It’s still to be determined if Ed Orgeron can coach a team to a SEC title, but he sure can recruit one in that direction.
On Saturday, Orgeron’s LSU Tigers added four-star defensive end Jarrell Cherry to their Class of 2018. Cherry is a 6-foot-3, 230-pounder from Dallas Carter, and is considered one of the top 25 overall prospects from the state of Texas. While Cherry plays as a defensive end now, it’s believed that LSU envisions him as a linebacker in the SEC.
“At this point, he’s a hand in the dirt defensive end,” Cherry’s personal trainer,DeMarquis Brooks, told 247 Sports. “But I just got confirmation LSU is recruiting him as a linebacker. With the right coaching, he’s going to be a great outside linebacker because he can run and cover inside wide receivers, tight ends and running backs.
“He can still work on his get off and play recognition. If he works on that, he’s going to be great. He also has to get bigger for the SEC. But I think he has the potential to be a second round draft pick.”
That’s a heck of an endorsement for a teenager. By all accounts, Cherry can be a difference maker wherever he chooses to attend college.
Cherry made his decision public late Saturday evening, leaving just a touch of doubt about whether he was committing as part of an elaborate April Fool’s joke. Luckily for LSU fans, it’s clear that he was serious, which makes the Tigers’ now 13-member class that much stronger and deeper.