Flip Watch: LSU still targeting committed prospects
The LSU football staff is pushing to flip recruits from other programs as senior seasons begin for the 2025 class, and there’s good reason to believe those efforts won’t be fruitless.
This past recruiting cycle, LSU’s staff – in the midst of one of the worst defensive seasons, statistically, in program history – pulled off double-digit flips, which ultimately accounted for nearly 40% of LSU’s signees.
The tone setter for the class came when four On300 prospects flipped from Texas A&M to LSU, which included a pair of 5-star prospects in defensive tackle Dominick McKinley and offensive tackle Weston Davis, as well as an On3 Top 50 prospect in Louisiana 4-star defensive lineman Gabriel Reliford.
LSU also signed four players that were once committed to three other Southeastern Conference schools in Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Missouri. With defensive tackle Ahmad Breaux flipping from Duke, defensive back Ju’Juan Johnson flipping from Colorado and EDGE rusher CJ Jackson flipping from Georgia Tech, the Tigers pulled off a total of 11 flips in a recruiting cycle when the program signed 29 high school prospects.
For the current 2025 class, LSU has already begun flipping targets before the college football season begins.
Longtime Texas defensive line commit Brandon Brown flipped from the Longhorns to LSU, a move that came after the Tigers hired former Texas defensive line coach Bo Davis for the same role in Baton Rouge.
First-year LSU defensive coordinator Blake Baker turned the focus in his search for a third linebacker to Georgia’s Jaiden Braker, who flipped from South Carolina to LSU after landing an offer from the Tigers in July. Most recently, Destrehan High (La.) wide receiver Phillip Wright backed off his Michigan commitment, then revealed his commitment to LSU less than a week later. The Tigers were also instrumental in getting Arkansas native Carius Curne to back off his commitment to the in-state Razorbacks, which later led to the On3 Top 50 prospect committing to LSU.
As the summer winds down and high school prospects gear up for their senior seasons, which other flips could LSU pull off?
The Bengal Tiger’s Shea Dixon offers up five prospects on LSU’s board to keep an eye on despite their commitment to other college teams.
Wide Receiver: 4-star CJ Wiley (Florida State commit)
Wiley, a Top 15 wide receiver on the On3 Industry Rankings, surprised most when he committed to FSU in a three-team race that was presumably going to come down to in-state Georgia or LSU, where his father, Chuck Wiley, was an All-SEC defensive lineman. LSU has three wide receivers committed in Nevada’s Derek Meadows and Louisiana’s TaRon Francis and Phillip Wright III. 5-star Jaime Ffrench will reveal his college choice this month, and Texas holds the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine (RPM) lead over the final group of LSU, Miami and Tennessee. If the Tigers land Ffrench, the class could well be complete. If Ffrench heads elsewhere, the search will continue for a fourth wide receiver to join LSU’s class. Given the amount of time the staff put in on Wiley, and the continued push being made by the staff, the Georgia 4-star seems like a more likely flip option than others, including a one-time LSU commit and current Oregon pledge in Texas 5-star+ wide receiver Dakorien Moore.
Offensive Line: 5-star Solomon Thomas (Florida State commit)
Thomas has been committed to FSU since December, but the Jacksonville product has made plenty of unofficial and official visits to other colleges since getting on board with the Seminoles. LSU is one of the schools that landed both unofficial visits and an official visit this offseason, and now the staff is set to host Thomas for a game in Tiger Stadium this fall. Thomas remains committed to FSU, but multiple sources close to Thomas and the teams involved in his recruitment feel LSU’s staff has the best chance to pull off the flip if the 5-star offensive tackle were to back off his pledge to the in-state Seminoles. With four offensive linemen committed, LSU offensive line coach Brad Davis can continue to swing for the fences here.
Defensive Line: 4-star Jourdin Crawford (Auburn commit)
Crawford committed to Auburn in October 2023, meaning he’s two months shy of being on board with AU for an entire year. Still, the door is not completely shut here. Crawford made visits to college campuses in the spring, but he only made one official visit this summer. And that visit went to LSU. Crawford has kept very quiet throughout his recruiting process, rarely going on record with media about where things stand ahead of National Signing Day in December. On LSU’s end, defensive line coach Bo Davis and defensive coordinator Blake Baker have been in contact with Crawford and his family as the Tigers push to get the Birmingham four-star defensive lineman back to campus for a game this fall. With three defensive tackles committed, and Georgia defensive lineman Walter Mathis trending to LSU ahead of his college reveal later this month, the name to continue to monitor is Crawford.
Cornerback: 4-star Kade Phillips (Texas commit)
Louisiana cornerback Jaboree Antoine backed off his LSU pledge and committed to Miami ahead of his senior season at Westgate, and some might presume he’s the staff’s top flip target at cornerback. For me, the name I continue to circle is Phillips, who was one of the first cornerbacks LSU secondary coach Corey Raymond contacted when he returned to the staff in January. At the time, nearly all teams were recruiting Phillips at safety, while LSU was pitching cornerback – and a shot at immediate playing time given the need for an influx of young, elite talent at the position. Phillips popped for Texas on July 6, but the decision didn’t come easy as LSU’s pitch resonated with Phillips and his family. As The Bengal Tiger has reported over the past month, Raymond and Baker have continued to keep in contact with Phillips and his family. After landing 5-star+ prospect and On3’s No. 1 cornerback in DJ Pickett, Raymond’s focus remains on a handful of top targets on the board, and Phillips is firmly on that list. The Tigers won’t give up here as the push continues to flip On3’s No. 7 cornerback prospect away from Texas.
Safety: 3-star Jacob Bradford (Houston commit)
The Catholic High rising senior committed to Houston in June, getting on board with former Tulane head coach Willie Fritz as part of a talented commitment list for the Cougars. As the summer wrapped up, LSU’s staff made the move to offer Bradford a verbal scholarship at the end of July. LSU safeties coach Jake Olsen has a pair of safeties committed in 4-stars Jhase Thomas and CJ Jimcoily, and two more safety targets announce in August in 4-star Bryce Fitzgerald and 5-star Jonah Williams. FSU is the team out front for Fitzgerald, while On3 RPM picks are in for four different teams for Williams. Once the dust settles on the month’s announcements, LSU will have a clearer picture of how the safety position will unfold in the 2025 class. For me, it might not matter. With 22 commitments, I expect the Tigers to continue to push for Bradford to flip away from Houston regardless of how the dominos fall for Fitzgerald and Williams.
The post Flip Watch: LSU still targeting committed prospects appeared first on On3.
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