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No. 1 IOL in America, Five-Star LSU Football Target Being Recruited by No. 1 Athlete

Originally posted on LSU Tigers on SI | By Zack Nagy | Last updated Jul 17, 2025 10:31 AM ET

Richmond (Va.) St. Christopher School five-star offensive lineman Darius Gray is down to the LSU Tigers, Ohio State Buckeyes, South Carolina Gamecocks, Tennessee Volunteers and Clemson Tigers as his recruitment process winds down.

Gray, the No. 1 interior offensive lineman in America, has been wined and dined by the top schools in the nation with the five contenders separating from the pack this summer.

The 6-foot-3, 285-pounder took multiple official visits this summer with Brian Kelly and the Bayou Bengals landing one of their own as the program intensified its pursuit.

Now, LSU is emerging as a school to watch in the "Gray Sweepstakes" as he narrows his focus to the handful of schools in the mix.

"Definitely Coach Davis. Coach Davis is one of the greatest humans that I’ve ever talked to," Gray told Tennessee Volunteers On SI. "He gives off a father figure. He hopes the kids grow as men, and that is very important with me coming into college at 18, so to have someone like that to help you develop as an NFL player, but also as a great human being, a great husband, a great father, and that is just something I want.

"LSU kind of speaks for itself. It’s a winning program. They do everything to develop linemen perfectly, so that’s good and they check all the boxes.”

But LSU will have competition down the stretch as the program battles for Gray's commitment with the South Carolina Gamecocks labeled as a school to watch.

Gray loves the relationship he's developed with the Gamecocks coaching staff and what head coach Shane Beamer is building in Columbia.

“They have been the longest relationship possible. I think the most important thing to me is how everyone remained the same," Gray said.

"You know way back, they were a five or six win team and now they are scratching the surface for playoffs and not once did they change anything that they are doing with their culture, so I think that’s been the biggest thing for me and Coach Beamer is an amazing people that you’d want to play for.”

For the LSU Tigers, the program will utilize other commitments to help lead the charge on the recruiting front as well.

Kelly and Co. recently landed a pledge from the No. 1 athlete in America, Lamar Brown, with the five-star already spearheading a push for Gray.

BATON ROUGE IS HOME DG!!!@dariusgrayy_ https://t.co/KhsMXtT8NZ
— Lamar Brown (@lamar1brown) July 13, 2025

LSU landed Brown on July 10 with the five-star Louisiana native electing to remain in the Bayou State and play for the hometown program.

"It just feels good to play for my state and city. Not just for three or four years but for years after football life. I'm just blessed to be in this position and ready to play in Tiger Stadium," Brown said.

"Frank Wilson. He's been on me since the first day. The whole staff, I have a relationship with the whole staff, everybody on the staff that helped for this moment."

Now, he's helping intensify the pursuit for Gray as he evaluated the final five schools in his recruitment process.

Other schools in the mix include the Ohio State Buckeyes, Tennessee Volunteers and Clemson Tigers.

Gray broke down the other contenders:

Ohio State: “ A winning program. You can see the reason they have been able to develop linemen. I think it is huge that they got Coach Bowen he was a guy from Virginia Tech, you know we have a great relationship so you can kind of see the way Coach Ryan Day sets up his program and it’s big, and he spoke about it in an interview, you know mental health is important. It gets lost in this college football world that these are still kids at the end of the day, so It’s great to have a head coach understand like that, and very vocal about it. The biggest thing is that they develop and win. It’s a big/huge program that everyone loves.”

Tennessee: “Oh, easily it definitely starts with the guys in the O-Line room. Starting with Coach Elarbee. I’d definitely say that’s the main reason for me, and I mean Coach Heup (Josh Heupel), a guy like that running the program, you know, it kind of speaks for itself. Tennessee has been building for years, and they are only scratching the surface. They are getting guys like David Sanders and (JB) Shabazz and all of those guys, you can just see they are going to continue the up trend.”

Clemson: “Definitely, I would have to say Coach Sweeney’s longevity there. Him bringing in Coach Luke was a big part in it as well. Coach Sweeney does everything the right way. He is going to fight for his players, so that has been a big thing, and Coach Luke is a fantastic human being. Outside of football, he’s an even better coach, so it’s hard to say no to something like that.”