LSU Football: Tigers announce 2016 recruiting class
The LSU football program has welcomed a new crop of talented players to Baton Rouge, announcing the 2016 Tigers recruiting class on National Signing Day.
The LSU Tigers began the day with the No. 1 recruiting class but couldn’t hold the top spot when their targets came off the board and National Signing Day wrapped up for Les Miles’ team, but it was still a top-five class for the Bayou Bengals.
Related Story: 20 Most Hyped Recruits of All-Time
LSU capitalized on a very strong crop of Louisiana talent in 2016, having landed 13 in-state prospects that ranked among 247Sports’ top 300 high school recruits. Among them are three four-star early enrollees top-five linebacker Michael Divinity, 6-foot-5, 230-pound wide receiver Stephen Sullivan and hulking 258-pound running back Devin White, in addition to five-star defensive tackle Rashard Lawrence. Expect all four to compete for playing time as true freshmen. The big signing day addition came from five-star cornerback Kristian Fulton to soften the blow from losing Erick Flowers to Texas.
The Tigers also did well out of state by landing Florida cornerback Saivion Smith, who ranked among the nation’s top five cornerbacks and top 50 players overall and is also an early enrollee, as well as Texas defenders safety Eric Monroe and defensive end Rahssan Thornton, and another Lone Star Stater, 6-foot-5 wideout Dee Anderson.
It’s obviously a strong class given the Tigers are a consensus No. 1, and the class got a boost with a late quarterback commit.
Less than a week from Signing Day, LSU was in danger of missing out on a quarterback following the late fall decommitment of Feleipe Franks, who is already enrolled at Florida.
With Brandon Harris’s development still a concern for the Tigers entering the 2016 season and an overall lack of talent among LSU’s underclassmen signal caller, QB was the biggest area of need. Fortunately, LSU snagged three-star Lindsay Scott, who is ranked No. 25 nationally among dual-threat signal callers.
More saturday blitz: Top 10 classes headed into National Signing Day
Needless to say, LSU head coach Les Miles and Tigers’ fans are understandably very excited about this talented crop of new Tigers.
Complete 2016 LSU Football Recruiting Class:
Note: All rankings mentioned come from 247Sports unless otherwise noted.