JUCO DL Isaiah Buggs Commits to Alabama

Stud JUCO DL Isaiah Buggs announced his decision today and chose Alabama:

Buggs is a big time prospect that’s been on my radar since he failed to qualify coming out of HS. He’s been a long time LSU lean... until the last few months. Alabama put the full court press on and secured his services today. At 6’5”, 280 pounds, he’s a big, athletic DE that should contribute immediately.

On the surface, this looks like yet another bad piece of recruiting news. But I think there’s some real questions to ask her. His primary recruiter for LSU was Bradley Dale Peveto, who has since been fired. Orgeron was the secondary recruiter. Not only did Buggs never make an official visit to LSU, there seems to have been very little contact between the two.

Did the staff cool on him? It’s possible Orgeron didn’t hold him in as high of regard as Miles did. I’m reading tea leaves here, but you have to think if he was a priority to get in this class, Orgeron and others would have devoted time to get in his home and try to get him on campus. Instead, nothing.

The counter might be that Buggs simply wanted Alabama all along, but he oddly ended his note thanking LSU, talking about not having a full coaching staff in place (I don’t buy this as his position coach is locked in) and saying Geaux Tigers.

At the end of the day, this looks a lot like Orgeron walked away from this one. Why? I don’t know. Maybe he thought it would negatively impact Marvin Wilson’s recruitment? Maybe he didn’t have as high of a grade on him as Miles? This could easily be a decision that winds up back firing on Orgeron, as Buggs looks to be a big time player and should play immediately for Alabama.

Could it also be a sign that perhaps Christian LaCouture or Davon Godchaux are eying a return to Baton Rouge next season? That would certainly ease the burden of needing a DL to play right away.

Big recruiting miss or is this the beginning of seeing a re-prioritization of staff recruiting efforts?