New Orleans — Wednesday marked the early signing period for high school athletes with players from across the nation making their college commitments official. LSU signed 19 players, with 5 from the state of Louisiana. Head Coach Ed Orgeron said that he wants to get the best players in the country and will start locally before bringing-in out-of-state recruits.
“We always want to take care of the state of Louisiana first,” Orgeron said. “Guys were really approaching us– ‘Coach we’re interested in coming to LSU.’ They were great players so obviously we went out and got them. We didn’t get everyone from out of state that we wanted. We lost some but that’s going to happen. We feel that we did a very good job in this state. We feel like we signed the guys that we thought could play at LSU so you’ve got to look at what you have in the state and if we don’t have that position or we don’t have enough, we have to go out of state and get it.”
The Louisiana recruits headed to LSU are Jaquelin Roy (DL, University Lab), Jacobian Guillory (DL, Alexandria Senior), TJ Finley (QB, Ponchatoula), Koy Moore (WR, Rummel) and Kayshon Boutte (WR, Westgate).
As for Tulane, the Green Wave wrapped-up the day with 6 of their 18 recruits from Louisiana. Head Coach Willie Fritz was extremely pleased with the caliber of players they got, saying this was his best recruiting class yet. He chalked-up the successful day to national visibility and the improvement they’ve shown as a team the past few seasons.
“This is big boy football,” Fritz said. “I think the high school coaches, the student athletes are starting to understand that and then we’re having success and they’re seeing us play on national TV every single game. When we get those opportunities to go out there and play– and you’ve got to play well– I think that really helps you out. I really feel, and again you don’t know until they get here and they play for you for a season and they end their career, how great a signing class that you really have. I really feel like this is by-far the best one that we’ve had. I don’t want to slight our other classes but we beat a lot of other members of the Power 6.”
The in-state players headed to play for the Green Wave include Angelo Anderson (DL, John Curtis), Cornelius Dyson (DB, Kentwood), Rashad Green (OL, University Lab), Justin Ibieta (QB, Country Day), Josh Remetich (OL, Holy Cross) and Noah Taliancich (DL, Destrehan). Taliancich will be an early enrollee for Tulane, joining the Green Wave the second week in January and participating in spring ball.