LSU made its latest move on a talented in-state prospect Thursday with a new offer that sends some potential ripples and ruffles to various areas of The Boot.
Marksville star Devin “Bam” Lavalais, a versatile football and two-time basketball state champion, announced the Tigers had extended an offer, continuing to escalate a recruiting process that has only gained steam since his mid-April commitment to Tulane.
Mississippi State and Oklahoma State offered during the summer, and now home-state LSU has entered the mix as an obvious, particularly strong threat to the Green Wave’s hopes of keeping him New Orleans-bound.
Lavalais entered his senior season as the No. 26 overall prospect in Louisiana vs. All Y’all’s 2027 class rankings and has continued to have a huge final prep campaign as a major catalyst in Marksville’s 7-1 season and potential top-four seed in the upcoming Division-III Non-Select playoffs.
The versatile, 6-foot-1, 180-pound athlete earned the starting quarterback role for his Tigers as an eighth-grader and has developed into one of the state’s top safety prospects with his strong build, spring leap, explosive breaks, instincts and ball skills.
Lavalais is one of the highest-rated of Tulane’s 24 current commitments — the second-highest ranked in LVAY’s class rankings for in-state prospects and one of the top handful in the class overall on the On3 | Rivals and 247 lists.
LSU currently holds 15 pledges for the class, seven of which hail from in-state.
The Tigers haven’t signed a Marksville product since defensive end Chad Lavalais, a relative of Devin’s, in 2000.
Chad Lavalais was a part of Nick Saban’s first freshman class in Baton Rouge and went on to a decorated career that included All-American honors and selections as the SEC and National Defensive Player of the Year in 2003 before a brief NFL career with the Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers.
