Ed Orgeron fires latest shot in recruiting battle between Alabama and LSU
HOOVER, Ala. — It was easy to miss, but Ed Orgeron fired a subtle shot at Alabama earlier this week. The LSU head coach shied away from mentioning the Crimson Tide directly during his appearance at SEC Media Days on Monday, but he didn’t need to in order to get his point across.
When discussing four-star freshman Devonta Lee — a player whom both Alabama and LSU pursued in this year’s recruiting class — Orgeron couldn’t help himself. Signing Lee represented a victory in the talent-rich town of Amite, La., an area that has been cherrypicked by the Crimson Tide in recent years.
Alabama landed receiver DeVonta Smith from Amite High School in 2017 and snagged defensive back Shyheim Carter from nearby Kentwood the year before. But this time Orgeron got the best of Nick Saban — and he wanted everyone to know it.
“It's a battle, obviously, a battle especially from that area,” Orgeron said of Amite. “And we feel that we got the best player on that team. Devonta Lee had a great state championship game. He played offense. He played defense. He's a great young man.”
At first glance, it’s just a head coach beaming over one of his prized recruits. However, Lee wasn’t the only high-profile recruit to come out of Amite High School this class.
In his assessment of Amite’s best player, Orgeron skipped over Ishmael Sopsher. The 6-foot-4, 334-pound defensive tackle was also a four-star recruit in this year’s class. In fact, Sopsher ranked No. 72 overall, 54 spots ahead of Lee.
No one’s blaming Orgeron for talking up his guy. Both Sophsher and Lee are promising prospects, and as the LSU coach pointed out, the latter has all the makings to become a future star player for the Tigers.
“He wanted to come to LSU, his family,” Orgeron said of Lee. “They wanted to be there. He never wavered. He went and took a couple visits. We felt he's a high-character young man. He's going to have a great career.”
Although, it’s again up to interpretation as to whether those last statements were another shot. It’s worth noting that Sopsher did waver during the recruiting process. The coveted defensive tackle left his decision up until National Signing Day before donning an Alabama visor and choosing the Crimson Tide over the Tigers on national television.
“I just wanted to be coached under Nick Saban,” Sopsher said after signing. “Coach Nick Saban is a great person, and my biggest priorities in picking a school were being comfortable and having a great education and being coached so I can go to the next level.”
Those words had to sting a bit for Orgeron.
Alabama has been a thorn in LSU's side in recent years. Since 2012, the Crimson Tide has plucked away nine players who ranked in the top-five in the state of Louisiana in their respective classes.
That’s not counting five-star linebacker Dylan Moses, who attended IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., during his senior year in high school. Moses spent his first three years at University Lab High School on LSU’s campus before transferring out of state. He committed to the Tigers as a freshman in 2013 before decommitting in 2015. The following year, he announced his commitment to the Crimson Tide.
“The thing about me is I’m big about you being the best version of you possible and growing into the individual that you’re supposed to be,” Moses said. “I wanted to put myself in the best position to be able to do that, and I just didn’t feel like staying home would be something that would make me grow as a player, person and a man. In order to grow you have to put yourself in uncomfortable positions. That’s what I did."
Of course, flipping sides in one of the SEC’s most heated rivalries comes with consequences. Upon choosing Alabama, Moses was subjected to a litany of abuse — much more than a few back-handed comments from an opposing head coach. The linebacker faced plenty of venom from LSU fans back home who harassed him over social media, often calling him a traitor or worse.
Sopsher faced the same scorn after committing to the Crimson Tide earlier this year, something that wasn’t lost on Nick Saban when addressing the defensive tackle on National Signing Day.
“I think a lot of these guys that are from out of state are given pressure, but I think that I was really proud of Ish for — we challenged him, and he accepted the challenge,” Saban said. “We challenged him to come here and create value and compete against really good competition, which is going to make him a better person. He’ll have a much better chance to be successful, develop a career off the field, develop a career on the field, play at the next level. And he accepted the challenge.”
Moses took that same challenge two years ago. Things ended up working out pretty well for the Butkus Award finalist as he led Alabama with 86 tackles last season. Now completely settled in his new home, Moses said he hopes his success story helps pave the way for not only Sopsher but any other Louisiana natives who consider the often unpopular decision of leaving the state.
“I feel like it’s a lot of guys who put that in play, but when I did it, it clarified, ‘OK, if we leave out of state we’ll be fine,’” Moses said. “I’m happy I was able to do that for a lot of guys. Still today I have guys reaching out to me, trying to get advice from me on how I did it and what the process was like.”
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