In only two days, LSU football has added three recruits to its defensive line, and the most highly-rated player among them is the most recent prospect to commit to the Tigers.
Four-star edge rusher Damien Shanklin said on Friday that he had selected LSU over Ohio State and Alabama. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound senior is ranked as a top-120 national prospect by 247Sports, which also places him among the top 10 pass rushers in the nation and as the best player from Indiana.
Shanklin is ranked lower than just two 2025 players who have committed to LSU: running back Harlem Berry and quarterback Bryce Underwood.
With two edge rushers and two tackles, LSU now has four defensive linemen committed to its 2025 recruiting class. Zion Williams and Brandon Brown, two interior linemen, committed to the Tigers on Thursday and Friday, respectively.
Brown, a four-star tackle from Melbourne, Florida, is ranked among the top 40 defensive linemen in the 2025 recruiting class and among the top 330 national prospects by 247Sports. He had previously declared his commitment to Texas, but he changed his mind, partially due to the fact that LSU had hired away former Longhorn defensive line coach Bo Davis, he said to On3.
The three additions moved LSU’s 2025 class up to the sixth spot in the composite rankings published by 247Sports. It was ranked #1 at one point this spring, but Texas wide receiver Dakorien Moore, the top receiver in the country, decided to sign to Oregon rather than LSU after breaking his vow to the former.
Five-star Michigan native Underwood is regarded as the nation’s best player by most analysts. Berry, the class’s best Louisiana-born player, is a top-20 national talent and a native of New Orleans.
LSU signed seven defensive linemen in the 2024 cycle, the most notable of whom was Dominick McKinley, an Acadiana High School standout and a top-20 national prospect. Additionally, it added two transfers to help cover the void left by Maason Smith and Mekhi Wingo declaring for the NFL draft: Gio Paez of Wisconsin and Jay’viar Suggs of Grand Valley State.
The other d-lineman, Florida native Jesse Harrold, a 6-5 edge rusher who is rated among the top 130 recruits in the nation, has committed to LSU.
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