Leonard Fournette was the USA Today Player of the Year as a senior at New Orleans’ St. Augustine High School, and the No. 1 rated recruit in the 2014 signing class.
Virtually every major college program in the country wanted Fournette, including Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Florida State, Michigan, Texas and USC. To the surprise of no one, however, he signed with nearby LSU, where he was a first-team All-American in 2015 and ran for 3,820 yards and 40 touchdowns before leaving for the NFL draft following his junior year.
Asked by NBA legend (and fellow LSU alum) Shaquille O’Neal about the recruiting process during an appearance this week on “The Big Podcast with Shaq,” Fournette — now 29 and a free agent after an eight-year NFL career that included a Super Bowl championship with Tampa Bay after the 2015 season — had this to say:
“It was tough,” Fournette told O’Neal and co-host Adam Lefkoe. “… The running backs coach at Alabama, Burton Burns, went to St. Aug. Frank Wilson, who was the running backs coach at LSU, he went to St. Aug, too. LSU was always home for me. I loved it here. Every time I came here to a game, everybody was begging me to come.
“I took a visit at Alabama. It was weak. That’s just the truth. I had a daughter at the time, so I decided to stay home, actually to help my family out in the long run.”
Alabama fans, of course, will be quick to note that Fournette went 0-3 during his college career against the Crimson Tide, which won the SEC championship in each of those seasons (and a national title in 2015). He rushed for a total of 143 yards on 57 carries — an average of 2.51 yards per attempt — with just one touchdown as LSU lost 20-13 in 2014, 30-16 in 2015 and 10-0 in 2016.
Here’s the full interview. Fournette’s comments about Alabama begin at around the 4-minute mark:
