LSU Tigers and Brian Kelly shockingly still in the mix to land five star defensive recruit as official visits are set
The LSU Tigers and Brian Kelly shocked the college football recruiting community this week when they surprisingly earned a final official visit from a five star cornerback recruit. LSU has constantly been in the mix for the title of “DB U”, so it shouldn’t be that surprising, but the Tigers haven’t exactly been considered among the favorites to land this impressive young man.
Who is this high pedigree star player? And why should LSU fans care so much about this recruitment? Let’s dive in.
Elbert Hill, Five Star Cornerback
Elbert Hill is an extremely talented defensive back who has consider a consensus five star for more than a year now by all the top recruiting services. Hill is currently rated inside the Top 35 prospects in the nation via both the On3 Industry Consensus and the 247Sports Composite, having been one of the most highly coveted recruiting targets for every top tier college football program in the nation for several months now.
He hasn’t logged his official visit with LSU yet, but he did announce on Tuesday that he would be headed to Baton Rouge early this summer as one of his final four visits (as of this writing). He’ll be with LSU the weekend of May 30th, then USC June 6th, Oregon June 13th, and Alabama June 20th.
Why is this pending official visit such a big deal? Ohio State had long been perceived as the favorite to land Hill given all the visits and momentum with them as the in-state monster program. However, now it seems Hill may have snubbed Ohio State in lieu of a trip to LSU, on top of the three other school have also been more involved than the Tigers.
Fresh off of landing the top overall Transfer Portal class and another Top 10 high school class, Brian Kelly and company would be making quite the statement for 2026 and beyond if they pull Hill. The Tigers already have five blue chip recruits committed for 2026. Hill’s ridiculous athleticism and versatility would make it six (and perhaps much more by the time he commits this summer).
LSU just brought in five star cornerback DJ Pickett in 2025 as well, so it seems the small drought in high pedigree elite cornerbacks heading to the Tigers might be over.
LSU should be in a good position with their cornerbacks this year with Ashton Stamps looking great in spring, Mansoor Delane and Tamarcus Cooley likely patching up spots with their experience, and PJ Woodland playing a critical role as he continues growing this year. The bad news is, all of those players may be gone next year besides Woodland. The Tigers will need high impact young talents like Hill and his fellow five star DJ Pickett to perhaps play year one in 2026.
Let’s hope Brian Kelly can seal the deal on this top talent so the Tigers can continue building towards a national championship standard at LSU again here soon.
We’ll be back with more LSU Tigers coverage here at A to Z Sports soon! Follow me (@FF_TravisM) and A to Z Sports (@AtoZSportsNFL) on X for all the latest football news!
And if you want to see why Elbert Hill is all but a lock for five star status in the 2026 recruiting class just check out his highlights from last seaso
n in the video below!
