LSU Tigers

BATON ROUGE, La. -- One thing you can say about the track performances of Louisiana's top prospects in football this season is: Well, they had good football seasons.

The Louisiana state high school track and field meet at LSU's Bernie Moore Stadium wasn't kind to many of the state's top football players, who struggled with either injuries or "off" weekends.

The big exception was Malachi Dupre, who swept the Class 2A jump events -- the long jump, triple jump and high jump -- and was named outstanding field performer. He was joined by several players off the Patriots football team who dominated the 2A meet.

For others, it was a painful weekend. The nation's top Class of 2014 football prospect, Leonard Fournette, had to withdraw from several events after pulling up injured in the Class 4A 4x200 relay. Jeryl Brazil won the 3A 100, but pulled up injured in the 200.

Here are the Louisiana football prospects who placed in the Louisiana state meet:

Long jump: Donald Gage (Houston signee), Zachary, 24-1 3/4 (5A champion); Speedy Noil, Karr, 23-6 (third in 4A); Malachi Dupre, River Ridge John Curtis, 23-5 3/4 (2A champion); D'Vante Dotson, Baton Rouge University, 22-6 1/4 (Second in 2A); Jazz Ferguson, Bains West Feliciana, 21-81/2 (fifth in 3A)

Triple jump: Dupre, 44-2 1/4 (2A champion)

High jump: Dupre, 6-6 (2A champion)

Shot put: Anthony Taylor (Tulane signee), River Ridge John Curtis, 60-4 (2A champion); David Elias (UL-Monroe signee), Geismar Dutchtown, 56-10 1/4 (5A champion); Eric Thomas (Tulane signee), River Ridge John Curtis, 56-0 (third in 2A); Hakim Gray, 54-6 (Louisiana Tech signee), North DeSoto, 54-6 (3A champion); Darian Claiborne (Texas A&M signee), Port Allen, 52-11 1/4 (third in 3A); RaeJuan Marbley, Destrehan, 50-8 1/4 (fifth in 5A)

Discus: Anthony Taylor (Tulane signee), River Ridge John Curtis, 16-1 (2A champion); Duke Riley (LSU signee), River Ridge John Curtis, 150-8 (Second in 2A)

Javelin: Darian Claiborne (Texas A&M signee), Port Allen, 180-0 (second in 3A)

100: Sherman Badie (Tulane signee), River Ridge John Curtis, 10.59 (second in 2A); Richard Allen (Tulane signee), River Ridge John Curtis, 10.63 (third in 2A); Jeryl Brazil (LSU signee), Loranger, 10.64 (3A champion); Rashid Bonnette, Loreauville, 10.92 (fourth in 2A)

200: Richard Allen (Tulane signee), River Ridge John Curtis, 21.76 (second in 2A); Terrence Alexander, River Ridge John Curtis, 21.92 (third in 2A); D'Vante Dotson, Baton Rouge University, 22.56 (fifth in 2A); Eugene Brazley (Ole Miss signee), New Orleans Carver, 22.64 (sixth in 2A)

110 high hurdles: Duke Riley (LSU signee), River Ridge John Curtis, 14.70 (second in 2A)

BATON ROUGE, La. -- At LSU, the offseason is not the same as a "slow" season.

The Tigers are always good for offseason news and, as recent events tell us with the off-field arrests of Jeremy Hill and Tharold Simon (on his way to the NFL), the news isn't always good.

Things never get boring on the bayou. Here are five storylines to look out for prior to LSU starting August camp.

1. The Hill issue: LSU's leading rusher from the 2012 season has been suspended from the team indefinitely after being charged with simple assault following a bar fight, an arrest complicated by the fact that Hill was already on probation.

The questions are many. Does Hill face a serious legal problem given his probation? If he does, will he still be available at the start of the fall semester?

If he doesn't face a serious legal issue, might he face a discipline issue from Les Miles and, if so, what might that be?

The Tigers have just four scholarship running backs, including Hill. Losing him before the first August practice could hurt LSU's power running identity.

2. The Leslie situation: What might cushion the blow of either losing Hill or seeing him serve a lengthy suspension would be improvement to the Tigers' sometimes anemic passing game.

That's where junior college transfer Quantavius Leslie comes in.

The Hinds Community College sophomore needs to finish coursework at his junior college to be eligible to join the Tigers this summer. If he makes it, the hope is he gives LSU the big, downfield threat it's looking for. LSU has plenty of experience back at receiver, but all of the top receivers are around 6-foot tall. Leslie would add something the Tigers currently lack.

The hope was that Leslie would graduate at the end of the fall of 2012 and join the team in the spring semester. That did not happen and he had to return to junior college to finish his degree requirements. Reports from his juco have been good, but Leslie still has to finish.

3. Scheduling: LSU seems to be in the minority in being unhappy with the SEC schedule format.

The Tigers are stuck having to play an annual game with Florida as its "permanent" cross-division rival while the other SEC West kingpin, Alabama, gets to play Tennessee, which has struggled in recent years.

LSU's preference would be to eliminate the permanent cross-division rivalry or, possibly, add a ninth SEC game. Neither idea seems to have much traction as the conference members, for the most part, are content with their league schedules. But LSU will try again in both fronts at the SEC spring meetings later this month.

4. Youth is ready?: We usually think of a new recruiting class beginning to compete for playing time in August.

In reality, it starts much sooner than that. Eight members of LSU's recruiting class enrolled in spring and several made pushes to be on the two-deep. The rest of the class will be on campus in June, ready to go through the offseason workout program.

By the start of August camp, we might already have an idea who is ready to push for time based on what we're hearing about their offseason work.

5. Pursuing the 2014 class: Given an unusually strong year for talent in Louisiana, LSU has a legitimate chance at a No. 1 recruiting class nationally.

The Tigers entered May with nine commitments and are on the short list for several uncommitted players in the ESPN 150. Starting with LSU's late-May "Bayou Picnic" for top prospects and continuing with a pair of summer camps in early June and mid-July, the Tigers will have a series of recruiting events that traditionally have yielded the Tigers dividends in its recruiting classes.

This year, LSU will hope to use the camp to land some big names from the state and the region in a year where Louisiana has the nation's top prospect (running back Leonard Fournette) and its top offensive lineman (tackle Cameron Robinson), among several other top recruits.

It was a huge weekend for LSU football.

It was also a bit of a black eye for Tigers football.

On the same weekend LSU set an NFL record with six defensive players drafted in the first three rounds and a school record with nine players total getting picked, the Tigers also had two players arrested -- their leading rusher and a draft prospect two nights before he was picked.

For as much as LSU makes news with the talent it possesses, it seems like it spends as much time being discussed lately for off-field behavior of its players. After a weekend where LSU should have been celebrating its prolific production of pro talent, the Tigers are instead dealing with questions yet again about player conduct.

Jeremy Hill, who rushed for 755 yards and 12 touchdowns as a freshman in 2012, is the one dominating the headlines Monday.

Already on probation after pleading guilty to carnal knowledge of a juvenile, Hill was arrested Saturday night after allegedly punching someone outside a bar near LSU and subsequently has been charged with simple battery. He was suspended from the team indefinitely by coach Les Miles on Monday.

His arrest came two nights after former Tigers cornerback Tharold Simon was arrested on several charges, including public intimidation, in a dispute with police in his hometown of Eunice, La. Despite the arrest, Simon was drafted in the fifth round by the Seattle Seahawks.

(Read full post)

Tom Luginbill breaks down what some of the top teams in the country have done this spring in recruiting.

#BlueChipBattles : RecruitingNation summoned its writers from around the country to outline the recruiting battles for the ESPN 150's top 10 prospects.

Plus, rank the battles in SportsNation.

#TopFBMixtapes: Athlete mixtapes are all the rage in this highlight-crazed era of sports. We reached out to our Twitter followers to find out which 2014 football stars had the best highlight reels on YouTube, then had our staff rank and comment on the top submissions.

Tom Luginbill writes : After talking to many coaches across the country and hearing their frustrations, here are their five biggest complaints about homemade highlight videos.