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Slow news day it is not in Baton Rouge. While much of the morning and afternoon was saturated with discussion of Les Miles being ousted as football coach, this evening is dotted with his prize QB commit re-opening the recruiting process.
— Feleipe Franks (@18franks) November 24, 2015
The news doesn't come as a major surprise. Franks has been not so quietly looking around, making unofficial visits to Florida State and then Florida in back-to-back weekends. His commitment has long been in question and most considered him likely to not follow through with LSU considering the pending departure of Cam Cameron. Billy had this much to say:
Franks saying this is a month in coming tells me what I already thought, which is that Cameron was already not returning.
— Billy Gomila (@ATVS_ChefBilly) November 24, 2015
What happens with Miles is technically pending, but it became apparent Cameron wouldn't be returning to Baton Rouge, and going with him is LSU's big-time QB of the future.
This is a serious and significant blow to the LSU recruiting class. LSU missed out on Shea Patterson, largely because they hitched their wagon to Feleipe Franks, while Patterson wanted to be the sole QB in the signing class. Now Patterson is headed to a division rival and Franks is likely to land at an SEC school (Florida) too. That's a rough 0 for 2.
I'm not sure there's much LSU can do here. Franks is an early enrollee, which means LSU would need to get a new coach in place, re-establish ties with Franks and win him over in the matter of a month. Odds of that are almost nothing, I'd say. Only real hope there may be if LSU were to hire Jimbo Fisher... and I'm not even sure that's enough.
Even worse, there's no other options for LSU at the position. LSU has offers out to Patterson (Ole Miss), Dwayne Haskins (Maryland), Brandon Peters (Michigan commit), Jarrett Guarantano (Tennessee), Jawon Pass (Louisville), and Avery McCall (Coastal Carolina). Could they get back in the mix with any of these types? Seems unlikely.
For future planning, this puts the LSU depth chart right back into the mess that wound up with us having to play Harris and Jennings so early into their careers. We will head into 2016 with Jennings (as a Senior, if he sticks around), Harris, as a junior, Justin McMillan as a RS Fr. and... that's it. Not an ideal situation at all.
Again, this news isn't some left field shocker, and was likely to go down even if Miles were to somehow survive the mess. But it's one more sign that all Miles has built is suddenly crumbling at his feet. For LSU, things are about to get a whole lot worse before they get better.