The lifeblood of any program is recruiting.

It’s imperative to accrue as much talent as possible when competing on the highest level. This is particularly true when it comes to the SEC — arguably the most talent-rich conference in the country.

The Southeast region possesses terrific high school prospects. The states of Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, Florida, and Mississippi in particular churn out high-level players on an annual basis.

In order to keep up with the juggernaut that is Alabama, bitter SEC West rival LSU would (in theory) need to keep all of its top talent home.

Traditionally LSU has been very good in that regard. However, there have been some proverbial cracks in the foundation.

When speaking about the current 2017 class, this premise can be illustrated below with this graphic:

When looking at the 247Sports composite rankings of the state of Louisiana, LSU has commitments from only two of the top 10. Within the top 20, only four Louisiana natives have pledged their services to Ed Orgeron’s program.

To make matters worse, Alabama has commitments from the No. 4 (Phidarian Mathis) and No. 5 (Christopher Allen) ranked athletes within the Pelican State. Devonta Allen — the No. 2-ranked player, is likely to end up in Tuscaloosa.

This also doesn’t take into account that Alabama has commitments from two Louisiana natives in 5-star athlete Dylan Moses of IMG Academy, and top JUCO prospect Isaiah Buggs.

Historically, Alabama has dipped into the neighboring state to secure the likes of Landon Collins and Cam Robinson. Both were huge LSU targets, and still opted to head out of state.

What does this all mean?

For one, the new staff under Orgerson seemingly has had trouble gaining traction. In terms of a comparison, Kirby Smart had much more success when he first took over the Georgia program prior to the 2016 National Signing Day.

Not only did he secure commitments from top in-state players, but Smart also was able to keep the pledges former head coach Mark Richt had previously accrued.

As a result of the troubles with regards to in-state recruiting, LSU has hit the states of Texas, Mississippi, and Tennessee particularly hard. Eight of the 21 commits have hailed from these three states.

LSU fans shouldn’t stress too much. It’s still the unquestioned flagship program within Louisiana, and have cachet all across the region. Additionally, Orgeron is as proud a Louisiana native as one will find.

His energy and passion for recruiting is legendary, and with a year to build relationships across the state, he should have a stellar recruiting class headed to Baton Rouge in 2018.

Orgeron will have to prevent Alabama from pilfering the top talent in Louisiana — particularly if LSU is to win the SEC West in the upcoming years.