Army Bowl: Rivals100 DB Kelvin Joseph headed to LSU
Rivals100 Baton Rouge (La.) Scotlandville defensive back Kelvin “Fat” Joseph spent nearly two years as an LSU commitment before re-opening his recruitment in the fall. But after a few months of looking around, he’s back where many expected, with the Tigers.
Joseph made his announcement during Saturday’s U.S. Army All-American Bowl live on NBC. The move was anticipated for quite some time, mainly because of Joseph’s connection with Tigers defensive backs coach Corey Raymond and the fact that he grew up in the shadow of LSU’s campus.
MORE: LSU commitment list
HOW IT HELPS LSU
There’s a reason LSU identifies itself as DBU and a lot of it has to do with the ability to keep elite in-state defensive backs close to home. Joseph is just the latest in a long line of highly-ranked defensive backs to come out of The Boot and while he wavered after the team’s slow start to the season, once the ship was righted he couldn’t wait to get back in the fold and even moved up his decision to this week after initially planning on waiting until February.
Joseph is a versatile defensive back who could play safety or cornerback depending on the Tigers' needs once things shake out with graduations and players potentially leaving early for the NFL Draft. Joseph still intends to take official visits in January but it will be interesting to see if that remains the case once it comes time to actually take the trips.
HOW IT HURTS ALABAMA, AUBURN
Alabama has long been considered the biggest threat to LSU in the chase for Joseph and seemed to have some serious momentum back in the fall. Joseph is supposed to take an official visit to Tuscaloosa later this month but that could be in flux now that he’s made his commitment official. Battling the Tigers for prospects in Louisiana has worked out for Alabama in the past but it looks as if Joseph will be one of the ones who got away.
As far as Auburn, the Tigers were always considered a long shot so missing out on Joseph may give the school a chance to move onto some other more realistic options at defensive back.
