This young man was tangentially involved in one of the stranger recruiting stories of the year. He is Sidell Corley, defensive end, McGill-Toolen High School, Mobile, Alabama, 6'4", 250#. Sidell is a 4-star recruit, and he initially committed to Florida rather early in the process.
As the process went along, he soured on Florida and a short time before signing day he declared himself open and started taking recruiting visits again. It was around this time that LSU got a commitment from defensive tackle Luther Davis of West Monroe, who had previously given his commitment to Louisville.
LSU has a rule that if you are committed, you cannot continue taking visits to other schools. If so, you are considered uncommitted and your scholarship can be given to someone else. Shortly after Luther Davis committed to LSU, he secretly took a visit to Bama. When reports came out that Davis was sighted on campus and in restaurants in Tuscaloosa, he started getting calls on his cell phone, and he informed people that he was in West Monroe to attend the funeral of a relative.
In calls to his home, reporters were told by his brother, "He's not back from Tuscaloosa yet." When he was called and asked about that, Davis said that his brother was just messing with people. At the end of the recruiting trip, other recruits who were on that visit reported that Davis was in fact there. Depending on who you believe, either Miles pulled his scholarship offer or Davis decommitted and eventually committed to Bama.
This left a spot open in our recruiting class for a defensive lineman. Enter Sidell Corley, recently decommitted from Florida, and a big target of Nick Saban because he was an in-state product. Miles began recruiting Corley in earnest. Sidell Corley's father was quoted saying very nice things about Les Miles, but still many thought he was going to Bama. He gave his commitment to LSU and ended creating a great spokesman for the program in the elder Mr. Corley. He talked about how much he liked Les Miles' integrity, and how proud he was of his son for going to LSU.
Anyway, Mr. Corley is another member of the very strong defensive line recruiting class, joining Joseph Barksdale, Will Blackwell, Drake Nevis, and Kentravis Aubrey. We are stacked at defensive end right now, with Tyson Jackson installed at left end and Ricky Jean-Francois, Pep Livingston, Tremaine Johnson, Rahim Alem, and Kirston Pittman (no relation) all battling for playing time at the right side. Corley will compete for playing time, and don't be surprised if he plays a good bit in garbage time. I wouldn't expect him to be a key contributor this year though.
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