Porter Returns To LSU From UK

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Elliott Porter is heading back to Baton Rouge and back to the LSU football program.

Porter, you might remember, had arrived on LSU’s campus last year and done well academically… only to learn in August that the Tigers would not have a scholarship for him as originally planned.

Porter declined a grayshirt offer that would have allowed him to enroll on scholarship this month and instead got a release from LSU and signed with Kentucky.  His story caught the attention of several national media outlets that used Les Miles as an example of coaches who promise players scholarships and then sometimes fail to deliver.

But Porter spent his year in Lexington redshirting.  And now he’s transferring back to his home state.

“It wasn’t the place for me,” Porter said.  “I tried it but I didn’t really like it.  I don’t have any hard feelings for them.  I appreciate them.  It would have been better if I had (taken the grayshirt), but I don’t regret anything I’ve done in the past.  I’ll just keep moving on.

“I’m great (with being back at LSU).  I love it.  This is my home.  I don’t hold any grudges.  I want to get on with my career.”

Porter cannot receive a scholarship until he has been in the program for two years as a walk-on.

So Porter could have accepted the grayshirt last August and enrolled on scholarship this month at LSU.  Instead, he went to UK for a year, redshirted, and will now spend two more years at LSU off scholarship.

Yes, he would have been better off staying in Baton Rouge.  But that’s hindsight.  And while Miles isn’t the devil that the media portrayed him as being, the issue of oversigning is very much a problem.  Not just at LSU but everywhere.

Whether recruits are warned of possible number crunches or not, the practice of signing more players than you have scholarships to cover is not a good one.