Death Valley Insider: LSU Tigers Football & Basketball Recruiting - LSU target, Cali. DB Foster Slaughter well familiar with DBU, La. seafood
Bishop Amat safety, friend of 2023 Tigers commit Daylen Austin scheduled to visit Baton Rouge next week.
Foster Slaughter swiftly and enthusiastically shared the significance of his recent LSU offer.
"Oh, yes! That's DBU," the 2024 Bishop Amat (La Puente, Cali.) defensive back exclaimed. "Like my boy Daylen Austin said, that's DBU."
The talented young prospects played together during 7-on-7 season this spring and became friends, Slaughter said.
Austin is a rising senior at crosstown Long Beach Poly, where Slaughter's uncle previously coached, and committed to the Tigers on May 16.
Coach Brian Kelly and company's addition of the four-star cornerback has been considered among the nation's biggest recruiting wins thus far in the 2023 class.
Slaughter received his own scholarship offer from LSU three days later.
"Anything I have a question on, he'll help me," Slaughter said, adding with a laugh: "And definitely when I got the LSU offer, now he's in my ear with it."
The 6-foot, 170-pound rising junior's recruitment has burst out of the gates this spring since transferring to Bishop Amat following an impressive sophomore season at San Jacinto, about two hours east toward Palm Springs.
LSU was the 11th of 14 offers thus far — including second, along with Missouri, among SEC programs, and eighth Power Five.
"It's been a blessing, it's been a blessing," he said of the past few months overall. "It doesn't feel real. It feels like I'm in a movie. I love it. How their program is, how their spring is, I love how everything's organized and how everything's run. And getting to know the new teammates, it's fun."
Many of the programs visited Bishop Amat this spring, Slaughter said.
And LSU was a program with which he was particularly familiar even before the offer or Austin's peer recruiting pitches.
Slaughter said he felt a quick jolt of energy when he saw safeties coach Kerry Cooks walk into the weight room.
"I saw LSU walk in, so that gave me a little switch like, 'Oh yeah, it's time,'" he said. "So I'm doing what I'm doing in the weight room, he's talking to my coach and I hear him like, 'That kid? Slaughter, huh?' You just hear it and just keep working.
"And my coach comes by and puts an 'L' (with his hand). And me and my coach, we'll usually play around, right? So I'm just kind of laughing at him. I didn't even realize. And then at the end, they told me I was offered by LSU, and I got what the 'L' was."
Slaughter's mother's and father's families are from New Orleans and Ohio, respectively, and he grew up with his parents rooting from their home-state LSU and Ohio State teams on Saturdays in the fall.
The Buckeyes took precedence back then, he said, "but since I've gotten in this situation as an athlete, I don't have any favorites. I'm going to whoever wants me, like I tell my parents."
Slaughter is scheduled to travel early next week to LSU on Tuesday and Oklahoma on Wednesday.
He said the visit to Louisiana will be his first since childhood, but he's maintained a connection through his mother's and grandmother's pride and cooking.
"One thing — and I know everybody's gonna say it, but — it's the food," he said. "New Orleans, the food. The food's great out there... I'm a seafood guy. So shrimp, crabs, crawfish, oysters, anything seafood I'm there."
And his mother actually runs a cooking and catering business, LaRhonda's Kitchen, he said is "probably one of the best out here in California — you can even search it up!"
So, despite living his entire life more than 1,800 miles away, Slaughter has always eaten like a Louisiana native off the field.
And he laughed about carrying a confidence and vocal nature on the field similar to many New Orleans athletes and past LSU defensive backs.
College coaches have praised his feel for the game and willingness to communicate his reads to his teammates, he said.
But he also isn't shy about being in his opponents' ears, either.
"It's me communicating and being a leader on the field," he said. "Like practice or anything, I will tell my team what they're running. I'll read it and call them out. Me being aggressive, me communicating.
"And I'm the type of person that sometimes while the receiver is running their route, I'll be talking to him. It's really like that... I'm gonna tell 'em I'm gonna be there every play."
Slaughter said his work on his speed is among his primary focuses this offseason.
He referenced and immediate motivation to keep up with the other speedy athletes around Los Angeles, such as 2023 Junipero Serra (Gardena, Cali.) cornerback Rodrick Pleasant, who recently ran a state record 10.14-second 100-meter dash during outdoor track season.
And while he projects most likely as a safety at the next level, he wants to be as versatile as possible for his college team.
"Anywhere they need me to be at," he said. "Safety. If they want me to get bigger and go be a linebacker, I can do that. If they want me to go play corner, I can go do that. Whatever they want me to do, I'm there. I just want to be an athlete and do anything I need to do to get on the field. Special teams, I'm there. They want me to play some offense, I'm there too."
