LSU Football: Historic Louisiana high school recruiting misses

In recent years, the LSU Tigers have come under scrutiny for not keeping their top talent in-state. While they are changing the narrative on that, prior to current head coach Brian Kelly’s arrival, there seem to be a lack of focus on keeping homegrown talent home in one of the hottest recruiting beds in the country.

Previous LSU head coach Ed Orgeron seemed to veer away from putting an emphasis on recruiting the in-state talent, and his predecessor Les Miles before that had some misses as well on the recruiting front.

Here are some top Louisiana high school recruits that did not play for the LSU Tigers

Joe McKnight (RB, USC)

McKnight is from Kenner, Louisiana and would play three seasons for the USC Trojans. The former John Curtis High School product got away from the Tigers in the class of 2007, which was Nick Saban’s final year as head coach. McKnight was ranked as the number one overall prospect in the country that year.

Cam Robinson (OT, Alabama)

This one hurts, considering Robinson went onto play three seasons for the Alabama Crimson Tide, and was an anchor for the 2015 national championship team. The Monroe, Louisiana product was the number five overall prospect nationally, and top offensive line prospect in the high school class of 2014 according to On3.

Dylan Moses (LB, Alabama)

At the time of his high school recruitment, Moses was thought by many to be “the Lebron James of football.” Although his tenure with the Alabama Crimson Tide ended sadly with his production and speed noticeably falling off after an ACL injury, Moses’ time overall with the Tide was very productive as he would total 196 tackles in three seasons in Tuscaloosa.

Dylan Moses' high school recruitment Moses was part of the high school recruiting class of 2017. The former IMG Academy product hailed from Alexandria, Louisiana. He was ranked as the number one linebacker in his class according to On3.

Arch Manning (QB, Texas)

This last name needs no introduction as he is presumed to be the next great Manning in a long line of them. Manning played his high school ball in New Orleans, Louisiana at Isadore Newman high school, but left the state for the Texas Longhorns as part of the 2023 recruiting class where On3 ranked him as the number one overall prospect in the country.

As mentioned, Brian Kelly is changing this narrative, recruiting talent like Will Campbell, Harold Perkins Jr., Trey’Dez Green and Dominick McKinley. However, LSU fans will forever talk about “what could have been” if the had kept some of the high school stand outs mentioned above at home.