Massive Nose Tackle Dominic Livingston Commits to LSU

Since taking over as head coach, Orgeron has vowed to rebuild the offensive and defensive lines. Last night, he took another step in that direction, securing the commitment of Houston, three-star tackle Dominic Livingston. “Big Domo,” as his fantastic twitter handle is named, is 6-3, 340 pounds. Lest you think he’s a gigantic slug, he can reportedly dunk a basketball regularly. Here’s some highlight tape:

Livingston stands out on tape, with his massive frame. He gets off the ball better than you might expect someone at 340 pounds too. He’s a bit of a bull in a china shop out there and doesn’t really flash much technique at this age. By virtue of his size alone he’s able to dominate high school talent, and at the next level he’s got to focus on keeping a better pad level to anchor in the run game. Simply standing up and being massive won’t cut it. Still his natural power and being light on his feet stand out. Nose tackles aren’t ever sexy recruiting pieces, but they are types of players you can build a defense around. LSU has struggled in recent years with getting pushed around at the line of scrimmage and having sufficient depth on the defensive line. Livingston gives you another solution to both of those questions.

Orgeron is dedicating major resources to the rebuilding of the offensive line and defensive front. He’s noted, at various times, that LSU had more kicking specialists than linebackers on the roster, something he found to be problematic. In last year’s signing class, he inked four linebackers and three def. linemen. As it stands today, he has another three LBs and six linemen (depending on where you ultimately slot Hines and Rosenthal). Toss in seven offensive linemen in the last two combined classes, and you are looking at nearly a full signing class worth of just OL/Defensive front players. That’s a total commitment to the rebuild.

LSU’s signing class now sits at no. 12 nationally in the 247 team composite rankings, with 20 total verbal commitments. As we inch closer to the early signing period, it will be interesting to see if all 20 verbals opt to sign. I suspect most will, but if there are hold outs, it may give the staff reason to move on to other targets, of which there are plenty. Signing the bulk of the class in the early period will allow the coaching staff to put a full court press on those handful of elite targets heading into February signing period.

Stay tuned to see how this class shakes out.