Nick Saban didn’t have to think long when asked about the best recruiting ground he ever found. For him, the answer came back to Louisiana, a state he said consistently gave him a deep well of football talent and made life easier than anywhere else he coached.
Saban said Friday on the Pat McAfee Show that the idea came from an assignment he got early in his NFL career, when he was an assistant with the Cleveland Browns and head coach Bill Belichick wanted him to find out which state produced the most NFL talent per capita. The research led Saban to an answer he hadn’t expected.
“It was Louisiana,” Saban said Friday on the Pat McAfee Show. “That’s the reason I took the job and I’mma tell you what… he was right. 15-18 really, really good football players that you could get out of Louisiana every year, and you’ve got a good enough national reputation to recruit some really good players from other places.”
He later pointed to LSU as the easiest place he ever had to recruit to, saying it beat out Alabama, Michigan State and the other college stops on his résumé. The results backed that up. LSU landed the No. 2, 3 and 4 recruiting classes from 2001 through 2004.
That pipeline has kept rolling. LSU remains a regular in the top 10 of 247Sports’ team recruiting rankings, year after year, and the last time the Tigers finished a season outside the top 10 was 2018, when they signed future NFL star Ja’Marr Chase.
In Other News...
Jayden Daniels Finally Addressed The LSU Dispute As Week 1 Nears
Jayden Daniels finally got his first preseason snaps with the Washington Commanders in a loss to the Detroit Lions, a small but meaningful step as he shifts from camp work to game preparation. Even with the NFL spotlight starting to sharpen, Daniels has had one off-field issue lingering in the background: a legal dispute with LSU over the use of his name, image and likeness, tied to the school assigning his former jersey number to another player.
Daniels has now addressed the matter and, for the moment, his focus is where the Commanders need it most, on getting ready for the season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles. For LSU fans who followed his rise closely, the dispute adds another layer to a quarterback era that still resonates, even as Daniels moves deeper into his professional routine. [Read more 🡒]
LSUs Running Back Battle Just Took A Turn Fans Didnt Expect
LSUs preseason camp has already started sorting out a few competition lines, and the running back room has been one of the most interesting to watch. Redshirt sophomore transfer Stacy Gage has been running ahead of junior Caden Durham on the depth chart, but a recent full-contact scrimmage reminded everyone that the picture is far from settled. Durham worked with the first team and broke off some significant runs, while Dilin Jones opened as the No. 1 back before leaving the scrimmage and not returning.
The bigger takeaway for LSU is that the Tigers are still testing combinations all over the field, not just at running back. The starting offensive line has been taking shape, the second team has seen movement, and even the defensive backfield is showing some tweaks, with Jhase Thomas getting work ahead of Tamarcus Cooley at safety. For a staff trying to build clarity before the opener, the backfield battle now looks like one of several places where camp could keep shifting right up until the final week. [Read more 🡒]
LSU Now Has A Lane Kiffin Twist In A Bizarre Eligibility Battle
A strange college-football crossover has put DaeQuan Wright back in the middle of the conversation, with the Cleveland Browns rookie tight end reportedly planning to enter the NCAA transfer portal in hopes of returning to college for the 2026 season. Wright went undrafted, signed with Cleveland after a brief stint with the Eagles, and now his path back to the college game appears to hinge on an unusual eligibility ruling that has created a growing market for players trying to reset their careers.
LSUs connection to the situation runs through Lane Kiffin, with Browns head coach Todd Monken saying he recently heard from the Tigers coach about Wright. NFL agent Drew Rosenhaus has said Wright may have a case to return under the terms of a lawsuit and temporary restraining orders that would allow players to regain eligibility if they are waived by NFL teams, leaving the broader question less about where Wright wants to play next and more about whether the rulebook will let him do it. [Read more 🡒]