For years, LSU has been known as “DBU” for its track record of putting defensive backs like former standout Tyrann Mathieu into the NFL. Until very recently, Arkansas football coaches had almost no chance of getting a defensive back out of Louisiana if LSU also really wanted him. Instead, Arkansas had go with Louisiana DBs whom LSU didn’t aggressively recruit like Jerico Nelson, Joe Foucha and Greg Brooks Jr.
That dynamic is changing, however. For one, just last month, Arkansas came mighty close to flipping Latterance Welch, a blue-chip defensive back who had been committed to LSU. More recently, LSU has successfully gone after two of Arkansas’ best (former) cornerbacks in Foucha and Brooks, Jr.
They first got Foucha, the New Orleans native who wore No. 7 during his Razorbacks career in honor of Mathieu:
“I grew idolizing Tyrann,” Foucha told Tiger Details. “We played for the same little league team growing up. Any time he hits me up or retweets me on Twitter, it’s an amazing thing to see.”
In another recent interview, Foucha illuminated the reasons he transferred to LSU. First, “I really feel like as far as defense the 3-2 scheme that we run, I want to be in a four down front, and I feel like LSU do that very well,” he told Tigerbait.com’s Preston Guy.
But the main motivation was more simple. “I did grow up dreaming of playing for LSU,” he said. “Once I told my family that that’s what I was doing they were so happy. I feel like they felt relieved too because I get to see my family more often.”
In the end, the decision wasn’t too hard. “I would kind of say it was easy for me,” he told Guy.
“I’ve kind of been away from home for awhile, I’ve been away for four years, making those sacrifices,” he added, referring to a couple 2-10 seasons under Chad Morris.
Going to LSU Football: “That Seems Dirty.”
A lot of Arkansas football fans are fine with the idea Foucha transferring away from the Razorbacks after four seasons, even though they would rather see him stay an extra season or go to the pros. They are not keen on the way he transferred.
“He can go wherever he wants. I have no problem with him going wherever he wants. It’s obviously a free market to what he can do what he wants to do,” John Nabors, the host of Locked on Razorbacks, said on his podcast. “What I have a problem with is him going back to the school or going home, if you will, to a school that never even gave him a chance when he was coming out of high school.”
“Didn’t even want him*, when he was coming out of high school in LSU. And suddenly after a few years where he’s developed at Arkansas, because the chance that Arkansas gave him and what the coaching staff at Arkansas developed him into, he became a quality player — a player that was considered to be a bonafide SEC-caliber defensive back.”
“He earned that not only because of his play on the field, but also with the respect of his teammates, when they voted him as captain of the Razorback football team this past year.”
“In that way of repaying, he goes to the school that is the rival of Arkansas, back where he is from, that didn’t want him in the first place, to finish out his career. That seems dirty. That seems lame. And again, I not in any way, shape or form, talking badly about him or anything like that. It’s just, I’m looking at it from the perspective of any other walk of life [like business].”
Joe Foucha Recruits Greg Brooks Jr.
On Thursday, news broke about another Hog-turned-Tiger in freshly former Razorback Greg Brooks, Jr., also a New Orleans native. “Really From That Bayou This That Alligator Walk!” Brooks Tweeted. “I’M COMING HOME!” He, unlike Foucha, did not go through the trouble of including even a shred of an Arkansas football jersey on his Tweeted Photoshopped profile image.
Foucha, in turned out, led the charge to bring Brooks back to their home state.
“I’m going to be doing a lot of recruiting in the time that we do have to get guys here, get the thing back to what it was,” Foucha told Tigerbait.com. “I don’t normally say too much on that, but of course I’m going to be recruiting him the hardest.”
“I can’t spill too many beans on that one, but I’m definitely going to be recruiting him,” he said with the tongue-in-cheek tone of a bookie working with the best sports betting site in NJ.
Foucha went more into more details about how he and Brooks Jr. became Arkansas football transfers with Tiger Details: “We had that conversation with each other before we played that last bowl game at Arkansas. We talked about going out there and balling out and then we’ll make a decision after the bowl game and wherever we land at then we have to keep it going. Our chemistry is there. He’s been my roommate for two years now and going on a third year and we just going to go out there and ball out for our state together.”
Something tells me Arkansas football fans like John Nabors aren’t too pleased to see someone who was an Arkansas captain just a couple weeks ago so actively work to build up a rival program. Perhaps, to make amends, Foucha can convince outgoing LSU football transfer Dwight McGlothern to take Brooks’ place in Fayetteville.
In 2021, the 6’2″ 185 pound cornerback finished with 32 tackles, 26 solo, two for loss, an interception, five pass breakups, one quarterback hurry and a forced fumble.
If Foucha wants to do one last favor for the program and coaches who did so much for him, helping Arkansas get McGlothern, a former 5-star recruit who electrified against Florida, would be a great place to start.
See the whole interview here:
*It should be noted that LSU did offer Foucha (class of 2018) a scholarship in high school. However, it’s unlikely that the Tigers pursued him with the same kind of intensity that the Hogs did. For one, Grant Delpit was the SEC’s best safety as a freshman in 2017, so Foucha wouldn’t have gotten as much playing time there as in Arkansas.
“LSU talked to me and I believe I had them in my top seven, but the decision I made was the best for me at the time,” he told Tiger Details.
Also, four-star Louisianan safety Kelvin Joseph, also in the class of 2018, was bound to play before Foucha.
What Greg Brooks Jr. and Joe Foucha Did at Arkansas
Brooks started 30 games over the last three years. He recorded 112 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, four interceptions and eight pass breakups. Foucha, meanwhile, totaled 231 tackles, 11.5 tackles for a loss and 5 interceptions over the four seasons. In 2021, Foucha made 75 tackles (4th on the team) while tying for No. 2 among Razorback defenders with 7.5 tackles for a loss.
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See our latest post on Arkansas football transfers here:
