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News on LSU's juniors and the NFL Draft declaration date continue to seep out, although the crucial decision of Kendell Beckwith remains a mystery.
- Defensive end Lewis Neal made his announcement on Thursday. It sounds like he strongly considered leaving, which could be because he's a bit tapped out physically. Neal is much more of an effort guy than an athletic freak, and another year won't change that. However, some more technique work and just tape of him well...quite frankly showing that no matter how fast he runs, he's a bad man that can't be blocked, could help him a la Terrell Suggs or Elvis Dumerville.
- Wide receiver Travin Dural has indicated similarly via his Instagram account, as the Advocate reported yesterday. Again, given the severity of his hamstring injury this is probably a smart move. Hard for a speed receiver to improve his stock in the draft if he can't run.
- Lastly, per this Advocate report, cornerback Tre'davious White has returned to Baton Rouge and set an announcement date for Monday (the deadline for underclassmen) to his plans. My best guess is that he's likely declaring. He seems like the lock or the highest pick among this group, so heading to the NFL is probably the right move.
Pending Beckwith's decision, this is still the most underclassmen to stick around in some time. He remains the big key though, given that without him LSU will have all of four scholarship linebackers in the spring, and that's including true freshman Michael Divinity.
One more interesting piece of news was the announcement by former LSU baseball signee Zach von Rosenberg to enroll for LSU in the spring and walk on to the football team. Von Rosenberg, 25, signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates at the very last minute in 2009, and recently concluded his stint with the organization. He was a punter at Zachary High School but plans on trying to fit in wherever he can with the team, mentioning tight end and even quarterback in a radio interview. Not something that likely means a lot for the 2016 team, but one more thing to pay attention to this spring.