LSU head coach Ed Orgeron announced the signing of two players Wednesday.

BATON ROUGE — LSU signed the No. 2 and No. 3 ranked players in Louisiana to national letters of intent Wednesday for National Signing Day, but it was players the Tigers missed on who may be the ones most remembered for the second round of signings this year.

Safety Kelvin Joseph of Scotlandville High School and wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase signed with the Tigers Wednesday after 21 players had signed in the early signing period in December.

But two other highly-recruited targets, and one “backup plan” who also was pursued heavily, spurned LSU on signing day, leaving the Tigers two short of the 25-player limit set this year by the NCAA.

Patrick Surtain Jr. of American Heritage Academy in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the top cornerback according to national recruiting services, had been leaning toward signing with LSU for more than two years. On Wednesday morning he instead opted to sign with defending national champion Alabama, a divisional rival of LSU’s in the Southeastern Conference.

Quarterback James Foster of Lanier High in Montgomery, Alabama, also had a scholarship awaiting him at LSU and instead chose SEC West rival Texas A&M.

Earlier in the week, cornerback Mario Goodrich of Lee’s Summit West High School in Kansas City, Missouri, chose Clemson rather than wait to see if LSU would have a spot for him in the event one of the Tigers’ other targets didn’t sign with LSU.

“It’s tough,” Orgeron said of players flipping to other schools late in the process. “One of those players (Surtain) was three years, maybe four. We put a lot of work into him. All indications the whole time was that he was coming here. The night before, you get a phone call, and he’s not. Obviously, you have to change your plan. That’s recruiting. We are happy with the guys that we got. We want guys who want to be at LSU.”

That left LSU with only one defensive back signing, Joseph, and no signees in a position of need, cornerback, for the recruiting period.

Orgeron said the Tigers will look at other options for cornerback.

“We are going to see,” he said at a press conference Wednesday. “We have four cornerbacks right now on our team. We are going to look for graduate transfers that may be available. Obviously, we wanted to sign one more but we didn’t. That’s just the way it goes. We are going to find some guys that can play cornerback. We will be fine.”

The Tigers signed nine of the top 10 players in Louisiana, Orgeron noted, a priority this year. The team also addressed needs on the offensive and defensive lines.

“Overall on this class, our emphasis this year was the state of Louisiana first,” Orgeron said. “We signed eight of the top 10 players in Louisiana and 13 players from Louisiana overall, which we are most proud of. We wanted to add linemen, and we did with four offensive linemen and five defensive tackles. We needed to add receivers. We signed four receivers, including two of the top five receivers in the country. We needed running backs, and we signed two very talented running backs. One is already here.”

That was another point Orgeron stressed.

“Remember this: nine of our signees are already enrolled and practicing with our football team right now,” he said. “We are very pleased with that. As of now, we have two scholarships. As a plan, we did not want to waste our scholarships. We wanted to save them. Last year, we had scholarships available. We used them for Breiden Fehoko, Jonathan Giles and Thaddeus Moss. I’m glad that we had those scholarships available. We believe that Breiden Fehoko and Jonathan Giles will start for us this year and will be two of the best players on our team.

“Thaddeus Moss will add to the mix. We wanted to save those scholarships for either transfers from other universities that will fit specific needs or graduate transfers, perhaps a graduate transfer at quarterback or cornerback. That’s the reason we didn’t sign 25. That was the plan and has always been a plan. If we don’t use those scholarships for transfers or graduate transfers, we feel that this is one of the top classes in the state of Louisiana. We can add them for next class. We are excited about what happened today. Obviously, we are disappointed with some of the losses, but you know what? We have the guys who want to fight for the Tigers, and we are proud of that.”

Joseph, 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, will play cornerback for the Tigers, Orgeron said. He was the No. 2 ranked player in the state according to recruiting services. Chase, 6-1 and 195 pounds, was the No. 3 player in the state out of Rummel High in New Orleans. He is the fourth receiver to sign with LSU this year, joinng Jaray Jenkins of Jena, Kenan Jones of Berwick and Terrace Marshall of Parkway in Bossier City.

“We are very confident” in the receivers signed and on campus, Orgeron said. “We are very confident in Jonathan Giles. He was a guy that we couldn’t cover last year. Then, you add to the mix five new guys coming in. They all do things differently. They are all very talented. Obviously, four of them are young. I do believe having Terrace (Marshall Jr.) here early, I do believe Ja’Marr (Chase) is very close to our program and that he can pick up some things beginning in June. Kenan (Jones) can too. So can Jaray (Jenkins). All four of those guys are going to be expected to play for us next year. I feel that two of them may start for us. I know that Jonathan Giles right now is on our starting roster on offense. He’s one of our better players on offense, and I’m glad we have him.”