BATON ROUGE — LSU’s 2001 recruiting class is rated No. 2 in the nation by Collegiate Baseball magazine. The ranking marks the second straight year LSU has finished No. 2 in the recruiting survey, which appears in the Oct. 5 issue of the magazine.
Southern California is No. 1 in the 2001 recruiting poll, followed by LSU, Notre Dame, Miami (Fla.), Stanford, Ole Miss, Clemson, Arizona State, Florida State and South Carolina.
Other SEC teams appearing in the Top 25 are No. 18 Mississippi State, No. 19 Vanderbilt, No. 21 Tennessee, No. 22 Arkansas and No. 23 Alabama.
LSU’s recruiting class features four players who were selected in the 2001 draft. They are catcher Jonathan Zeringue of E.D. White High School in Thibodaux, La. (Chicago White Sox – third round); outfielder Jay Mattox of Conway (Ark.) High School (Chicago White Sox – fourth round); outfielder Dustin Hahn of Galena High School in Reno, Nev. (Baltimore Orioles – 21st round); and first baseman Jason Columbus of New Mexico Junior College (Cleveland Indians – 49th round).
The Tigers’ class includes several other highly touted prospects, including right-handed pitcher Jake Tompkins of Sacramento (Calif.) City College, infielder/right-handed pitcher Clayton Harris of Slidell (La.) High School, infielder J.C. Holt of Oak Hill High School in Sieper, La., and outfielder Brian Nagore of Okaloosa-Walton (Fla.) Junior College.
LSU assistant coach/recruiting coordinator Turtle Thomas continues to enhance his reputation as one of the nation’s best recruiters. Thomas, who served as the recruiting coordinator at Miami (Fla.) from 1989-99, has produced seven classes ranked either No. 1 or No. 2. Thomas assembled at Miami No. 1 classes in 1989, 1992 and 1994, and No. 2 classes in 1991 and 1999.
His two LSU classes (2000, 2001) have earned the No. 2 ranking.
2001 Collegiate Baseball Recruiting Class Rankings
1. Southern California
2. LSU
3. Notre Dame
4. Miami (Fla.)
5. Stanford
6. Ole Miss
7. Clemson
8. Arizona State
9. Florida State
10. South Carolina
11. Oklahoma
12. Texas
13. Cal State Fullerton
14. Georgia Tech
15. Oklahoma State
16. Texas Tech
17. San Jose State
18. Mississippi State
19. Vanderbilt
20. Cal State Northridge
21. Tennessee
22. Arkansas
23. Alabama
24. Rice
25. Baylor