When Ahmad Hudson picked LSU over Nebraska earlier this month, some analysts believed the fight for the 5-star tight end was far from over. However, with Ed Orgeron now joining the Bayou Bengals' staff, the Huskers might have a tougher battle on their hands.
Orgeron, a former National Title-winning LSU head coach, is back with the team that fired him just a few years ago. This time, he's working as an assistant for the new head coach, Lane Kiffin. The two men have known each other for years, and the hiring of Orgeron signals Kiffin is going for broke as he tries to bring another title to Baton Rouge.
Where this gets complicated for Nebraska is that, while Orgeron is expected to focus mainly on defense, his primary efforts will be recruiting. Considering how good the new hire has been over his career, it stands to reason he'll be working on everyone LSU wants, or wants to keep, including Ahmad Hudson.
The relationship between Kiffin and Orgeron dates back a quarter century, as they first served together on a staff in 2001 under Pete Carroll at USC. Orgeron is largely credited with being the recruiting engine during that gilded USC era, and his exploits in recruiting at Ole Miss were chronicled in the book "Meat Market."
Ahmad Hudson’s LSU commitment may be harder for Nebraska football to shake now
Orgeron took over as LSU's interim coach in 2016 and held the full-time job through 2021, when the school fired him two years after winning the national championship. Over those six seasons, he led the Tigers to a 51-20 record. In his time in Baton Rouge, he put together one of the most explosive offenses in college football history and helped quarterback Joe Burrow grow into one of the best players in college and now the NFL.
Time and time again, Orgeron has shown he's a much better recruiter and assistant than the guy in charge. He went 10-25 in his three seasons as Ole Miss coach, but he recruited a strong enough roster that his successor, Houston Nutt, went 9-4 in the subsequent two years after Orgeron in 2007.
The new LSU recruiting ace's career has often been marked by rumors and innuendo (if not outright proof) that his recruiting practices are not always within the rules. Of course, the last time he was having his most success recruiting and building a team, NIL and the Transfer Portal weren't part of the landscape.
Considering how long Kiffin and Orgeron have known each other, it stands to reason that when going head-to-head with schools like Nebraska, he'll be given something very close to free rein. That doesn't bode well for winning back Ahmad Hudson.
Pair Oregeron's recruiting prowess with basketball coach Will Wade, who seems to have a nice stash of NIL money considering the way he's building his roster this spring, and Hudson, who plans to play both basketball and football in college, may have far too many good reasons not to rethink his commitment and flip to Nebraska in the end.
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