BATON ROUGE – LSU coach Brian Kelly and his staff hauled in one of the nation’s top signing classes as the Tigers landed 25 signees here on the first day of the early signing period.
LSU’s signing class, the second for Kelly and staff, is ranked No. 6 nationally by On3, Rivals and 247Sports.
LSU’s class includes eight of the top 16 players in the state of Louisiana, along with the No. 1 rated player in Maryland and Minnesota. The class also features three players ranked among the best in Nevada, Missouri and Ohio.
“We are super excited about the 25 freshman we have signed,” Kelly said. “We focused strictly on recruiting to LSU the players we want here, ones that we believe will be successful here and players that we can develop. That was our mindset.
“We recruited those players that we believe understand our mission to graduate champions. We are excited about developing them in the classroom, in the community and on the football field.”
The group of 25 signees include 10 from the state of Louisiana, five from Texas, four from Georgia and one each from Florida, Missouri, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada and Ohio.
“We stayed in an SEC footprint for the most part,” Kelly said. “Twenty-one of the 25 signees are from the SEC footprint. We did move nationally because of our brand recognition.”
This year’s class features 14 players on offense and 11 on defense. The group is led by four on the offensive line and at wide receiver, followed by three at tight end, cornerback and defensive end/edge. LSU also signed a pair of running backs and linebackers along with a quarterback.
“We were looking for balance on offense and defense, which I think is what we got,” Kelly said. “You are always looking for players to impact immediately. This is a class that I believe, when we recruit them, we are asking them to immediately impact LSU football. That means represent LSU in a positive way in the classroom, in the community and as it relates to football, so be ready to compete immediately.”
The Tigers added five players from the Baton Rouge area, a group that is led by 5-star wide receiver Shelton Sampson Jr. from Catholic High School. Other local products include safety Kylin Jackson from Zachary High School, running back Kaleb Jackson from Liberty High School, quarterback Rickie Collins from Woodlawn High School and edge rusher Dylan Carpenter from St. Amant High School.
Other players from Louisiana in LSU’s class include 5-star offensive lineman Lance Heard from Neville, Louisiana’s all-time rushing leader Trey Holly from Union Parish, offensive lineman Tyree Adams from St. Augustine, wide receiver Khai Prean from St. James and cornerback Ashton Stamps from Rummel.
Kelly and his staff landed the top player in Maryland in defensive end Da’Shawn Womack and the No. 1 rated player in Minnesota in edge rusher Jaxon Howard. Other top players from other states joining the LSU roster include cornerback Jeremiah Hughes (Nevada), tight end Mac Markway (Missouri), tight end Jackson McGohan (Ohio), and wide receiver Jalen Brown (Florida).
Linebacker Whit Weeks, the younger brother of LSU linebacker West Weeks, is one of four players from Georgia who signed on Wednesday. Other players from Georgia include offensive lineman DJ Chester, safety Michael Daugherty, and offensive lineman Paul Mubenga.
The five signees from Texas include linebacker Christian Brathwaite, wide receiver Kyle Parker, tight end Ka’Morreun Pimpton, cornerback Javien Toviano and safety Ryan Yaites.