BATON ROUGE, LA – LSU head coach Lane Kiffin recently revealed that the football program has added a new evaluation metric for incoming recruits: successfully driving from Port Allen to Baton Rouge on I-10 at 5 p.m. on any weekday.
According to Kiffin, the exercise provides coaches with valuable insight into a prospect’s resilience, patience, emotional control, and ability to overcome adversity.
“You can learn a lot more from a kid sitting in bridge traffic for three hours than you can from a 40-yard dash,” Kiffin explained. “Anybody can run fast when they’re fresh. Let’s see how they respond after moving 30 feet in 45 minutes.”
Sources say recruits are monitored throughout the trip and graded on several key metrics, including horn usage, number of times they check navigation apps, and whether they consider exiting the car and jumping off the bridge at any point.
Several prospects reportedly impressed coaches by maintaining composure despite watching the estimated arrival time increase six consecutive times. One recruit earned an immediate scholarship offer after remaining calm when traffic sat for 4 hours at a complete stop despite no visible accident, construction, or explanation.
Coaches say the drill has already become so effective that several NFL teams have contacted LSU about incorporating the commute into the scouting combine.
