Into the Fire: Coach O’s Rough National Signing Day

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Going into February 7, 2018; aka National Signing Day, Ed Orgeron had a very smart plan that looked like I would truly benefit the program with the signing of some solid prospects to fill team needs, as well as the big signing of the nation’s number one cornerback to keep LSU’s reputation as “DBU” in tact. The stage was set for LSU’s 2018 recruiting class to be a top ten rated group. We have long known that the 2019 class is where Coach O will truly shine as a master recruiter. If he could only fill the team out and keep depth and morale at a respectable level, 2019 would come and LSU would see an incredible influx of in-state talent. Unfortunately, 2018 did not go quite as planned and it has so many fans and pundits worried that the amazing job we expect Orgeron to do in 2019 with that class might not be all sunshine and rainbows.

Missing out on the country’s highest rated cornerback, Patrick Surtain, Jr. was a major bummer and it instantly demoralized LSU fans who thought the days of missing out on top recruits to Nick Saban were over with the Coach O era. Newsflash, those days will never be over. Not even the mighty Ed Orgeron walking into living rooms with South Lafource’s finest gumbo, having a fais-do-do with all the mamas and aunties is powerful enough to stop Saban’s reign of terror. Nick Saban will get the players he wants because he uses sinister tactics you need to be able to stoop to and Coach O just does not do that. Georgia does this. Clemson and Texas A&M employ these tactics too. But even with them in the game with Alabama, Nick Saban will never go away on National Signing Day so at least one of these types of disappointments needs to be expected each and every year.

So with more of the “same old, same old” on National Signing Day this season, Ed Orgeron’s grasp on the recruiting game is now being questioned. It is his strongest asset and the thing he is most confident in as a coach, yet it is now being called a weakness for a program that is seemingly being given all of the resources it asks for. LSU fans, media, and I am sure even the game makers in Baton Rouge are saying to Coach O today, “if Dave Aranda is going to consistently give you a top defense and you are getting your homeboys hired as assistants and even the offensive coordinator, you need to hold up your end of the bargain Ed!” Orgeron is expected to delegate, motivate, and recruit, recruit, recruit. If he isn’t doing all of that, as his buyout shrinks and shrinks every year, the more likely it becomes that LSU goes in yet another direction.

The thing about all this talk right now in the year 2018 though, is that it was all expected. 2018 was not going to be a top tier class. I was supposed to be a respectable class. The LSU Tigers in 2018 are supposed to be a tough defensive team with a bunch of question marks on offense. Unproven quarterbacks and running backs are being relied upon this season as we all await the magical 2019 recruiting class with some of the nation’s best high school players coming to “hold that Tiger!” And most of those players are from right here in Louisiana. The only thing about all of that though, is that it is in the future, and in the SEC, the future means not only hope, but doubt too. And with all of the question marks on offense; a new coordinator, a new quarterback, and no superstar running backs, it is easy to doubt that Ed Orgeron wins enough in 2018 to see his coveted 2019 class come to fruition.

– Alan Michael