BATON ROUGE — Corey Raymond has reclaimed his rightful throne.

The New Iberia native and LSU assistant head coach took back the title of the best defensive back recruiter not only in the Southeastern Conference but in the entire NCAA this past week. That’s because Raymond helped the Tigers secure a Top 5 national recruiting class and did so by serving as the primary recruiter on four-star cornerbacks Raydarious Jones and Maurice Hampton, secondary recruiter on three-star cornerback Cordale Flott, and was the longtime primary recruiter on the nation’s top overall prospect, Derek Stingley. 

That was quite the haul for Raymond and the Tigers and helped put to rest any nonsense that Raymond had lost his touch when it comes to recruiting. 

Back in February, heralded Patrick Surtain Jr. chose Alabama over LSU. That loss on the recruiting trail helped result in the Tigers have their lowest ranked signing class in more than a decade. The day after, LSU hired Rutgers co-defensive coordinator and secondary coach Bill Bush, which spurred rumors that Raymond was being pushed aside as he was moved from secondary coach to strictly coaching cornerbacks while still serving as the team’s primary recruiter of defensive backs.

The reality was that Bush and Raymond had worked together at Utah State, and Bush also had worked with LSU defensive coordinator Dave Aranda at Utah State. The addition of Bush was to help bolster the defensive coaching staff as Orgeron stated on the radio at that time. 

“Corey’s a very good coach, but I wanted to give him some help.” Orgeron said.

What Raymond didn’t need help with is securing signatures from the nation’s top defensive back prospects. 

The list of current and future NFL players that Raymond has not only coached but recruited to LSU is impressive. Donte Jackson, Tre’Davious White and Jamal Adams all are starters in the NFL. Redshirt sophomore cornerback Greedy Williams has become an All-American and is projected as a high first-round draft pick. Kristian Fulton appears to on the same track and Grant Delpit just became only the Tigers ninth unanimous consensus All-American.

There is a reason Raymond was ranked as the best defensive back recruiter by 247 Sports national scouting director Barton Simmons, and why Orgeron made sure that Raymond was retained on staff when he took over as head coach he, giving Raymond a three-year contract extension worth $450,000 per year.

The money has proven to be worth it, as this class has shown.

Jones, chose LSU over Auburn and Ole Miss, citing Raymond as a big reason why he chose the purple and gold on Wednesday.

“It’s a large history of success, and I want to be a part of that,” Jones told the Advocate. “I wanted to play DB (in college). I felt like Coach Raymond can get the job done by developing me.”

That sentiment was shared by Stingley.

“Corey Raymond has been there since the beginning,” he said to The Advocate. 

“He was the first coach who looked at me and wanted to offer me. If he wasn’t at LSU, I probably would not be talking about this now.”

Raymond being able to reclaim his throne is not only fundamental to LSU’s aspirations of once again becoming a national powerhouse but maintaining its heralded reputation as DBU. That is why Raymond is the most important LSU assistant since Frank Wilson (also a highly regarded recruiter) and why this past week’s coronation of Raymond was more important than people may know.

 

RAYMOND PARTSCH III is the managing editor of The Daily Iberian.