re: Class of 2019 Recruiting MEGATHREAD: That's a Wrap Edition

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The nation’s No. 1 player is down to five.

Five-star weak-side defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux announced his list of finalists on Friday evening. The teams include: Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Oregon and USC, according to USA Today Sports.

A product of Thousand Oaks (Calif.) Oaks Christian, Thibodeaux is coming off his second visit to Tuscaloosa in the span of three months for the Champions Cookout last weekend. While he didn’t camp, Thibodeaux spent time on campus Saturday and Sunday with defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi.

“Bama is crazy,” Thibodeaux said after his first visit to T-Town at the beginning of April. “It’s truly like … they have everything. Just really how much detail they show to the players. Everything they do is broken down, everything is meant to be perfect. The coaches make sure everyone is doing everything perfect. I see why they’re great.”

Alabama offered Thibodeaux way back in February of 2017. It’s since prioritized the elite edge rusher, recruiting him as a Jack linebacker.

“It’s a great opportunity for me to go in and play and be an impact,” Thibodeaux said of Alabama. “All the guys that play my position are either graduating or declaring for the draft next year. And they get after it every day. I want to be the best and I like to compete with the best. They’ve got a lot of great guys I can compete with and make myself better.”

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Westlake Village (Calif.) Oaks Christian defensive lineman Kayvon Thibodeaux has cut his list down to a final five.

Thibodeaux, the No. 1 rated player in the country in the 247Sports Composite, had scholarship offers from just about every top program in the country. The athlete took several unofficial visits during the off-season and has narrowed his list down to five.

The five who made the cut included Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Oregon, and USC. The talented rush end went in-depth on each of his finalists and talked about his timeframe for making a decision.

Alabama - “I’ll be honest, I wasn’t a huge Bama guy until I got there. Once you go there and see everything up close and how they do things, you understand why they win so much every year. I really enjoy talking with Tosh Lupoi (DC/LB coach) , he’s a great coach and he’s always giving me tools to get better. We watched film together and some of the things he showed me were really eye opening and I’ve already been able to put it in to practice.

Coach Saban is real cool too. He had a funny comment for me and my mom. I honestly feel I can make it to the NFL at a lot of different schools but coach Saban said if you’re playing craps and one table gives you a 50% chance to win and the other one is 25%, which one are you going to want to sit at. At Alabama, you have everything you could want to succeed, you just have to put in the work. They’re also graduating four guys at my position so the opportunity to come in and play early is definitely there as well.”

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USC - “That’s my hometown school so I had to include them. They really haven’t been recruiting me that hard but I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt. I’m not sure if they think I’m set on leaving home or what but I haven’t heard a lot from them in the last few months.

“I do have interest though and location is big for me. I love the area, I like their law school, which is what I want to go in to and there’s a lot of pluses and amenities to being in Los Angeles. Like I said, it’s home for me and hopefully we can build that relationship through the course of the year.”

At one point, Thibodeaux was considering a summer commitment but will no longer make an early decision.

“I can’t , I’m not ready for that yet,” Thibodeaux said. “I wanted to be able to commit early but just cutting my list down to these five was really hard. Now the plan is to start from scratch with these five schools, figure out where and when I’ll take my official visits.

“I still plan to make a decision sometime during the season and I’m just going to weigh the pros and cons of each school and see where I fit in the best. I’m looking at everything, this isn’t just a football decision for me.

“I’m looking at where I’m comfortable, what football program can help me achieve my goals, the law program, who can provide the best opportunities for me after football, I’m looking at all that. It’s tough because some schools are stronger in some areas and weaker in others and it’s all important for me. So once I decide on my visits and I’m not sure how many I’ll take, I should have a good idea of what I want to do.”

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Remember the LSU mailbag? Multiply it by five. SEC Country’s LSU recruiting reporter Sam Spiegelman will answer reader questions Monday through Friday in a new segment called “LSU recruiting question of the day.” Feel free to join the conversation by tweeting your questions to Sam on Twitter (@SamSpiegs).

@SamSpiegs, any bold predictions for LSU’s 2019 class? - @E11Josh - May 2

Great question, Josh, and the timing could not be better because I am anticipating a very eventful couple of weeks ahead as LSU begins to add a couple of major pieces to its 2019 class.

The team is squarely in the mix with all of the elite prospects inside Louisiana in this recruiting cycle. That includes prospects such as cornerback Derek Stingley Jr., defensive tackle Ishmael Sopsher, inside linebacker Donte’ Starks, wide receiver Trey Palmer and tackle Ray Parker, all of whom rank either first or second among in-state players at their respective positions.

Additionally, the Tigers have their sights set on a handful of elite out-of-state targets. That list begins and ends with four-star Texas passer Grant Gunnell, but also notable prospects in California, Mississippi, Georgia and in the junior college ranks. With that in mind, allow me to get to the point for you, Josh.

Here are my five bold predictions for LSU’s 2019 recruiting class:

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2. Tigers nab No. 1 overall prospect

LSU has been unsuccessful thus far trying to nab a pass rusher for its 2019 class. The team recently whiffed on 4-star Grayson (La.) outside linebacker Kevin Harris II, who committed to Alabama. Four-star Texas edge rusher NaNa Osafo-Mensah is poised to pick either Texas or Notre Dame when he commits later this month. Mississippi’s DeMonte Russell committed to Mississippi State despite collecting an LSU offer at camp this time a year ago.

One prospect remaining atop LSU’s board is California 5-star defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux. Thibodeaux took his first out-of-state unofficial visit to Baton Rouge last spring, but instead made trips to Alabama, Florida and Florida State this past spring. A source close to the elite edge rusher indicated that Thibodeaux will return to LSU for a game in the fall and that the school is in a good position to land an official visit.

Thibodeaux, of course, was also a top target for the Crimson Tide. Osafo-Mensah is leaning toward the Longhorns. That should lessen some rivals’ chances for Thibodeaux, the No. 1 prospect in the 2019 class. He has ties to the Acadiana area and gives Orgeron another marquee pass rusher to groom.

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3. A Tangipahoah Parish sweep

Tangipahoah Parish has been a polarizing topic in recent years after Kentwood (La.) defensive back Shyheim Carter committed to Alabama in 2016 and Amite (La.) receiver DeVonta Smith, a championship game hero, picked Alabama over LSU a year later.

The 2019 class has long been targeted as the class that LSU needed to capitalize on, and the staff has made it a major emphasis for some time already. The aforementioned Ishmael Sopsher headlines the group, but the two receivers in the area — Amite’s Devonta Lee and Kentwood’s Trey Palmer — are priorities for LSU in this cycle and the Tigers remain in very good shape to reel in both by February.

With Orgeron, wide receivers coach Mickey Joseph and defensive line coach Dennis Johnson leading the charge, expect LSU’s fortunes to change when it secures commitments from Sopsher, Lee and Palmer in 2019, putting the Tangipahoah-to-Alabama rumors to rest for good.

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5. Grant Gunnell picks LSU

This may be the boldest of the predictions, but I put a Crystal Ball pick in for 4-star quarterback Grant Gunnell to commit to LSU about 13 months ago. Back then, it was a different offensive coordinator and different set of teams vying for Gunnell’s services. The only constant a year later is that Orgeron has refused to throw in the towel on arguably the best pro-style passer in the country.

Privately, Gunnell has a top group that includes the Tigers, in addition to Ohio State, Oregon and Arizona. He visited twice this spring, but did not see the new-look offense up close. That’s an area Orgeron and new offensive play caller Steve Ensminger will continue to sell to Gunnell when he makes an official visit to Baton Rouge, which could come at some point this summer before he makes a much-anticipated decision.

LSU has been careful not to offer too many quarterbacks in 2019 — eight to be exact — and five are committed elsewhere already. The team has kicked the tires on some in-state quarterbacks, but has maintained that Gunnell is the priority target for the position and has kept that theme going for months.

In the end, I expect that to all play out in the Tigers’ favor, landing the top guy on their board and securing a critical piece to build around on offense for the coming years.

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