Waging war: LSU's dry spell recruiting Amite, the 'pipeline' to Alabama

You can count the number of players from Amite, La., on Alabama’s roster on one finger, nevertheless one hand. But to eager fans of LSU, it might as well be 85.

DeVonta Smith is one of 10 Louisiana natives embedded on the Crimson Tide’s 2018 roster, but the then-freshman from the heart of Tangipahoa Parish was on the receiving end of a 41-yard pass in overtime to lift Nick Saban’s team to a national championship last January. While it resulted in confetti showers and golden hardware for Alabama, it stung the fanbase in Louisiana who saw its native son help capture another title for an archival.

Such is life for LSU fans, who leading into the annual tilt with the Tide are also keeping tabs on Smith’s 3.9-square-mile hometown and the ongoing recruiting battles simmering inside.

Amite boasts a humble population of about 4,500 people, according to 2018 U.S. census data, but no prospect in the state is a more controversial subject of water-cooler talk than 5-star defensive tackle Ishmael Sopsher. He sits atop of the wish list for both LSU and Alabama, and with a decision scheduled for no earlier than National Signing Day on Feb. 6, 2019, there is no shortage of anxiety about which team’s cap he’ll grab off the table.

In public interviews, Sopsher has yet to bungle his words, maintaining that not only that LSU and Alabama are on a level playing field, but so are the five other teams he has included in his self-described “lucky seven.” Oregon, Texas A&M, Texas, Ole Miss and Florida State are also contenders, he says. Nonetheless, having suffered defeats in recruiting tiffs with Saban over the past decade has only amplified the pressure on coach Ed Orgeron and co. to reverse the trend and land the prized defensive tackle this coming February. Adding to Orgeron’s perceived uphill climb is the fact that Sopsher — like Smith — resides in the polarizing town of Amite, which local Baton Rouge radio host and former LSU center T-Bob Hebert argued should be annexed to Alabama.

Check your closets. Grab your pitchforks. Prepare for war.

“It’s a battle,” LSU coach Ed Orgeron said during the team’s bye week, indicating Amite High was his initial stop when the evaluation period got underway in September. “Amite is usually the first school I go to. Obviously, it’s an area we have to capture. We’re in a battle.”

That battle is centered around Sopsher, who elected to make an unofficial visit to Alabama on Oct. 13 instead of staying close to home and attending LSU’s showdown with then No. 2 Georgia. According to the 5-star tackle, he wanted to get a taste of homecoming in Title-Town. He’ll make his next visit to LSU for when the top-ranked Crimson Tide invades town on Saturday, Nov. 3.

These game-day visits come four to five months ahead of any noted decisions, but LSU’s track record of losing defectors on the first Wednesday in February has struck fear in its diehard followers. Of the 10 Louisiana natives on Alabama’s roster, only Smith, the national championship hero, hails from Amite. The others — from Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Mandeville, Ruston, Kentwood, Slidell, Monroe and West Monroe. So, why has Amite emerged as a focal point of these recruiting wars between the Tide and the Tigers?

“There’s no pro-Alabama and there’s no anti-LSU. There has only been one kid from Amite High School to ever sign with the University of Alabama,” Amite head coach Zephaniah Powell is quick to point out. “I don’t know what other kids are signing at Alabama from Amite, but there’s only been one — DeVonta Smith. I don’t know where this pro-Alabama, anti-LSU comes from, but I hear it and I tell them there’s only kid at Alabama.”

“There’s more pressure here now because some of the state’s best players are from our area,” he added, referencing Sopsher as well as Rivals100 athlete Devonta Lee, who also holds offers from both LSU and Alabama, among others. “Some of those same people don’t question what’s going at U-High and I don’t see a lot of them going to LSU, and LSU is right there. I don’t know if people are paranoid, but these are 17- and 18-year-old kids and they’re trying to make the best decisions for themselves. If it’s LSU, great. If it’s Florida A&M, great, or Southern Miss or Southern Cal. In the end, that’s what it’s all about. I understand passionate fans rooting for the home base to do great. These guys can elevate the program to be that way, and as a coach, a mentor, a teacher and a father, I sympathize with what these young men want to do to put themselves in the best situation.”

It’s not as if LSU’s roster is devoid of players from Tangipahoa Parish. Nose tackle Ed Alexander hails from Hammond, La., and reserve guard Donavaughn Campbell is from Ponchatoula, La. Both were recruited by Orgeron as part of the 2016 class when he was the defensive line coach and the assistant coach in charge of recruiting the area.

Looking ahead, the Tigers hold verbal commitments in the 2019 and 2020 classes from the parish. Five-star athlete Trey Palmer committed to LSU on Aug. 1. He’s on track to be the first recruit from Kentwood High School to sign with the in-state program since his uncle, Demetrius Hookfin, did so in 1999. Four-star quarterback TJ Finley was offered and committed to LSU in June of 2018 — which sets the stage for the Tigers to reel in a pair of Tangipahoa Parish products in consecutive years. Should Finley stick with his pledge for the next 14 months, he’ll be the second player out of Ponchatoula High to land in Baton Rouge in four years.

LSU has not struggled to recruit Tangipahoa Parish, evident by the current players on the roster and those waiting in the wings. From Hammond to Ponchatoula to Independence to Kentwood, the program has tasted success. The exception remains Amite.

The last player from Amite High School to sign with LSU was quarterback Lester Ricard back in 2002. Ricard was Rivals’ No. 5-ranked quarterback in the class and elected to play for the Tigers despite offers from Alabama, Miami and Clemson, among others. Saban, at the time, recruited Ricard as a fit in then-offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher’s scheme. Ricard remained on the team for just over a year before transferring to Tulane to finish out his collegiate career. Since then, he claims there has been a stigma in Amite that has resulted in this 16-year gap — and counting — between players from the high school signing their letters of intent to play at LSU.

“There’s a history of LSU and Amite not working out, and it begins with me leaving,” Ricard began. “Coming out of Amite, I was an All-American, Rivals’ top-70, big-time accolades, and things didn’t work out. People don’t feel they’ll get a fair opportunity there. Part of it as a player and coaching the last five or six years, is that the program makes you leery about if the college has your best interest at heart … Coach O is doing the best job he can creating relationships in the state with high school coaches. He even said, ‘Lester, what do I have to do?’ When you look at all the misses LSU has had — situations not working out with myself — Amite is different. In the community, LSU is not those kids’ favorite team. It’s weird, but in Amite they don’t grow up wanting to go to LSU.”

Ricard was one of those kids. The former LSU and Tulane quarterback admitted Florida State was his dream school. His failures in Baton Rouge barely scratch the surface of the miscues between the high school and college program.

There was high-profile quarterback Michael Carr in 1988, who signed with Clemson over LSU. State championship-winning quarterback/athlete Rodney Boykins signed with Virginia over the Tigers in 1994. Ricard bucked the trend in 2002 only to transfer out of LSU a year later following a redshirt season. Then, Kendrick Perry, a top-30 running back in the nation who helped Amite to a state championship in 2004, was “snubbed” by the Tigers, said Ricard. Perry eventually landed at Ole Miss. Josh Perry signed with Memphis over Alabama in 2016. He was committed to the Tide for the bulk of his senior year but pulling off a Signing Day flip, but LSU never extended an offer.

Hookfin and LaBrandon Toefield, from Kentwood and Independence, respectively, made the most of their time playing for the Tigers. But Amite …

“It hasn’t worked out for Amite,” said Ricard, “They haven’t had a guy that worked out at LSU.”

Of the misses, only Smith was a priority for the Tigers.

Part of Alabama’s success in Louisiana has been due to the role of Sam Pettito, a former assistant on the Amite High School coaching staff who’s born and raised in the quaint little Tangipahoa Parish town. Pettito is almost three years into his tenure on Saban’s staff as the Assistant Director of Player Personnel. He was hired away from Georgia, where he served the same role under Mark Richt from 2014-16.

Not coincidentally, Smith was once committed to Georgia before eventually signing with Alabama in February 2017.

Pettito’s presence continues to loom large in not only Amite, but parish-wide. A hometown hero of sorts, Pettito maintains relationships with the high school football coaches and parents of recruits to this day — now as a member of Alabama’s recruiting staff. He helped the Tide land Shyheim Carter out of Kentwood in 2016 and Smith in the ensuing recruiting cycle. He, unsurprisingly, has the team heavily in the mix in the Sopsher sweepstakes this year.

“His influence and relationships he has built over the years are pretty strong,” Ricard said. “Pettito there at Alabama is a game-changer, especially in the Tangipahoa area. The kids they have out there … I don’t think it’s going to change anytime soon.”

Pettito’s best friend still resides in Amite. His name is Vincent Sanders and he’s the notorious barber with Alabama memorabilia littered throughout the shop, including a framed snapshot of Smith’s touchdown catch hanging proudly on the wall.

Sanders describes himself as a mentor to local student-athletes. LSU fans roar over him on message boards, label him an Alabama handler because of his relationship to Smith and to Pettito, and his frequent travels back and forth from Amite to Tuscaloosa. When pressed on the topic, Sanders claims he’s received death threats. He’s been forced to change his cell phone number to one with a California area code. When accused of steering recruits to Alabama, he’s quick to point out that he also has kids at Memphis, Tulane and even LSU.

Sanders will be in Baton Rouge when No. 1 Alabama comes to town. No, he won’t be inside Tiger Stadium; he isn’t eager to face the wrath of any members of the crowd who may recognize him. He’ll be watching with other members of the Amite community at a nearby dining hall as Smith makes his first return to LSU since picking up a crimson and white Alabama cap on Signing Day 20 months ago.

Sopsher, meanwhile, will be in the Lawton Room on campus with his mother, father and older brother Rodney, who also holds a scholarship offer from LSU. He’ll be hosted by members of the staff and get a guided tour of the stadium and sidelines during pregame warmups. There’s a chance he walks out to midfield beside Orgeron. His entire family will have seats reserved for the 7 p.m. kickoff.

The visit will be Sopsher’s first to LSU since camping there in June when he worked firsthand with defensive line coach Dennis Johnson and Orgeron, who wanted to get a close-up look at the tackle sitting atop of his wish list in this 2019 class. While the All-American recruit realizes the pressure that this LSU coaching staff is under to earn his signature in four months, he tries to brush it off. He isn’t letting history dictate his decision. This isn’t 2017 and he isn’t DeVonta Smith.

He just happens to be choosing between the same two schools.

“Oh, I don’t care about none of that,” Sopsher said, shaking his head. “That’s just everybody’s opinion. Everyone has an opinion. You need to let them speak, but you can’t give in. I don’t care. If they feel any type of way about Amite, then it is what it is.”

“That’s made up,” he responded when asked about a pro-Alabama vibe in Amite. “People here want their players to go anywhere and dominate and go ball out at the next level.”

If it’s Alabama, then the trend continues.

Part of it can be chocked up to the Saban effect. Six national championships will do that to a coach, especially five in an eight-year window at his current stop. LSU, meanwhile, is 7-1, ranked inside the top four and is viewed as a team on the rise. But the last time the Tigers won an SEC championship, there was a different coach and different players on the roster in 2011. Saban has managed four conference titles since then.

The other source of blame is the Amite community, says Ricard, who believes there’s a different degree of support for the Tigers there than in the River Parishes, for example, where there’s a more concrete pipeline of players signing with LSU and having more successful college careers.

“My high school coach — he wasn’t big on me going to LSU, but Nick Saban has his influence. He’s as great as a coach in the country in his ability to persuade kids to play for him,” Ricard said. “Sometimes for kids from Amite, they can be persuaded to go other places if you’re close to home. Lots of people there struggle with that, which has allowed for the community not to be indebted to that school … Look any other school in the state of Louisiana. At Hahnville, Pooka (Williams) didn’t sign there, but they have a strong influence in the community. LaRon Landry, Alfred Blue. At Destrehan, Jordan Jefferson. It worked out for them.”

Orgeron is has shoved his chips into the center of the table in hopes of landing Sopsher this February. He and Saban are exchanging stares, looking for each other’s tells in a heads-up battle that’ll last until the river card is turned over on Signing Day.

Should the verdict ring positive for LSU, it’ll naturally cause an eruption of jubilance in and around Baton Rouge and throughout the clued-in fans in the state of Louisiana. It will only signal the first step toward nurturing this relationship, though. As Ricard points out, he committed to LSU but left within a year. No one from Amite has thrived in a Tigers uniform. Sopsher, the top-ranked tackle in the country, could potentially make or break the program’s future in that community in a decision he’s still wrestling with today.

“People still have trepidation,” Ricard said. “If the situation with Ish if it isn’t handled correctly, then people will think LSU is exactly who they thought they were. If it doesn’t work, it’ll be tough for anyone from Amite to go to LSU.”

“Eventually, LSU will strike gold with a kid from Amite,” he continued. “When that happens, Coach O can put an office right on campus because it will be hard for any kid to leave the state and go anywhere else but LSU.”