| These national championship celebrations are starting to become a habit at LSU. For the third time in a little over a year an LSU team has brought an NCAA championship back to campus — and that's not even counting the Heisman Trophy Jayden Daniels won in December. Thursday is a pretty special day for Mr. Daniels, as he and former LSU receivers Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas expect to hear their names called during the first round of the NFL Draft in Detroit. Read a facinating feature by our Wilson Alexander on the cutting edge technology that helped spur Daniels to be a projected top-three pick. Wednesday night, though, it was the LSU gymnastics team in the spotlight. The Tigers captured the program's first NCAA title Saturday in Fort Worth, Texas. Four days later, it was time for a party, a championship parade through campus on the same route taken by the LSU women's basketball team last April to a championship celebration at the PMAC. "It never gets old," LSU President William Tate said. I'm sure it does not. And coach Jay Clark, who was hotly pursued by Georgia to return to coach his alma mater but decided to stay at LSU, wasn't shy about wanting to do this all again right soon. “Here’s what I know,” Clark said. “We’re LSU Tigers. We’re staying here and we’re just getting started. We love the team that’s here and the team that coming back. It’s about to get crazy around here.” LSU brings the nation's top-rated recruiting class to campus this fall to start competing in 2025. Whether any of LSU's seniors who can return — namely NCAA and SEC all-around champion Haleigh Bryant, SEC co-floor champion Kiya Johnson and Olivia Dunne — will be back next season remains to be seen. There weren't any grand pronouncements Wednesday night. Meanwhile, other LSU programs have also been hitting the recruiting trail. The Tiger baseball team has picked up a commitment from an in-state prospect. The women's basketball team announced three transfers set to help LSU in the backcourt and provide something this season's Elite Eight team sorely lacked: bench scoring. Finally, speaking of women's basketball, now former LSU All-American Angel Reese had her first news conference Wednesday with her new team, the WNBA's Chicago Sky. Read about how despite being the No. 7 overall pick she isn't taking her place on the team for granted. Well, that's all from me. I'll be down at the Zurich Classic the rest of the week so be sure to check out all of those dispatches. Meanwhile, you're LSU coverage team at The Advocate/The Times-Picayune will be here to cover LSU's pursuit of the school's next national championship, which would be No. 53. That's a lot. But, then again, it never gets old. Scott Rabalais Jay will stay. So will his staff. According to sources, Georgia came after LSU coach Jay Clark and his staff to try to get them to go to there (Clark went to school and coached at UGA) to revive the once proud program's gymnastics fortunes. But LSU officials have worked out a new deal for Clark and his staff that will keep them at LSU for the forseeable future, according to sources. No details as of yet, but it's believed that Clark will become one of the nation's highest-paid gymnstics coaches. We've got more gymnastics news and notes for you, like senior Haleigh Bryant being a finalist for yet another major award, this time the Honda Award. She and several other LSU gymnasts (yes, including Olivia Dunne) will be at the original Raising Cane's on Highland just north of campus at 10 a.m. Tuesday, working a shift. Turning to baseball, LSU coach Jay Johnson checked in with the media on Monday, talking about Brady Neal's injury, and whether or not we're going to see Chase Shores pitch this season. THe NFL Draft starts Thursday, and with it the rest of Jayden Daniels' football life. Where does the former LSU Heisman Trophy winner wind up? We've got odds. Finally, softball scored one run in its series at Tennessee this past weekend. Now the Tigers are back home, getting ready to face UL on the road Tuesday and searcing for answers. That's all for today, folks. Thank you for reading and subscribing. We couldn't do it without you. Well, we could. But what would be the point? Scott Rabalais | 
