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Last Remaining Offensive SI99 Football Recruit, Brian Thomas, Set to Come off the Board

SI99 wide receiver prospect Brian Thomas Jr. will sign Letter of Intent Tuesday afternoon

SI All-American

The Postseason SI99 college football prospect rankings were finalized in January, and most of the available recruits made their decisions official last week on National Signing Day. 

Two, however, remain officially undecided near a week following the unofficial declaration day. Technically, prospects are free to make college decisions official through the spring and the current cycle (2021) will have the ability to wait into the summer months thanks to COVID-19 and the tweaks it has made to the NCAA recruiting calendar.

The highest-ranked is of course JT Tuimoloau, the Washington two-way, two-sport talent who SIAA projects as the top edge talent in the country. He won't make a final decision any time soon between the likes of Ohio State, Alabama, USC, Oregon and the in-state Washington Huskies in order to make some visits, most notably to Columbus, the only campus he has yet to experience in person among the finalists. 

Tuimoloau is the No. 2 overall prospect and No. 1 defensive talent in the SI99. Heading into February, Ohio State served as the industry expectation for his signature and Buckeyes coach Ryan Day made it a point to publicly state there was not-so-coincidentally one spot remaining on the OSU recruiting board. 

The wait won't be nearly as long for the only other SI99 talent still on the board, Brian Thomas Jr. The Walker (La.) standout wide receiver, who is listed at 6-foot-4, 185 pounds, is set to come off the board Tuesday afternoon according to the program. 

It's an all-SEC battle for the top remaining pass catcher in the class of 2021. Thomas is expected to select between local LSU, Texas A&M and Alabama. Each program sits in the top six of the SI All-American team recruiting rankings. 

An Aggie selection would give Jimbo Fisher and company as many SI99 prospects as LSU currently has on board (five) while an Alabama selection, though unlikely as far as we can tell, would only push a potentially-historic No. 1 recruiting class that much further into the mythical record books.

To take a look at the wide receiver position itself, LSU and Alabama have each signed four wide receivers to date, while A&M only has one officially on board in first team SI All-American selection and in-stater Shadrach Banks. Thomas would be LSU or A&M's highest-ranked receiver prospect when his National Letter of Intent is confirmed. 

Ed Orgeron has emphasized the protection of Louisiana borders since his arrival in Baton Rouge and the program, though it suffered high-profile decommitments from out-of-state SI99 members Raesjon Davis and Jojo Earle, has done the deed in the 2021 recruiting cycle. Destyn Hill, another receiver prospect, is the sole SI99 member from Louisiana who signed with a program other than the Tigers (Florida State) and it appears the LSU push was for Thomas over Hill for their final spot at the position. More than a third of the class (8 of 22) hails from Louisiana to date. 

If A&M can pull the upset, it would continue the narrative that elites in the Bayou are still poachable and perhaps more importantly from a perceptional standpoint, would show that a non-Alabama entity could accomplish such a feat. The Aggies have efforted inroads in the state historically, but signed just one Louisianan in the class (Jardin Gilbert) to this point. In fact, Fisher hasn't signed more than one from the state sine taking over in College Station at the tail-end of the 2018 recruiting cycle. 

To say there are a lot of eyes on Thomas' decision would be an understatement.

In 2020, the senior hauled in 32 passes for 551 yards and seven touchdowns according to The Advocate. Thomas added two more rushing touchdowns in the fall, helping Walker High to a playoff run in the Pelican State. 

Thomas, who also plays basketball at Walker and drew high major recruiting interest before shifting his focus to the football field, first drew the attention of the college football world in receiving his LSU offer in the summer of 2018. The rest of college football's elite would come calling for the two-sport star as he hit the field as a sophomore the following fall. 

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