Link Gumbo-1/16/18

After a crazy few weeks, the news around the LSU Football program has begun to slow down. There are still a few things to note that took place over the weekend including LSU officially naming Jerry Sullivan and Greg McMahon to the coaching staff. There are also some notes regarding recruiting and how LSU’s roster is shaping up for next year that are worth taking a look at. Finally, we also will examine how the gym squad and basketball team fared over the weekend.

LSU has officially announced that Jerry Sullivan and Greg McMahon will be a part of the 10-man coaching staff this season. These moves were no secret and have been expected for quite a while now. Sullivan will work primarily in the passing game and with receivers. Sullivan is regarded as a WR “guru” and should help immensely with LSU’s talented receiving core. McMahon will serve as the Special Teams Coordinator after working as an analyst last year. McMahon will be LSU’s first Special Teams Coordinator since Bradley Dale Pevoto was let go following the 2016 season. McMahon will look to bring the consistency that LSU has been lacking in special teams.

It was a big recruiting weekend for LSU as four blue-chip prospects were on hand for official visits. These players were five-star cornerback Patrick Surtain along with four-stars QB James Foster, receiver Jamar Chase, and defensive back Mario Goodrich. LSU only has three spots left in their signing class after inking 22 signees during the early signing period. In that link, you will also see that all but one of LSU’s early enrollees have arrived on campus.

The deadline for juniors to declare for the draft was yesterday and LSU will be losing six juniors early to the draft as Will Clapp was the last to declare this past Thursday. The trend of LSU losing players early to the draft continues. LSU did get some good news yesterday as Gaurd Garret Brumfield and Saftey John Battle both announced that they would be returning. Ross Dellenger, in a piece for The Advocate, took a look at how LSU’s 2018 roster was shaping up.

Battle put some cool effort into his announcement:

LSU lost a tough one to Alabama on the hardwood Saturday night. LSU was ahead of Alabama for most of the first half but lost control of things when Alabama made a run to open the second. It was a tough loss for LSU as it would have been nice to grab a win in front of a packed PMAC. Late in the second half, Will Wade got very frustrated with the refs and was handed a technical foul. LSU will now shift its attention to UGA, who they host in the PMAC at 6 PM CT tonight.

#GYMSZN continued last Friday as LSU ground out a win in Gainesville. Sarah Finnegan was the star for LSU as she closed strong for the Tigers on Friday night to give them the win. LSU is now preparing for a showdown with 9th ranked Alabama on Friday night.

To close things out, I wanted to shout out Leonard Fournette. Fournette repped LSU with purple and gold shoulder pads Sunday during a win over the Steelers in the divisional round. Fournette and the Jaguars will travel to New England on Sunday to play for the AFC Championship.