Football Recruiting: Weekend Visitor List

With the dead period over and less than a month away until National Signing Day, there's only three weekends left for schools to make their final impressions.  LSU wanted to hit the ground running and did just that with the list coming in this weekend.  Let's get to brass tacks:

The Un-Committed

This weekend will be headlined by defensive tackle Rashard Lawrence. The five-star recruit will be making his decision next Friday between the Tigers and Ohio State, which means Baton Rouge will be his last visit destination, meaning good news may be coming this time next week.

Kristian Fulton has been wavering recently between LSU and Florida, so this will be integral for Corey Raymond to offer his pitch to Fulton and his family one last time.  Fulton will be heading to Arkansas next weekend and finishes his travels at Florida the weekend of the 29th.

This could be the final push for Willie Allen. Despite strong pushes from Georgia and TCU, Allen will be on commitment watch this weekend if everything checks out.

Nigel Warrior is still very open with his process, so this will be Corey Raymond's shot to leave a lasting impression and put LSU atop his list of Tennessee (where his father Dale Carter played), Alabama and Georgia.

While D'Andre Christmas-Giles recently released a top 10 list of schools, the prevailing thought is LSU has a wide lead after offering the defensive tackle following an impressive senior season.

The Committed

LSU is scheduled to have eight commitments on campus and some of the names will be key to having them in Baton Rouge. Jamal Pettigrew is getting a hard sell from Texas, so Steve Ensminger will get a chance to solidify his lone tight end commit to LSU. Glen Logan has seen a lot of interest from Miami, and now with Mark Richt there, Orgeron's job to hold onto the elite recruit becomes just a little bit tougher. Da'Monte Coxie was offered by Alabama last month and with the re-commitment of Stephen Sullivan, who enrolled early, and the commitment of Drake Davis, along with soon-to-be early enrollee Dee Anderson, Tony Ball will have to reassure Coxie he is a key part of this class. Cameron Lewis is getting a lot of interest from TCU, so it will be on Raymond to keep him in state. Donavaughn Campbell has a visit to Georgia Tech (where his brother plays) for the last weekend of January, but Grimes should be able to hold onto the massive guard.

Ed Alexander, Rahssan Thornton, and Andre Anthony are about as solid as they come and are just enjoying their official visits, and will probably do their part in some recruiting as well.  Keep in mind that four early enrollees are already on campus in Saivion Smith, Stephen Sullivan, Devin White and Michael Divinity, so you can imagine those four will be doing their part as well to help recruit this weekend.

The Potential Impact of Frank Wilson Leaving

It appears that Frank Wilson will be taking the head coaching position at UTSA previously vacated by former Miami coach Larry Coker.  While losing your recruiting coordinator definitely hurts, the two major recruits he was focused on in the 2016 class, Devin White and Michael Divinity, are already in classes, so they are set.  It's probably the best time for this to happen with Wilson, who I think we all knew wasn't going to be around LSU forever.  I would presume LSU will find a replacement very quickly like they did with Aranda.

Dwayne Haskins Visiting...Next Weekend

With the in-home visit with Dwayne Haskins on Thursday, most fans were hoping the Tigers would get a visit from the four-star quarterback this weekend.  LSU will get a visit but not until the weekend of the 22nd, which may wind up better for the staff and LSU's chances.  A visit next weekend means Haskins will only have the weekend of the 29th to visit somewhere else, assuming he stays home this weekend, and there will likely be a lighter load for the staff next weekend.  Either way, the LSU push has had an effect on Haskins and it's a good one.

Also on the QB front, LSU is expected to be in home with Pennsylvania QB Anthony Russo today sometime. Russo has re-opened his recruitment with the coaching change at Rutgers. He doesn't have an offer from Cam Cameron and Les Miles yet, but that may change soon (as well as a number of other schools).

Dylan Moses to IMG

As reported by Bud Elliot yesterday, 2017 LB/RB recruit Dylan Moses will be leaving U-High in Baton Rouge for the IMG Academy in Florida. Moses, a former LSU commitment, had re-opened his recruitment over the summer, and speculation has been that he is an Alabama lean at the moment, although he did write an impassioned defense of Les Miles in November. Many believe moving out of Baton Rouge will help strengthen Bama's chances, although the Tigers are pulling two kids out of IMG in this class in Savion Smith and Drake Davis. Still, him being off LSU's campus certainly isn't a good thing.