LSU Recruiting: Tigers lose 4-star defensive back commit

LSU’s 2018 recruiting class was dealt a swift blow when one of their to commits announced his decommitment from the LSU football team.

Nadab Joseph is the nation’s no. 24 ranked cornerback, and no. 225 overall, and on Thursday he decommitted from the Tigers. LSU fans have long been concerned about the strength of Joseph’s pledge after it was revealed that the 4-star safety was being courted by a number of schools, most notably Alabama and Georgia.

Those concerns turned into a harsh reality for Tiger fans as LSU lost one of the highest rated commitments in its current recruiting class on Thursday, dropping LSU’s 2018 class to no. 11 nationally, according to the 247Sports team recruiting rankings.

Joseph earned an official offer from Alabama in June after camping in Tuscaloosa. Joseph returned to the Yellowhammer State again in July to camp at Alabama for the second time in as many months.

As his relationship with the Alabama coaches grew stronger, so did his love for everything that Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide have to offer. So much so, that in June, he even hinted that he was going to back out of his LSU pledge when talking to SEC Country’s lead Alabama writer, Chris Kirschner.

While Joseph’s decommitment surely doesn’t serve as a positive omen for the Tigers, Ed Orgeron and LSU defensive backs coach Corey Raymond will continue trying to lure Joseph back into LSU’s 2018 class.

However as it stands now, Alabama, LSU, Georgia, and Florida State should be considered the primary contenders for Joseph’s services moving forward, with the Crimson Tide deemed as the presumable favorites.

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Joseph’s departure leaves just two defensive backs committed in the 2018 LSU recruiting class.

• 4-Star CB/S Kelvin Joseph (Baton Rouge, La)
• 3-Star CB Ar’Darius Washington (Shreveport, La)

Despite Joseph’s decommitment, LSU might not be in that bad of a position at defensive back. Orgeron and Raymond aim to collect letters of intent from atleast three defensive backs in the LSU recruiting class. They continue to have their sights set on a certain 5-star prospect that LSU fans have become very familiar with.

5-Star CB Pat Surtain (Fort Lauderdale, FL) 

I have detailed LSU’s pursuit of 5-star CB Patrick Surtain before, and it goes without saying that Surtain is the most likely candidate to fill the void left by Joseph’s departure. Surtain’s lengthy 6-foot-2 frame, tremendous ball skills , and out-of-this-world athleticism.

It sound like it’s a matter of when Surtain joins the LSU recruiting class, and not if. While the nation’s no. 1 cornerback prospect has proclaimed LSU as his leading school on multiple occasions, Orgeron and his staff know that it doesn’t mean anything until he signs that national letter of intent. LSU currently has 90 percent of the 20 crystal ball predictions for Surtain.