Burrow shows LSU football has a plan

I hate recruiting rankings.

For one, they’re biased toward skill players and quarterbacks and for two, the ranking that a team carries each year does not take into account how needs are filled or depth is built.

One of my biggest gripes with Les Miles was that he was a slave to recruiting rankings – especially late in his career.

Instead of signing guys at positions of need, he’d get flash, which spiked LSU’s recruiting rankings, yes, but which also depleted the Tigers’ depth chart – especially up front.

Ed Orgeron is fixing that – even though many fans are too blind to see it because of these “rankings.” LSU did not have a Top 5 recruiting class in 2018, but they loaded up on offensive and defensive linemen to build back the depth that they’d lost under Miles.

The players aren’t sexy on paper and they won’t win Heisman Trophies, but football games are won at the line of scrimmage and that will never change.

But of course, once you can block ‘em, having some skill helps, of course.

And the events which have happened after National Signing Day have proven to me that LSU has a recruiting plan and the wheels are always grinding, which I think is good for LSU’s future.

The Tigers lost out on Patrick Surtain on National Signing Day – a five-star defensive back who LSU’s fans felt really good about throughout his recruiting process, but who decided to go to Alabama in the 23rd hour and 59th minute.

At the time of Surtain’s decision, fans were in a frenzy. They used this recruiting loss as a sign that Orgeron was unfit for the LSU job – a logic which I never understood because ALL coaches lose players in EVERY job.

They also said that Miles wouldn’t have had a class outside of the Top 10, which was equally stupid because his first full class at LSU was barely inside the Top 25. But again, facts sometimes stand in the way of a good, ill-informed sports opinion.

After Surtain opted for Alabama, LSU decided to keep a couple spots empty in its 2018 recruiting spot in hopes of working the transfer market in the final months of the offseason.

And that, LSU has done.

Since the Signing Day frenzy, LSU has made two subtle moves which are not getting mainstream attention, but which will make the Tigers a much better football team in 2018.

On the transfer market, they secure the services of cornerback Terrence Alexander – a New Orleans native who has played at Stanford throughout his career, but will finish up as a Tiger.

Alexander will likely not have the career of Surtain, sure.

But in 2018, I can argue that they will be similar players. Alexander is battle tested, experienced and will be prone from freshman mistakes.

He will be the perfect complement to Greedy Williams on the outside at defensive back. He will give some of the team’s younger players much-needed time to continue to develop and flourish in Dave Aranda’s system.

Of course, the biggest news came in recent weeks involving the quarterback position.

After the LSU spring game, Orgeron announced that LSU would not name a starting quarterback, which would allow the team’s open competition to continue into the summer.

He also went out and plucked another transfer player who just might end up being the team’s starter.

LSU secured the services of Joe Burrow two weeks ago – a graduate transfer quarterback from Ohio State who lands in Baton Rouge with two years of eligibility.

Burrow, at least on paper, fits what the Tigers looked like they wanted to do in the spring game.

He’s big, poised in the pocket, accurate and has a strong arm.

Burrow was 29-of-39 in two seasons with Ohio State as the team’s primary backup.

He competed heavily for the job this past spring and shined in the Buckeyes’ spring game, but lost the job to Dwayne Haskins – a younger player who has capable legs.

I am a college football purist.

When I am not watching LSU, I am following other teams around the country. I’ve known of Burrow for a long time – since he committed to Urban Meyer out of high school.

With that said, I would be shocked if Burrow isn’t the starting quarterback at LSU this fall.

I think he has the biggest arm of LSU’s quarterbacks and the most poise. He is new to LSU, sure. But this is a new offensive coordinator, so everyone is on a level playing field.

And if Burrow plays the way that I expect him to, I think he will be a competent SEC quarterback, which is something LSU has not had in a long, long time.

And if it goes down like that, then guess what? LSU wins the Signing Day trade – even if Surtain becomes a superstar college football player, which I believe he will be.

They lost a cornerback, but got another who could help right away. Oh yeah, and they got a quarterback, too.

Look, I understand that hating on Orgeron is a pretty popular thing to do in Baton Rouge.

But give the ol’ ball coach some credit on this one. He turned a bad situation into a good one.

I like my coach to be capable of making chicken salad out of you know what.

Ed OrgeronJOSE DELGADO | THE TIMES

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