Sting Factor: TreVonte' Citizen's decommitment from LSU
When a major program loses a key recruit, Rivals.com takes a look at how big of a blow it is to the respective school, analyzing it from a local and national level. To quantify the “sting” of each decommitment, we assign a score from one to 10, with one being no big deal and 10 being a catastrophic hit.
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THE STORYLINE
Before TreVonte’ Citizen committed to LSU the four-star running back visited Baton Rouge at least five times. He was more than thorough.
But over the last few months, there have been an abundance of changes, including Ed Orgeron being relieved of his duties.
Last weekend, Citizen backed off his pledge and then less than 48 hours later, more changes came to Baton Rouge when Brian Kelly left Notre Dame for LSU.
The Lake Charles (La.) Lake Charles College Prep picked LSU over Texas, Texas A&M and Auburn the first time around. He now says he feels like he’s starting completely over in the recruiting process.
It would not be a complete shock if LSU gets back seriously involved in his recruitment again.
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LOCAL REACTION
Following the departure of Oregeron from the program, LSU lost another commitment over the weekend in Citizen, who was the only 2022 running back committed to the Tigers. Citizen stated a few weeks back that he was solid with LSU even without Orgeron as the coach, telling TigerDetails: “I mainly chose LSU for the school, not the coaches. Just got to wait and see.”
LSU staffers still feel as though they have a chance to reel Citizen back in. But make no mistake about it, losing Citizen would be the biggest sting of this 2022 class thus far for the Tigers. It’s a position group they need to beef up going into next season. - Julie Boudwin, TigerDetails.com
Sting Factor: 9
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NATIONAL REACTION
If Citizen swore off LSU and was destined to end up elsewhere then this score could be really high. But my bet is that Kelly and his new staff make Citizen a major priority and now with coaching stability at LSU there will be renewed interest from both parties.
The Texas schools and many others are going to try to get involved with Citizen because he’s such a talented player and he could definitely leave the state. That would be a major win for whichever program gets the four-star running back. But LSU is going to be back in the mix here and the Tigers should have a real shot to get him again. - Adam Gorney, Rivals National Recruiting Director
Sting Factor: 6