Why the Loss of Gunner Kiel Is Yet Another Tough Blow for LSU's Les Miles

2011 was truly a banner year for coach Les Miles and LSU, as the Tigers stormed through the regular season, piling up 13 victories, an SEC title and a berth in the BCS championship game, drawing accolades and praises all along the way as the No. 1 ranked team in the country.

2012, however, hasn’t started off quite so hot for the coach and his team, as the Tigers got completely shut down and embarrassed by Alabama in the BCS championship game, a dismal performance for which Miles has since taken plenty of criticism for.

Today, the program was dealt another tough blow, this time on the recruiting front, as the Tigers lost their grip on the nation’s No. 1 QB prospect, Gunner Kiel, who shockingly reneged on his commitment to LSU and instead ended up enrolling at Notre Dame.

Kiel, who became a star at Indiana's Columbus East high school, committed to the Tigers just a few weeks ago, and he sounded firm on his pledge ever since, including the few days that he was down at the U.S. Army All-American game. But according to recruiting expert Michael Scarborough of Rivals.com/TigerBait.com, Kiel decided to stay in his home state of Indiana at the wish of his parents, especially his mother.

In a strange twist of irony, the Kiel situation is basically the exact opposite of Landon Collins’, another highly touted recruit who LSU was going after hard. Collins, who committed to Alabama at the Under Armour All-American game a few weeks ago, received a ton of unwanted viral fame after his live commitment, as his mother was seen openly disagreeing with her son for his decision, and publicly backing the Tigers, shouting out "LSU Tigers, No. 1!"

Losing players is something that Miles has gotten all too familiar with over the past few days, as the coach has had to watch three of his talented underclassmen—CB Mo Claiborne, DT Michael Brockers and WR Rueben Randle—all declare early for the 2012 NFL draft.

Still, Miles can take solace in the fact that he’s still got the type of talent-stocked team that will likely enter the 2012 season ranked as either No. 1 or No. 2 in the preseason polls.

He should also be happy that even without Kiel, LSU will still probably finish with one of the top-rated 2012 recruiting classes in the country, as the Tigers currently have 19 commitments, which include standout prospects such as LB Torshiro Davis (Woodlawn HS, Louisiana), OL Vadal Alexander (Buford HS, Georgia) and WR Travin Dural (Breaux Bridge HS, Louisiana).

All in all, it’s never easy to lose a recruit the caliber of Gunner Kiel, especially in the way it all went down, but all Miles has to do is take a quick peak at his 2012 depth chart, one that includes one of the top offensive lines, one of the deepest backfields and the best overall defense in the country, to see that he’s still got a pretty good situation down in Baton Rouge.