama or Georgia.

“I love Coach [Jim] Harbaugh,” Ford said. “They use the tight ends like crazy. I have seen their three tight end sets on the field at multiple times. I love all the coaches there, as well. Michigan is also a really great school and who doesn’t love The Big House and their 115,000 fans?”

So, what’s going to separate these three schools from each other?

“I am going to have to see all of those schools for official visits and unofficial visits,” Ford said.

The 6-foot-6, 248-pound prospect hasn’t visited Tuscaloosa this fall. He’s also planning on taking his official visits after his senior season, so it will likely be a busy November and December for him.

Ford will either make his commitment at the U.S. Army All-American Game this January or wait it out until National Signing Day in February. Alabama’s chances of landing Ford have definitely decreased since the summer.

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Who is this year’s Najee Harris going to be?

From @laquon1

I have to say, when Najee Harris enrolled at Alabama, I think every recruiting reporter who covered him let out a collective sigh of relief.

It wasn’t that Harris was a bad kid — he’s far from it. It was just that toward the end of his recruitment, it got very silly. I mean, it got to the point where we had to report which flight he was going to be on when he left San Antonio after the Army Bowl.

For those who didn’t follow Harris’ recruitment closely, to recap quickly: Harris had been committed to Alabama since his sophomore year. He started to like Michigan during his senior year. He took a couple of visits to Ann Arbor and Michigan reporters started to write stories about how the Wolverines staff was confident it could flip him. Fast forward to January and one reporter, who is no longer on the Michigan beat, told me that Harris even had a student ID waiting for him at the school.

I was told in December that once Tosh Lupoi visited Harris and his mother for Alabama’s in-home visit, it was over at that point. But his recruitment got silly because Harris didn’t like talking about it, and there was so much misinformation out there. Harris didn’t help out because he declined nearly every interview during the Army Bowl week, and it was unclear what Harris was going to do when the week was over because he was an early enrollee. He was either going to fly to Birmingham or Detroit.

It was funny because during that week, Tua Tagovailoa pretty much became Harris’ public-relations rep. Everyone was asking Tagovailoa questions about Harris because the two were rooming together. Tagovailoa said throughout the week that he believed Harris was going to be on the same flight with him to Birmingham. It turns out Tagovailoa was right. The two are now roommates in Tuscaloosa.

Every year it seems like there’s always a handful of elite recruits who do what they can to avoid the media at all costs or spew out misinformation to create headlines. My top picks for who could be this year’s unofficial Najee Harris award are: 5-star defensive end Micah Parsons, 5-star offensive tackle Jackson Carman, 4-star running back Harold Joiner and 4-star wide receiver Jacob Copeland.

Parsons and Carman make this list due to them being very opinionated on Twitter and pretty reserved when it comes to giving out interviews. Both of them have already been involved in controversies for their opinions.

Joiner is just a wild interview because he has told me on multiple occasions how he has no intentions of committing to Alabama ever, yet he’s continued to visit Tuscaloosa.

Copeland loves the attention the recruiting process brings and he’s continued to flirt with Alabama despite his commitment to Florida. It wouldn’t surprise me to see some outlandish headlines over these next few months concerning him.

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Arlington (Texas) Lamar 2018 four-star defensive lineman Bobby Brown released a list of top schools Wednesday afternoon with his commitment date coming up Nov. 2.

Brown listed Alabama, LSU, Florida State, Baylor, Texas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, and Houston:



Brown is fresh off an official visit to Florida State. He has already taken an official visit to Oklahoma (Sept. 16), as well as an unofficial visit Sept. 30 to Alabama.

Brown plans to take two more official visits -- Alabama on Oct. 20 and Texas A&M the following weekend -- before announcing his commitment Nov. 2.

Alabama has held a strong lead on the Crystal Ball since the summer, but there has been a Texas A&M surge within the past few days. The Crystal Ball now stands at 58 percent Alabama, 33 percent Texas A&M, and 8 percent Oklahoma.

Scout ranks Brown as the No. 2 senior defensive tackle in the state of Texas and the No. 163 overall prospect in the 2018 Scout 300. He's No. 153 nationally in the 247Sports Composite rankings, as well as No. 14 in the country at his position.

At 6-foot-4, 280 pounds, Brown could prove scheme-versatile at the next level as a 3-4 end or a 4-3 tackle.

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Evaluation notes:

With outstanding frame potential for the interior defensive line in multiple schemes, Bobby Brown has emerged as one of the top D-line prospects in the state of Texas for the 2018 class. Brown possesses good height and rare length, even for a defensive end, though he projects best to the interior as a tackle, most likely in a four-man front. That said, Brown has the athleticism to fit multiple roles in varying schemes, giving him coveted scheme- and position-versatility. Brown is a high-motor prospect who comes from a good program (Arlington Lamar) that competes in Texas high school football's largest classification. He shows the ability to maintain his balance and leverage mid-contact, which is not often the case with young prospects who possess his height and length. Once he gets more consistent with his get-off at the snap, Brown will be a dangerous pass-rusher, especially considering his wingspan. Brown is raw right now, but possesses uncommon physical characteristics that suggest he's primed to emerge as one of the top defensive line prospects in the state - and potentially the nation - for the 2018 recruiting cycle. -- Gabe Brooks

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