New 2008 Commitment - Cordian Hagans

Sometimes you write an article that is more timely than you could possibly have imagined. On Sunday, I wrote and published an entry on Ron Brooks where I said:

Always take a risk that a superior athlete will find a way to contribute. This applies if the great athlete isn't the proper size for any particular position, or if he has only been playing football for short period of time, or if he has not been well-coached to this point in his career.

[original emphasis removed, new emphasis added, endnote removed]. Later that day, Les Miles accepted a commitment from Cordian Hagans, a 3-star defensive lineman/offensive lineman out of Duluth, Georgia who has only played one year of organized football.

Hagans is a complete mystery to me and to most people who don't pay a lot of attention to the state of Georgia. There is no film of him readily available. He hasn't given a ton of interviews. What little we know of him is this:

• He came to and LSU camp this weekend and impressed enough that Miles asked for his commitment and got it
• He was being heavily recruited by, among others, Auburn and South Carolina
• He claims to be 6'5" 285# with an eye-popping 4.9 second 40 time, which is excellent for such a big man
• He was not, at this time, being recruited by the in-state schools UGA and Georgia Tech
  

He's listed as a defensive tackle, but considering so little is known about him, it is entirely possible he could become a defensive end or an offensive lineman. It's discouraging that he was not being recruited by UGA, but as I've said before, Tommy Tuberville has a track record of uncovering diamonds in the rough. With both Tuberville and Spurrier wanting the guy bad, any worries I may have about his unimpressive star-rating is alleviated.

With a kid like this, we simply have to keep an eye on him in his senior year. We also have to be mindful that he is still very much learning the basics of football. At this time last year, he had literally never played a down of organized football except maybe at a Pee-Wee level. Just judging from that, expect a long understudy period at LSU, with a redshirt year in the offing when he gets to campus. I would be surprised if the kid sees the field in a meaningful situation before 2010, but you never quite know.