Swing and a miss

DeAndre Brown isn't coming to LSU. He announced an oral commitment to Southern Miss tonight.

It's kind of funny that some people read so much into his ESPNU announcement and his scheduled visit to LSU this weekend. That logic seemed to suggest an LSU commitment.

Uh, no.

Look, Brown would have been a fine catch for LSU. He is a big-time wide receiver. He has impressive credentials. And if you are concerned about recruiting rankings he would boost LSU there.

But, he is a wide receiver.

I remember talking to a college coach who once told me the hardest position to recruit is along the defensive line because there are so few dominant defensive linemen. LSU has done well in recruiting defensive linemen and you can make a case that the Tigers' surge to greatness correlates nicely with improving the talent level on the defensive line.

Losing Brown is not a good thing, but it's not an end-of-the-world thing either.

This is an LSU class that will probably end up ranked somewhere between 10 and 15 (barring some late success) and that's not bad in a year when the state is down. You can have a class like this and still compete for national titles -- as long as your other classes are up there among the elite.