Link to Transcript of Entire Chat

From The Times-Picayune (New Orleans newspaper) recruiting chat, excerpts that have A&M connections

Note: a new chat format was started this week. It allows users to comment on other users’ questions.

LSUThomas: How many WRers you think LSU signs? I like the commit Upchurch just fine and IF LSU were to get [Saeed] Blacknall [from Manalapan, New Jersey] and 3 LA ones, that would be 5.
James Smith, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune: They weren't planning on 5, but with the guys they have wanting to jump into the fold, they may be forced to take 5. I still think 4 is the number, but if Odell [Beckham Jr.] and Jarvis [Landry] leave early, 5 makes sense.

LSUThomas: The LBer [Clifton] Garrett [from Plainfield, Illinois] visit seems to have gone fantastic plus his friendship with Pocic can't hurt. IF Garrett were to commit to LSU, do you think [Josh] Mabin the TX LBer would still get interest from LSU?
James Smith, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune: I don't think so. They already have 2 linebackers committed and coming into this cycle, they thought 2 may be the final number they take. As it looks now, if Kenny Young and Clifton Garrett want in, they may be forced to take 4.

JohW1919: Should LSU fans be more concerned with Speedy Noil and [Gerald] Willis or [Cameron] Robinson and [Hootie] Jones?
James Smith, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune: I would probably be more concerned with Robinson and Jones than Noil and Willis. With that said, I don't think any of those guys are slam dunks.

LSUThomas: Was Brumfield the offensive player you thought would commit by [LSU’s spring game] or is that guy "still out there"?
James Smith, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune: Initially, it looked as if two guys were going to pull the trigger with Brumfield being one. The other is still out there for the time being.

SaintJM: Do you foresee any commitments to LSU in the near future or will it be quiet until the summer camps?
James Smith, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune: I think you will see Blacknall declare within the next couple of weeks or so and Trey Quinn is one to watch for as well. I think you will see a small handful of commitments over the next two months.

Bryan Kneipp: Jimmy, With it looking like we take 5 wide receivers this year...will it be a numbers game that causes us to only take 2 running backs? If so, who do you think the other will be besides Leonard Fournette?
James Smith, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune: Numbers could definitely limit LSU this cycle with so many big names in the mix right now. I don't think the Tigers are going to let Darrell Williams leave the state.

KingSimon_TheTigerFan: With last year’s signing class along with the 2014 class if the quarterback position develops nicely could LSU go on a UF (Tebow)/ Alabama type of run winning a national title or two or three straight 11-win seasons?
James Smith, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune: The QB position has been the only thing holding them back from making those type of runs over the past few years. If they continue to play defense at a high level and the QB play improves, I could definitely see LSU go on one of those type of runs.

JohW1919: I think LSU will have 4 WR commits with Upchurch, Dupre, Quinn and Blacknall and then Noil will be deciding at the UA game. Do you think having this many WR signees will affect his decision?
James Smith, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune: It could...The WR haul at Texas A&M in last year's class doesn't seem to bother him much, though.

JohW1919: Could LSU drop Upchurch if Blacknall, Speedy, Dupre and Quinn all want in?
James Smith, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune: It would be pure speculation at this point. They "can", but I am not sure they will. They may lose a lot of WR's this year so 5 may be the number in the end. 2015 is a good year in Louisiana for WR's, too.

GeauxAwayAggies: Gerald Willis already has an offer from LSU, and in last week’s chat you mentioned Garrald McDowell and Davon Godchaux as other DT possibilities for LSU. Do you think at some point LSU might try to flip St. Augustine DL Courtney Garnett from Texas?
James Smith, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune: I don't think so. They know and like Garnett, but I don't know if he is that high on their board. OJ Smith is one to watch as well.
LSUThomas: I wasn't too impressed with Garnett's offer list myself. And Texas right now IMO is trying to show they can recruit OOS. Mack Brown is GONE after this season! Take that to the bank!

LSUrachel: What are you thinking about Tony Brown? I know he went to the Alabama spring game this past weekend. I thought he was going to be an early commit, so I was just wondering what is your feeling on him coming to LSU.
James Smith, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune: His father fell ill, which in turn, made Tony want to slow things down. I still feel VERY confident that Brown will pick LSU.

KingSimon_TheTigerFan: With Mark Ingram and [Trent] Richardson both going in the 1st round, and teams using multiple backs, if Fournette signs [with LSU] could Nicholas Brossette follow up in 2015?
James Smith, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune: I don't think Brossette will be turned off by Fournette suiting up in Purple and Gold.

Nick Saban: LSU usually does a great job of keeping the top Louisiana recruits at home. What do you think would be the most effective sales pitches an opposing coach could use to convince Louisiana recruits to sign with his team instead?
LsuCanfan!: Keep on paying their girlfriends to man the telephones in the athletic offices!
James Smith, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune: To branch out and become your own man. This is a common tactic as coaches play on the fact that some kids want to break away from their parents and become their own adult.
LSUThomas: ROTFLMAO!! Of course, that ONLY applies if the prospects come from outside the state of Alabama! Surely, surely, kids are NOT that stupid! That would be the very first question I would ask the coach...sooooo, you encourage the kids in your own state to "become their own man" right?

LSUrachel: I was wondering if you heard from any of the recruits on the offensive side of the ball after the spring game about how they felt about Cameron's offense and just the little bit of what they saw Saturday?
James Smith, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune: They like the fact that LSU seems more inclined to stretch the field.

jhtruett: Is Leonard Fournette all LSU? Or is he entertaining the idea of heading elsewhere?
James Smith, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune: Is it possible that both are correct? When I watch the kid around LSU, he looks so comfortable and I really doubt he will get that anywhere else. I feel like he is a strong LSU lean, but who really knows. He keeps things pretty close to the vest.



If you have a relevant question – one related to recruiting in Louisiana or by a Louisiana university – post it below and I will submit it for you in an upcoming chat. – CrawfishAg

You can just smell the desperation through these comments every week.

Desperation??

LMAO.

That's funny.

Speedy seems like he's really interested in us

Maybe these elite WR prospects would like to actually see the LSU offense do what all of the LSU fans seem to think it’s going to do this season…

They are going to lose their minds when Fournette goes to Alabama and Speedy goes to A&M.

This was the first one where near everyone wasn't an LSU lean.

I'm telling you guys this James Smith is a puppeteer of the highest order. He's been dangling all the carrots for weeks and now he's pulling a few back up from the fingertips, all while entertaining more carrots the crowd is bringing him.

"...LSU may be forced to take (all the perceived best prospects at a position)"

Unnamed offensive player that was supposed to commit at the spring game but is still "at large".

Those are my favorites of the week. Like Miles' hands will be tied...the recruits will all insist on coming even if there isn't room. And his ghost surefire commits shell game is so obvious. What a joke. And they seem to hang on his every word.

^^Haha exactly BlackJack, they live and dive by the word of James Smith.

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They are going to lose their minds when Fournette goes to Alabama and Speedy goes to A&M

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I will pay any amount to see their reactions if this happens X'D

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Unnamed offensive player that was supposed to commit at the spring game but is still "at large".

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I thought they had a gaurd commit last weekend. That would be offense right

^you are thinking of Garrett Brumfield, the guy is referring to another OL that shall not be named

So he basically admitted that he was wrong about predicting the offensive commit. The previous weeks he said one. Now he says two were supposed to commit and one is at large...

I don't follow this Jimmy Smith guy but I don't think his other commitment prediction was an o-lineman. He wasn't the only insider to predict 2 commitments over the weekend but he did get the Brumfield prediction right.

Noil and Willis will both end up at A&M.

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Noil and Willis will both end up at A&M.

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His tone is beginning to tap on the brakes.

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I don't follow this Jimmy Smith guy but I don't think his other commitment prediction was an o-lineman. He wasn't the only insider to predict 2 commitments over the weekend but he did get the Brumfield prediction right.

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He didn't predict Brumfield right, he only said that an offensive player would commit. He then stated that the player he was thinking of did not commit. I can state that LSU will pick up a commit on their family picnic day, their 1st big recruiting game in the Fall, and almost any other major recruiting event and be correct. That doesn't make me an insider. It's the equivalent of a psychic telling you have had a major event involving a family member in the last year.

^^Exactly. He just threw that out there to add some suspense, based off his "exclusive" insider knowledge, and just so happened to get it right. A recruit committed after the spring game: REVOLUTIONARY!

**Not to mention one that goes to high school on LSU's campus X'D**

Guys a tool.

I don't know how connected this guy is with the LSU program but apparently a big local newspaper is willing to pay him for whatever connection he has. I don't follow him because there are better sources of information and those sources seemed to think 2 commitments were very probable over the weekend and 1 being an almost definite. Brumfield's name has been circulating for about a week before he committed. I have an idea of who the other guy was supposed to be and I won't be surprised if the same information is being recycled through most of the media outlets.

I don't know why you guys are so infatuated with what Jimmy Smith has to say especially since you hate everything that he says. He really is no different than a lot of Aggie sites that pass down information on your target prospects. The only time I ever read Smith is when CrawfishAg posts his stuff on this forum and I still feel he is more grounded than the guy who is in charge of the Ag site on 247. I believe your boy Hamm may have been responsible for the Brumfield favors TAMU over LSU scoop just a few weeks ago that got this board so excited.

double-post

[This message has been edited by JapanLSUfan (edited 4/25/2013 12:59a).]

First off, local newspapers are the suck these days, so working for one proves nothing about your knowledge or insight (see Jerome Soloman, The Eagle's David Harris, a host of guys that AAS trots out). Nobody is infatuated, we all just find his schtick funny. If you have an idea on who this mystery recruit is, then that puts you in the same boat as James Smith. That is the point, anybody can have have an idea in recruiting, throw some generic stuff out there and be right periodically.

How am I on the same boat as Smith? I have no followers and I don't get paid. I just follow recruiting information just like the rest of you guys. He, like the rest of us, like to speculate on who we get and don't get. We treat recruiting like we treat NFL drafts. Its fun to guess and it's even better when high profile players come on board. Smith's readers follow him because he is willing to put his balls on the block to make bold predictions.

I've been following real insiders who have been in the recruiting business for well over a decade and speak directly with the LSU coaching staff, high school coaching staffs, and the recruits themselves. That is enough credential for me to only follow them for LSU recruiting insight. If these guys say a recruit is likely to commit over a weekend and he doesn't, then oh well, it didn't happen. I know for every miss, they get 9 right.

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but apparently a big local newspaper is willing to pay him for whatever connection he has

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This isn't saying much. The SA-Express news pays the main A&M sports writer to include some recruiting news for every sport. That doesn't mean he knows what he's talking about or that he has an inside scoop.

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How am I on the same boat as Smith? I have no followers and I don't get paid. I just follow recruiting information just like the rest of you guys. He, like the rest of us, like to speculate on who we get and don't get. We treat recruiting like we treat NFL drafts. Its fun to guess and it's even better when high profile players come on board. Smith's readers follow him because he is willing to put his balls on the block to make bold predictions.

I've been following real insiders who have been in the recruiting business for well over a decade and speak directly with the LSU coaching staff, high school coaching staffs, and the recruits themselves. That is enough credential for me to only follow them for LSU recruiting insight. If these guys say a recruit is likely to commit over a weekend and he doesn't, then oh well, it didn't happen. I know for every miss, they get 9 right.

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You are in the same boat cause you can speculate based on others information and your own opinion on where recruits are going. James often has little more info than you or me but speculates in very generic ways. As you state you follow the Sonny Shipp's, Dandy Don's, or whoever because they go and talk to the players and coaches. This guy acts like he does, but appears to just plagurise the same boards that you and I read.

His readers don't follow him because he tells them what they want to hear... Everyone is an LSU lock! It has nothing to do with putting "balls on the block".

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The only time I ever read Smith is when CrawfishAg posts his stuff on this forum and I still feel he is more grounded than the guy who is in charge of the Ag site on 247. I believe your boy Hamm may have been responsible for the Brumfield favors TAMU over LSU scoop just a few weeks ago that got this board so excited

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So let me get this straight...you're trying to question why we rip the Weekly Lousiana Recruiting Chat based on their predictions but then you rip on "our boy" Hamm because of something you "believe he may have been responsible for" involving where a recruit might go that posted several weeks ago.

Are you that big of a hypocrite or are you just that stupid to see that this guy posts stuff like this every single week. This guy has been talking about how Quinn, Noil, Willis etc... are going to be committing any day now for the last 2 months.

By the way, it's not infatuation, it's entertainment watching this guy and the posters that ask the questions talk about recuits and the new offense. It's algorithmic:

Every single recruit LSU wants = LSU lock = going to commit any day now
Unless said recruit is not interested = "not Chevis good" and/or "not Cameron good"

Being a coonass yourself, I'm sure you fail to see why it's funny in the same way American Idol contestants cant see why people are laughing at their horrible singing.

AgStuckinLBK

is your use of "coonass" supposed to be derogatory??

This board sucks, so why do you want to knock the one small ounce of weekly entertainment we have around here?

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So let me get this straight...you're trying to question why we rip the Weekly Lousiana Recruiting Chat based on their predictions but then you rip on "our boy" Hamm because of something you "believe he may have been responsible for" involving where a recruit might go that posted several weeks ago.

Are you that big of a hypocrite or are you just that stupid to see that this guy posts stuff like this every single week. This guy has been talking about how Quinn, Noil, Willis etc... are going to be committing any day now for the last 2 months.

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Maybe you are too stupid to fully understand the context of my explanation. I am the hypocrite for saying that Smith is just like any other writer for sites that are tailored specifically for local target audiences? I was using Hamm to point out an example of a guy who writes for you and does similar stuff. It wasn't long ago that people on this board thought Brumfield was going to TAMU and were comparing him to Cameron Robinson. How about calling out the ones who started that false buzz before tossing stones at others.

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similar stuff.

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Its in no way similar. You keep listing one example over and over again about Brumfield which you admit you don't even know about for sure. Smith does this with every single recruit. If you can't tell the difference between one
Not only is he entertainment but watching y'all as LSU fans get so defensive about it is entertainment as well.

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Sam the Sham 2
posted 3:09p, 04/25/13



AgStuckinLBK

is your use of "coonass" supposed to be derogatory??

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Its a locational/perception thing. You and LSUfan are so LSU-centric that you can't see the county fair for the corn dogs (not sure if y'all knew what "cant see the forest for the trees" meant, so hopefully that explains my point). You honestly don't see what Smith is doing and why it is so funny, and when y'all come over and post on this thread defending it, it's even funnier.

I don't even know who smith is, and couldn't possibly care less.

You guys take these gurus to seriously...particulary the ones from other schools' perspectives.

Is this site's Guru not a homer? I don't read his stuff, so I dont know for sure. If he's not a homer, I'm thinking he's probably the only recruiting guru on the internet who is not.

As far as liucci being a homer....I will say this go look at his rankings of players from 2010 to now. He didn't have very many highly rated guys coming here until Sumlin started pulling in some of the top flight recruits. One "homer" pick he did do was put Johnny Manziel as the #1 QB in Texas when just about every recruiting service had him outside the top 10 of QBs in Texas

I can't look at his rankings without paying..and I'm not paying.

My point is this ...recruiting gurus do what they do for the consumption of their audience. You want to see some real homerism, check out any Alabama or Georgia recruiting site.

^^Stop trying to defend this Smith guy. He's as homer as they come. THAT's why it's funny, just leave it at that.