WAFB 9 News Baton Rouge, Louisiana News, Weather, SportsNational Signing Day: Athletes choose their futures

LSU head coach Les Miles insisted Wednesday he picked up plenty of talent in this year's class of new recruits, although the Tigers missed out on Dutchtown's Landon Collins and Shreveport's Torshiro Davis.

LSU's 2012 class may not measure up to those of Nick Saban at Alabama or Jimbo Fisher at Florida State, but Miles said he addressed needs at linebacker and offensive line with the 22 new players the Tigers picked up.

National Signing Day Rankings of SEC Universities:

1. Alabama

3. Florida

11. Auburn

16. LSU

17. Tennessee

The highest rated collection of signees is at linebacker partly thanks to Lorenzo Phillips of the Patterson Lumberjacks. He was an ESPNU top 150 player and a 4-star recruit, according to Rivals.com. Phillips will not only reunite with Kenny Hilliard, who played the position with him at Patterson, but he will also fill a need position for John Chavis and his defense. Chavis is the defensive coordinator, but coaches the linebackers himself. Another linebacker Miles hopes will fill a specific need is Kwon Alexander of Oxford, AL. He was once rated the top linebacker in the nation before No. 17 suffered a knee injury early in his senior season that kept him out for the year. Miles called his five linebackers the best collection he's signed since he took over in 2005. One of those is Sportsline star Ronnie Feist of West St. John, who took his Rams to the Superdome as a senior.

The Tigers also dipped down into New Orleans once again for a big guy. This time it was Derek Edinburgh from Edna Karr. The 6'8," 320-lb. offensive tackle was LSU's highest rated recruit, according to Rivals. Defensive back Dwayne Thomas of O. Perry Walker said he's been a fan of LSU's defense since the Nick Saban and Bo Pelini days, but didn't waiver in his decision to stay home and play his football for the in-state team with fellow Crescent City stars like Tyrann Mathieu and Anthony "Freak" Johnson.

Miles was outspoken about two potential playmakers for his offense named Jeremy. Jeremy Liggins was the only quarterback in this class for LSU. The Tigers snatched the 6'3," 280-lb. playmaker of Lafayette County, MS away from Ole Miss in the last 48 hours. Liggins used his legs and his arm to win back-to-back state championships his junior and senior seasons. He also played in the state title game as a sophomore, only to lose out to Brett Favre's nephew, Dylan, and St. Stanislas. Miles needed a quarterback in this class after losing 5-star recruit Gunner Kiel to Notre Dame.

The other Jeremy familiar to Sportsline fans is Redemptorist running back Jeremy Hill. He was originally slated for last year's class before off-the-field troubles. Hill will now be reunited with teammate La'el Collins. And even though Hill faces stiff competition against what T-Bob Hebert called an embarrassment of riches at the running back position with Spencer Ware, Michael Ford, Terrance Magee and Kenny Hilliard, Miles made a pretty bold statement about No. 27. He called Hill the sleeper in this year's recruiting class.

Southern University head coach Stump Mitchell received a standing ovation at the recruiting bash on campus. Mitchell is still not getting many signatures from in-state talent. Just three of his signees are from south Louisiana. However, Mitchell was able to address needs along the defensive line. Mitchell also picked up Anthony Scott, a running back from O. Perry Walker. Scott was a high school teammate of the LSU signee Dwayne Thomas. He said he's coming to Baton Rouge to make an immediate impact.

One of the signees the Jags are talking about is Lenard Tillery of McKinley, who chose Southern over Alcorn, Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Northwestern State.

There were other Panthers who signed with schools. Garrick Mayweather is going to Fordham, while Kherwyn Marshall is headed to Evangel College. Soccer star April Ziffer signed a letter of intent with Mississippi Valley State and Cody Swain will also play in the SWAC. He's headed to Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

The most successful seniors in the history of Episcopal football celebrated scholarships, including WAFB Warrick Dunn finalist Mike Henry, who's headed to Thibodaux and Nicholls State. Henry said he's just as excited about teammate Tylor Harris, who was a late addition to the Demon Deacons of Wake Forest and the ACC after considering other great academic schools, like Northwestern of the Big Ten and Stanford of the Pac-12.

Cole LeBlanc of Live Oak picked Southeastern Louisiana University.

Four Central High players signed their letters of intent. The surprise of the group was Logan Metcalfe, who switched from Ark-Monticello to Louisiana College.

Tyre Bracken of White Castle signed with Southern Miss.

Jamarcus Jarvis of East Ascension chose North Texas. Devante Davis of Woodlawn High is also headed to North Texas.

Lutcher running back Daniel Taylor signed with Northwestern. Cornerback Jordan Baptiste was there also. He already signed with and enrolled at Tulane.

The 9Sports crew will have all of this, not to mention countless other area signings that will air either as part of our newscasts or Sportsline OT this Saturday.

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