Thursday, February 7, 2013
LSU's unique recruiting connection
By Matt Giles
In his first season at LSU, coach Johnny Jones and his staff have managed to assemble a top-tier recruiting class for 2013-14. Headlined by Jarrell Martin, the LSU coaches managed to convince one of the state's top prospects to stay home for his college career, and Jones was able to corral several high-ranking recruits from across the South. The Tigers, interestingly, also have an incoming 6-foot-8 player from Australia.
Deng Deng spent time at Lee Academy, one of the top prep programs in the Northeast; at the time of his commitment, it was a sign that the addition of David Patrick to the LSU bench would immediately pay dividends. Patrick, who recruited Patty Mills to Saint Mary's, was previously a player personnel scout for Houston and spent most of his youth in Australia (eventually playing for the Australian Junior National team). Now comes word that 7-footer Darcy Morgan, also an Australian native, has committed to LSU, and Matt McCurdy of Scout confirms Mills often worked out with Morgan during the NBA lockout.
This is a significant recruiting development for the SEC program. Morgan should play immediate minutes, and will greatly boost the Tigers' frontcourt. Also, Morgan has spent time playing on teams with both Dante Exum and Ben Simmons, two LSU targets and players highly ranked on any recruiting services.
