Experts say La. is talented as ever for 2011 recruiting class

The LSU football team has been handed a gift – a gift that might stock the Tigers’ depth chart full of talent for the next 4 to 5 years.

The state of Louisiana is loaded full of blue chip prospects this year, and if the Tigers play their cards right in the living rooms of the top players in the state, the nation’s best recruiting class might be well within LSU’s reach.

“It’s probably looking to be one of the strongest classes in recent memory in our state,” said Scout.com recruiting analyst Shea Dixon. “From the people we’re talking to here, they’re all saying this is the most plentiful crop of talent that our state has ever produced in one calendar year.”

In total, six Louisiana players are rated among the Top 100 2011 high school seniors in America, according to rivals.com‘s latest poll.

Of that total, four Louisianans are among the nation’s Top 20 players – the most of any state in the country.

“The state is loaded this year. I don’t think there’s any question about it, there’s talent from head to toe – it’s one of the best that I’ve seen,” said fellow Scout analyst Sonny Shipp in an interview in early July.

LSU football coach Les Miles agreed and said at June’s Tiger Tour stop in Morgan City that his home state is among the best in America.

“I don’t think there’s any question,” he said. “This class has the potential to be one of the best in the country.”

There is plenty of Tri-parish flavor in the talent pool this year, as Patterson’s Kenny Hilliard currently stands as the nation’s No. 16 player and Thibodaux’s Greg Robinson is three spots below him at No. 19.

Hilliard is already an LSU commitment, where Robinson is all-but narrowed down to two with LSU and Auburn at the top of his list with a large gap reportedly in between second and third place.

“Kenny Hilliard is going to break the all-time state rushing record with more than 9,000 yards in his four years,” Dixon said. “With Greg Robinson, there’s some hoopla about him following Trovon Reed to Auburn, and that remains to be seen, but he’s certainly a guy that LSU would love to have, because he could figure to start on an offensive line for possibly 3 years if he develops the way he could.”

The state of Louisiana is historically a fertile ground for talent.

In the 2010 Pro Bowl, four players were from Louisiana. And since 2000, a Louisiana native has won the NFL’s Most Valuable Player Award five times. (Peyton Manning and Marshal Faulk).

A report by USA Football in 2009 stated that there is one NFL player for every 55,862 Louisiana citizens – a ratio the report said is the highest among any state in the country.

Combine that background with LSU’s historical dominance of keeping the top players inside of their home state, and it’s easy for one to see why former coach Nick Saban called the Tigers’ program a “sleeping giant” when he first took over the program in November 1999.

Since 2003, LSU has failed to sign just four players ranked in the Top 5 in the state (Robert Lane, Nic Harris, Joe McKnight and Janzen Jackson). Expanded further, the Tigers have signed 68 of the past 80 players ranked in the Top 10 in Louisiana since 2003 – good for an 85 percent commitment rate.

Miles says those numbers are because of the facilities and winning tradition LSU has to offer to high school prospects.

“We’re very fortunate at LSU, we have an opportunity to offer quite an opportunity,” Miles said at last week’s Southeastern Conference Media Day. “It’s one where you get a great education, academic support. In fact, the lifestyle and the living in Baton Rouge is a tremendous place to be from. Our guys, you know, have advantages. They have advantages in the fact that, you know, we’re provided a great facility and great coaches, assistant coaches, that coach ’em. We’re fortunate.”

Dixon says regardless of the reason, if the trends continue, the Tigers’ faithful will be pleased with the way this year’s recruiting class will shape up.

“For a class to have everything that this one offers – all of that in one year, it’s something that’s pretty special,” he said. “LSU has an incredible opportunity to put themselves in a position to be a talented team for the next several seasons.”

Les Miles expects this class ‘to be one of the best in the country”