Gunner Kiel LSU: Why Heralded Recruit Made Right Decision by Heading to Bayou

The best fit for Gunner Kiel was LSU.

A quarterback with his throwing ability will thrive in the SEC where elite receivers consistently end up. They're consistent contenders for the SEC and the National Championship. Any player is lucky to go to LSU, and Kiel is no different. 

But according to ESPN's Jared Shanker, one of the places Kiel was also considering was Notre Dame.

While losing out on a player of Kiel's caliber sounds bad, it's not a terrible thing for the Irish. He's not a statue, but is far from a dual threat quarterback, which is what tends to thrive in Brian Kelly's system. 

More importantly, Kelly will not be recruiting the kind of players to fit Kiel's skills. He'll be recruiting players better suited for an offense ran be a dual-threat quarterback. 

The other option Shanker mentioned was Vanderbilt.

While that's certainly a fine academic school and it's not impossible for quarterbacks to come out of there (Jay Cutler), it does not stack up to LSU or Notre Dame in terms of notoriety. Competing in the SEC at Vanderbilt will take far more than a player like Kiel, and that's not going to happen.

LSU is the natural option here.

If you need any real proof of that, look at who's playing in the national championship game. Yes, they play in a brutal conference (note their opponent), but that's not a big problem. LSU consistently recruits the kind of athletes that will get the best out of Kiel. 

That's what a quarterback needs to look for when choosing a school. It's what any player needs to look for. It isn't just about who has the best team, although that is LSU in this case. No, it's about finding the right system that puts you in place to succeed. 

A quarterback like Kiel wouldn't succeed in a specialized offense, like an option or a spread. He doesn't run well enough to consistently be able to rely on that threat when opposing defenses are gearing up for it. 

Kiel made the right decision for himself today. In the process, he made the right decision for the schools that he went away from. 

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