The last time LSU had an offensive backfield without an NFL Draft pick at running back was 1994. For the last 24 years, LSU's running back room has featured a revolving door of exceptional talent that has done amazing things in the college ranks. Often it has had multiple in the same room and typically they are first or second-day picks.

This year, that streak may end. Nick Brossette and Clyde Edwards-Helaire have surprised a lot of people with their productivity this fall, and they've been a big reason why LSU has managed to hang on to a Top 10 spot with two weeks left in the season. But LSU's 4.0 yards per carry in the run game is the lowest output since 2009. A shorter Edwards-Helaire and an athletically limited Brossette don't have the profile that NFL scouts typically covet.

The next crop of LSU backs does though. But before we get there, let's look at how LSU got here and how slim the margins can be to reload with NFL backs year after year.

In the 2017 recruiting cycle, with Leonard Fournette poised to be a first-round draft pick and Derrius Guice the next in line as a likely three-down back, LSU went looking for its next workhorse. It zeroed in on Mississippi native Cam Akers, the No. 3 player in the country according to the 247Sports Composite rankings, and it missed. By the time Akers committed to Florida State, it was too late to circle back and land in-state standout Travis Etienne who is now getting Heisman Trophy talk as a sophomore at Clemson.

The 2018 class didn't have the same kind of running back star power as the previous few cycles, so the options were limited. Consequently, around college football we haven't seen Year 1 impacts this fall like we saw with guys like Akers, JK Dobbins and AJ Dillon of the 2017 class or Guice, Saquon Barkley and Ronald Jones in the 2015 class. Perhaps the most notable true freshman to flash has been Louisiana native Pooka Williams at Kansas.

In the past, Williams likely would have been in LSU's class. He was a grade risk that could have potentially landed in juco. He's a guy you take and hope for the best. But when the NCAA passed legislation that causes non-qualifiers that have signed to count against your scholarship numbers, it disincentivizes programs to roll the dice. As a result, LSU couldn't take on the risk of signing Williams and losing him to juco, but Kansas had no problem taking that chance. 

Ultimately, LSU ended up with Edwards-Helaire and Chris Curry out of those 2017 and 2018 classes. Both may yet develop into NFL stars, but they didn't arrive with the just-add-water skill set that we've been spoiled to see at LSU at running back. With the new arrivals for next year, that will change.

On Tuesday, LSU landed a commitment out of John Emery Jr., the No. 2 running back in the country per 247Sports Composite rankings and a five-star prospect. He's a bona fide freak. Rocked up at 5-11, 206 pounds, Emery runs a verified 4.42 40-yard dash, a 4.2 shuttle and has a 38-inch vertical. His film is the kind of darting, explosive, angry precision that is reminiscent of what we saw from Derrius Guice.

It's a sigh of relief for Ed Orgeron and LSU fans to have Emery in the fold. If the Tigers want to compete with Alabama, he's the type of in-state talent that can't get out of Louisiana -- and he nearly did. He initially committed to Georgia but backed off his pledge two weeks after LSU knocked off the Bulldogs in Baton Rouge. Instead he's staying home with another freakish athlete in the backfield.

Fellow RB commit and Baton Rouge-native Tyrion Davis is what we are used to seeing in an LSU backfield. He's huge, physical and fast. At 6-foot-1, 230 pounds, Davis has been verified as fast as 10.8 in the 100 meters and has clocked low 4.5s in the camp circuit. He's ranked as the No. 6 running back in the country according to 247Sports Composite.

When LSU tries to carry the momentum of the 2018 season into the future, it will be doing it with a familiar recipe of freaky backs. Whatever else changes, the running backs will go back to staying the same.

Cover 3

LSU is reasserting itself as a running back factory in the 2019 recruiting cycle, but it's doing the same thing at defensive back. In-state cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. was bumped up to the No. 2 player in the country in the most recent 247Sports rankings update and if he finishes there, he'd be the highest ranked cornerback in 247Sports history. He'll join an LSU secondary already loaded with NFL talent. But like LSU at running back and defensive back, a few other programs are landing predictable classes given some positional reputations.

1. Clemson big receivers

This fall, Tee Higgins and Justyn Ross (along with Trevor Lawrence) are becoming a running, jumping marketing campaign for big receivers to sign up with the Tigers. Before that it was Mike Williams or Martavis Bryant, but the lineage is getting even stronger in the 2019 class. Clemson has two of the top seven wide receivers committed in Joe Ngata from California and Frank Ladson from Miami. They also happen to be the top two wide receivers that are 6-foot-3 or taller. The long ball and jump ball will live on in Death Valley.          

2. Wisconsin offensive line

Sometimes it doesn't really matter what Wisconsin brings in on the offensive line in terms of rankings because that's a program that knows what it is looking for and develops at a really high level. Sometimes what Wisconsin wants happens to be what everyone else in the country wants too and that's what the Badgers are getting in Logan Brown, the No. 1 offensive tackle in the 2019 class according to 247Sports. The Michigan native is lean at 6-foot-6, 285 pounds, but he's also very athletic. Like a lot of Wisconsin offensive linemen that have found success, Brown is a beast on the track with a 61-foot shot put to his credit.

3. Alabama defensive front

Alabama's defense has developed into a dominating unit once again, but this is the first time in a long time that Alabama's depth in the front seven drew questions. Reinforcements are on the way. Five-star New Jersey native Antonio Alfano has 4.82 40 speed at 275 pounds and could play anywhere from stand-up outside linebacker to defensive tackle. Georgia native Justin Eboigbe and Mississippi native Byron Young are both rare body-types that have put together fantastic senior film that look like potential freshman contributors, too.