LSU's biggest recruiting busts under Les Miles: A closer look

“Bust” is a word that is defined many different ways. In general however, it is safe to say that it is a player not living up to the expectations outsiders expected of them. Often times this is based off of recruiting rankings, video footage and other things. To be honest, this is not necessarily fair to the player many times, nor is it always in their control depending on the situation they are put into.

For the LSU Tigers under Les Miles, there were definitely some stand out players during his tenure such as Leonard Fournette, Jamarcus Russell, Patrick Peterson, Odell Beckham Jr. and more. There were also some that were underutilize, or not utilized correctly in my opinion.

As with any program bringing in the amount of highly touted recruits that come to Baton Rouge each year, there is inevitably some that do not perform up to expectations on the field which could be for a variety of reasons. Nonetheless, the Tigers were no different under Les Miles who coached the team from 2005-2016.

I took the time to dive into some of the most highly touted high school recruits according to ESPN’s recruiting rankings for LSU and identified some that did not pan out as anticipated for Miles at LSU.

What are the biggest recruiting busts under Les Miles?

5. Terrence Toliver (wide receiver)

Out of high school Toliver was listed as the seventh overall prospect in ESPN’s class of 2007. His most productive season was his junior year where he caught 53 passes for 735 yards and three touchdowns.

The former five star product out of Hempstead, Texas only managed to amass 1,820 receiving yards in total during his four years in Baton Rouge.

Toliver was a member of LSU’s 2008 BCS and was Freshman All-SEC in 2007

Toliver would bounce around to six different teams over three years in the NFL.

For most, these are impressive accolades. But for a former five star, much more was expected of Toliver and Miles did not get the most out of him.