When the Notre Dame football team won the Albert Simien sweepstakes on Friday, there was plenty to celebrate. The commitment from the 5-star offensive lineman was historic because it marked the first time such a prospect had left SEC country. He also helped Marcus Freeman’s squad push average recruiting scores higher, to the point where they are giving Mike Elko and Texas A&M a real run for their money. Those were all positives for the program itself. The added bonus is that some people who watch the LSU program closely think there’s something to worry about the way Lane Kiffin has started his Tigers’ head coaching career on the recruiting front.
Nicholas Rome of Saturday Blitz was among the most prominent voices who think Kiffin has a problem brewing. Despite a recruiting class that ranks No. 11 in the nation, the former Ole Miss head coach hasn’t gotten off to the roaring start the Bayou Bengals would seemingly need to make a run for a national title, or multiple titles, as LSU faithful are expecting.
“In order to reach the full potential at LSU, you need to be able to put a fence around the state and keep the best players in the Boot. Kiffin inherited a great class of in-state recruits like 5-stars Lamar Brown and Richard Anderson from Brian Kelly, but this recruiting class was going to be his first test,” Rome wrote. And that’s where Notre Dame comes in. Albert Simien is the No. 2 offensive lineman in the entire class. More importantly for Kiffin, he was the No. 2 player in the state of Louisiana.
Simien is the kind of player LSU simply cannot lose a recruiting battle on. The state produces enough talent that the Tigers will never get every single in-state prospect, but they need to win the big ones. To make matters worse, there’s a chance that Kiffin could lose his grip on the state’s top prospect, too.
Albert Simien commitment gives Notre Dame football bonus Lane Kiffin twist
Tight end Ahmad Hudson is currently committed to LSU. However, his pledge came amid a strong battle between the SEC school and Nebraska. There are now whispers that the Cornhuskers are creating a wedge between the two sides. What if Notre Dame scoring Albert Simien is the start of an avalanche that Lane Kiffin can’t stop?
“When Lane Kiffin took the LSU job,” Rome added. “There wasn't a better time for him to send a statement on the recruiting trail. Louisiana has 4 players ranked as 5-star recruits and 9 players ranked as top 300 prospects overall this cycle. The bad news for Lane Kiffin is that he only holds a commitment from 1 of the 5-stars, while 5 of the top 300 recruits are committed elsewhere.”
That one 5-star is Hudson. Should he choose to go to Nebraska eventually, Kiffin’s seat gets more uncomfortable.
If Notre Dame can play even a small part in souring Kiffin’s first season at LSU, then that’s a heck of an added bonus for scoring one of the best interior offensive linemen the Fighting Irish have scored in the modern era.
Add us as a preferred source on Google