How LSU kept Xavier Atkins in the 2024 class

2024 LSU linebacker commit Xavier Atkins announced Sunday he’s shut down his recruitment and is locked in with the Tigers. Coming off the Arkansas visit, he was ready to make the announcement.

It was a winding road to holding onto Atkins, who at one point looked like he’d not end up in the 2024 class with LSU. Ultimately, the Tigers were able to buckle in and keep him on board.

How’d we get here though? We run back the tape on some key moments throughout his recruitment.

LSU got an early commitment from Atkins, who pledged all the way back on July 5, 2022. Back then, he was at Jonesboro-Hodge preparing for his junior season. It was a dream of his to play for the in-state school and he locked in a commitment to do just that.

After his junior season, he opted to transfer to the Houston area, where he arrived at Summer Creek High. The move was all in hopes of developing and refining his game for the next level. As the spring rolled along, Atkins he made a couple trips to LSU. At the same time, his recruitment was heating up and he wanted to take other visits.

Arkansas, Colorado, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas A&M, Utah and others hosted him during that time. When summer approached, the Aggies were the ones that were making life difficult on LSU. They do still have an official visit in his recruitment, but Atkins did say he’s locked in with the Tigers.

In June, he took official visits to Arkansas, TCU and Utah. Texas A&M hosted him at the end of July for their pool party, which is really where the turning point in his recruitment came.

Atkins was set to attend both recruiting events, but opted to just attend Texas A&M’s. As the Aggies pressed, LSU reeled in a commitment from Tylen Singleton and Peach State linebacker Devin Smith was trending LSU’s way.

When Atkins didn’t show up in Baton Rouge, sources told On3 that there was a parting of ways with Atkins from LSU’s side. That appeared to give the green light for him to go ahead and flip to Texas A&M. The Tigers were going all in on Smith and had landed Singleton.

As cooler heads prevailed, LSU opted to start back up recruiting him. Defensive coordinator Matt House, associate head coach Frank Wilson and recruiting specialist Sherman Wilson all battled away for Atkins. The press was on and Atkins was listening.

At the same time, there continued to be buzz that the Aggies would get the flip done, but Atkins had his own timeline. I placed an On3 RPM pick in for the Aggies to flip him, but the four-star prospect had other ideas.

Originally, sources expected Atkins to announce a flip in September to Texas A&M, but that day never came. Atkins’ birthday (Sept. 12) was when he was originally going to make the announcement. As LSU pressed, it went back in their favor. Still, through discussions with LSU’s staff, Atkins knew he had to show he was serious.

That’s when he told us as news broke elsewhere he was back on board that he didn’t want that news out there just yet. He had to get back to Baton Rouge with a visit for the Arkansas game and meet with the staff before he’d be allowed to be publicly back on board.

The Bengal Tiger spoke with Atkins on August 31 for the full story on his decision to shut things down and he asked us to not say anything about his upcoming announcement. That’s why you saw us post his clips to the board and hint to folks that he was at least still a part of the picture in Baton Rouge.

Atkins gave us the green light Sunday after his visit to run the story, announcing he’s locked in with the Tigers. It’s recruiting so never say never, but it appears Atkins plans to be a Tiger. It’s just been a winding road to get there.

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