Brian Kelly and the LSU football staff hosted one of the biggest recruiting events of the summer on Friday for the program’s annual Bayou Splash in Baton Rouge.
For Kelly and the Tigers, they brought in a myriad of commitments in both the 2025 and 2026 classes along with targets at the top of their Big Board.
The invite-only event was once again a huge success for the program with LSU now trending for numerous targets.
One name to keep tabs on is Gulf Shores (Ala.) native JaMichael Garrett.
The four-star 2026 linebacker has seen his status as a recruit skyrocket over the last few months after cracking the Top 150 in the recent update.
A Top 10 linebacker in America, Garrett has the Who’s Who of college football pursuing his services, but after trimming his list, it’s LSU and Auburn who are his finalists.
On Friday, Garrett made the drive to Baton Rouge for LSU’s Bayou Splash recruiting event where he was accompanied by several of the top targets on LSU’s radar.
@CoachBrianKelly 🐯🐯?! pic.twitter.com/eAZMP8PhUI
— Jamichael “Jmike” Garrett (@jamichael97) June 6, 2024
Following the trip to check in with LSU, he hopped back in the car to make the trip up to Auburn where he will visit with the [Auburn] Tigers on Saturday.
With his finalists set in stone, Garrett confirmed a commitment is “coming soon” with a decision likely coming within the next week.
Right now, LSU is trending for his services following a beneficial visit to Baton Rouge for the Bayou Splash event.
Garrett is an elite-level linebacker who could thrive under defensive coordinator Blake Baker’s system. There is a need for linebackers in the 2026 cycle with the Tigers turning up the heat for Garrett.
LSU currently holds a pair of 2026 commitments, but after a huge weekend on the recruiting trail, we could see more pop sooner than later.
All signs point to Garrett joining the class.
Late Friday night, we saw the first prediction come in from On3 Sports’ Shea Dixon with more buzz trending LSU’s way.
announcement coming soon … @Hayesfawcett3
— Jamichael “Jmike” Garrett (@jamichael97) July 27, 2024
For the Tigers, it would be a tremendous get for a program that is eyeing improvement for the long haul on the defensive side of the ball.
A Top 10 linebacker in America, Garrett is at the top of LSU’s 2026 Big Board with the program looking to get him on board sooner rather than later.
On Friday, he was alongside several top 2026 prospects with the No. 1 prospect in the country in town, Jahkeem Stewart.
Stewart, the the top recruit in the 2026 cycle, is just down the road from Baton Rouge and Brian Kelly’s coaching staff has kept tabs on the prospect many are preparing to call “generational”.
The prized defensive lineman plays his high school ball at St. Augustine High School in New Orleans (La.) where the Bayou Bengals have certainly dipped their toes in over the years.
From Leonard Fournette to Tyrann Mathieu, there have been several LSU greats that have come from the impressive Catholic League high school.
Now, LSU has their sights set on the next great recruit out of St. Augustine in coveted prospect Jahkeem Stewart.
The No. 1 overall player in the country, Stewart is a physical specimen of a defensive lineman who has programs across America salivating at his ceiling.
With a myriad of programs in his ear, Bo Davis and the Tigers have made sure to get in on the action as well.
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Follow Zack Nagy on Twitter: @znagy20 and LSU Tigers On SI: @LSUTigersSI for all coverage surrounding the LSU program.
In the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoff, the No. 2 Indiana Hoosiers (13-0) will play the No. 10 Alabama Crimson Tide (11-3) in the Rose Bowl, starting at 4 p.m. ET in Pasadena, California. Indiana is favored by 7 points.
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The Alabama Crimson Tide are headed back to the Rose Bowl for the College Football Playoff.
One hundred years after Alabama football’s first appearance in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, 1926, the Tide will face No. 1 Indiana (13-0) in the CFP quarterfinals in Pasadena on New Year’s Day.
Alabama (11-3) rallied from a 17-0 first-half deficit to win its first-round playoff game, 34-24, against the Oklahoma Sooners (10-3) Friday night at Memorial Stadium in Norman.
Ty Simpson threw two touchdown passes to freshman receiver Lotzeir Brooks, cornerback Zabien Brown had a 50-yard interception return for touchdown, and Daniel Hill capped the scoring with a 6-yard touchdown run as the Tide closed the game by out-scoring Oklahoma 34-7 over the final 36:52.
Conor Talty added two clutch field goals in Alabama’s win, its 10th victory overall in the College Football Playoff since 2014, and its first since the Crimson Tide defeated the Cincinnati Bearcats, 27-6, in the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Eve 2021.
After Alabama’s rally, Tide players did some celebrating on the Sooners’ field.
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NORMAN, Oklahoma — The stage was set for Oklahoma. Heck, the Sooners earned the right to set it. This was supposed to be the ushering in of a new era of postseason football for the No. 8 team in the country that had won 10 games in what was one of the toughest schedules this year.
No. 9 Alabama was even one of those teams that Oklahoma beat on its way to earning this spot. And Saturday night, all was going well for the Sooners. It was going so well, in fact, that after the first quarter, some Oklahoma fans might’ve peeked at flights and hotel rates for the Rose Bowl from inside Memorial Stadium.
And then the Alabama Crimson Tide curled and rolled the Sooners, 34-24, and are headed to Pasadena. After opening with 17 unanswered points, Oklahoma collapsed under the weight of that wave, becoming the only team in College Football Playoff history to blow a 17-point lead. And now, the Sooners have done it twice — before Saturday, in 2018 against Georgia.
[Best Teams in the College Football Playoff Era: Creating the Ultimate 12-team CFP]
Here are my takeaways from Alabama’s College Football Playoff first-round victory against Oklahoma on Saturday:
NORMAN, OKLAHOMA: Zabien Brown #2 of the Alabama Crimson Tide stiff-arms John Mateer #10 of the Oklahoma Sooners during the second quarter during the 2025 College Football Playoff first-round game on December 19, 2025. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
Crimson Tide quarterback Ty Simpson is an avid reader and listener of college football news. Following the largest comeback win in Alabama postseason history, Simpson took a moment to facetiously thank media members for choosing Oklahoma to win on Saturday night.
“I guess we can thank you guys for that,” an emboldened Simpson said. “You guys kind of wrote us off in a sort of way. So I appreciate that.”
After building a three-score lead, the Sooners watched the Crimson Tide recover a fumbled punt, pick off Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer and return it 50 yards to the end zone — all before their First Team All-American kicker Tate Sandell missed not one but two field goals in the final minutes to solidify the worst collapse in College Football Playoff history.
Meanwhile, the Alabama Crimson Tide will prepare to take on No. 1 Indiana in the Rose Bowl for the CFP quarterfinal game. This team that punches back and played its best football with its back against the wall is one that the Hoosiers must prepare for on New Year’s Day.
[College Football Playoff Predictions: First-Round Winners to The National Champion]
NORMAN, OKLAHOMA: John Mateer #10 of the Oklahoma Sooners is hit by Deontae Lawson #0 of the Alabama Crimson Tide during the first quarter during the College Football Playoff first-round game on December 19, 2025. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
The Crimson Tide began down — just like they did against Georgia in the SEC championship game. But the last three quarters of Saturday’s game demonstrated Alabama to be just who it says it is: the kind of team that can open with a loss to a bad Florida State and also be the first team in six years to walk into Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia, and come out with a win.
DeBoer’s task now is to find a way to make certain that the team that showed up at Georgia earlier this season and at Oklahoma in the first round is the same one against the Hoosiers. Linebacker Deontae Lawson said that’s his job too. But Bama’s best trait isn’t one that shows itself until it’s in a fight for its life.
“Man, I just think we’re a resilient team,” Lawson said. “And even though we were down 17-0, we didn’t really look at the scoreboard. Coach DeBoer always says, ‘Keep playing the game. The game will come back to you.’ … We just keep fighting.”
NORMAN, OKLAHOMA: Head coach Brent Venables of the Oklahoma Sooners speaks to an official during the fourth quarter against the Alabama Crimson Tide on December 19, 2025. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
Let’s look at the bigger ones:
These are blunders. Errors that aren’t forced but self-inflicted. It’s difficult to win any game with those kinds of mistakes on your drive chart. It’s nearly impossible in a game of this magnitude, against a team as talented and as resilient as the Crimson Tide.
NORMAN, OKLAHOMA: Keon Keeley #31 of the Alabama Crimson Tide celebrates after defeating the Oklahoma Sooners in the College Football Playoff first-round game. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
Oklahoma usually plays 50 Cent’s “Many Men” before the start of the fourth quarter. In an attempt to make a statement for its first CFP game at Owen Field, the Sooners brought the rapper himself out onto the field to perform the song for fans in a Hard to Kill Hoodie.
“I didn’t know it was live,” DeBoer said.
“I didn’t know who 50 Cent was,” Simpson said, “but I know that song.”
“We play that song at practice on Fridays,” Lawson said.
RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports. Follow him @RJ_Young.
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