National Signing Day 2012: Breaking Down LSU's Bittersweet Day

A month ago, the LSU Tigers were on top of the world. They were heading into the BCS National Championship Game against Alabama with a perfect record, and most thought they were going to beat 'Bama again to win it all.

That didn't pan out, and the weeks since have been an up-and-down journey for Les Miles' Tigers as far as recruiting is concerned.

If you consult Rivals.com, LSU's recruiting class is pretty good. Not great, but pretty good. As of right this very second, Rivals has it down as the No. 16 class in the country.

That would be cool, but it just so happens that LSU's recruiting class comes in at No. 5 in the SEC, which is not so cool. LSU is supposed to be better than this.

The possibility existed that the Tigers would finish (a term I use loosely) strong on National Signing Day, but the day has brought both good and bad news.

The bad news came first, as word trickled out that outside linebacker prospect Torshiro Davis had decided to ditch his LSU commitment to go play for Mack Brown at Texas. He originally committed to LSU a year ago, but he was gone in the blink of an eye.

Luckily, LSU was able to save face by securing the commitment of Kwon Alexander, a 4-star outside linebacker from Alabama. If he lives up to his potential, he could be a star for the Tigers.

The only thing is that Alexander is still recovering from a torn ACL. For all intents and purposes, he's a question mark.

So on balance, this NSD will not go into the books as a great day for LSU. The best word to describe it is "meh." 

Note that I said this is the best word. You can certainly be meaner.

Either way, today is a fitting end (another word I use loosely) to LSU's recruiting journey, which, once again, has been good, but not great. 

Since we're talking about LSU, we may as well be a little more honest. Anything less than great is just plain bad, and it's particularly discouraging that LSU couldn't even manage to secure the top talent in Louisiana.

Take a look at Rivals' list of the top recruits in Louisiana this year, and you'll see the Tigers only managed to nab four of the top 10 players, and none of the four players at the top. This is something that just does not happen. Or at least, it's something that's not supposed to happen.

In addition, let's not forget Gunner Kiel's sudden decision to jump ship. He wasn't the only LSU commit to do so in January (USA Today has the full breakdown).

Is this a sign that Miles is losing his touch?

Let's not go that far. Miles' track record speaks for itself, and one sub-par recruiting year doesn't change things in a significant way. He's still one of the best there is, and LSU fans would be wise not to take him for granted.

Nevertheless, we should mark this day in case we need to look back on it later. If LSU comes up short again next year and the year after that, we could easily look at this as a beginning of an end.

Either that, or it will be a minor blip on the radar.

We shall see. But for now, this qualifies as a bummer.