LSU’s Reid, Montgomery named to Lott Watch List

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — LSU safety Eric Reid and defensive end Sam Montgomery are two of 42 players who have been named to the 2012 Lott IMPACT Trophy Watch List, the Lott IMPACT Foundation announced.

LSU is the only Southeastern Conference school with multiple players on the list. Other SEC watch list members include: Mississippi State cornerback Johnthan Banks, Georgia linebacker Jarvis Jones and Alabama defensive tackle Jesse Williams.

Reid heads into his junior season as one of the top safeties in college football. Reid tied for the team lead in tackles with 76 as a sophomore and recorded two interceptions and two forced fumbles. A 2011 second-team All-American, Reid has a 3.24 grade point average.

Montgomery, a junior from Greenwood, S.C., ranked third in the SEC last season with nine sacks for a loss of 55 yards. He finished with 49 total tackles and 13.5 tackles for loss. A first-team All-American by the Football Writers Association of America, Montgomery has tallied 11 sacks in two seasons.

He has spearheaded LSU’s efforts in the community, reading to elementary school students and serving lunch at homeless shelters.

The Lott Trophy recognizes college football’s defensive player of the year who best exemplifies integrity, maturity, performance, academics, community and tenacity.

Voting for the Lott IMPACT Trophy will take place throughout the season with the winner announced Dec. 9.

LSU defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey was the recipient of the award in 2007, while cornerback Patrick Peterson was a finalist in 2010. LSU has produced three national defensive award winners in Peterson, cornerback Tyrann Mathieu and cornerback Morris Claiborne in the last two seasons.

Men’s basketball

JONES VISITS STATE CAPITOL: New LSU’s men’s basketball coach Johnny Jones was invited to a meet members of the state legislature Tuesday at the State Capitol.

Jones was introduced and mingled with senators and representatives and made a few remarks to the senators.

Among those meeting with Jones was Billy Montgomery, a long time state Hall of Fame high school basketball coach who now serves the Haughton area as its representative.

DEADLINE FOR TICKET DRAWING APPROACHING: The deadline for a chance to win $12 men’s basketball season tickets for the 2012-13 season is midnight on Saturday.

Fans who have put down $12 deposits for new season tickets since Johnny Jones was hired as the team’s new coach last month and those who submit their $12 deposits by midnight Saturday will be eligible for the drawing.

LSU will randomly select 12 fans who signed up for the “Bring Back the Passion” promotion to win a pair of $12 season tickets for the 2012-13 season.

Jones will be at Alex Box Stadium on Friday to throw out the first pitch for the LSU-Vanderbilt game and will be available to sign autographs in the fan zone.

The LSU Athletics Ticket Office will also have personnel on hand to take $12 deposits.

Swimming and diving

RECRUITING CLASS FINALIZED: The LSU swimming and diving program added three athletes during the spring recruiting period to bring its total number of signees to 13.

The spring class features two female swimmers and one male swimmer and will join five female swimmers, three female divers and two male swimmers who signed in the fall period.

Danielle Stirrat, a native of Llnaharry, Wales, is a member of the Welsch National Squad training. She trained under Dave Haller and the City of Cardiff Swimming. Stirrat will contribute in the backstroke and freestyle has recent long course meter bests and short course yard conversion bests of 1:03.37 (54.05) in the 100-meter backstroke, 2:15.28 (1:55.93) in the 200-meter back, 2:02.43 (1:47.00) in the 200-meter free and 4:20.20 (4:49.34) in the 400 free.

Taryn MacKenzie, a native of Johannesburg, South Africa, was the April 2010 South African national champion in the 50 and 100 breaststroke and competed in the Junior Olympics in Singapore. She is a member of the Waterborn Swimming Club. Listed are MacKenzie’s recent bests in long course meters with the short course yard conversions, 32.45 (28.26) in the 50-meter breaststroke, 1:11.14 (1:01.89) in the 100-meter breast and 2:35.74 (2:16.74) in the 200-meter breast.

Alexander Linge, of Linkoping, Sweden, has recent short course meter times (with short course yard conversions) of 49.52 (44.32) in the 100 free, 1:49.85 (1:38.51) in the 200 free, 53.64 (48.06) in the 100 fly and 1:59.79 (1:47.33) in the 200 fly.

The class joins Cassie Weil (Hillsboro, Ore.), Sophie Weber (Folsom, Calif.), Gabe Rooker (Portland, Ore.), Grant Grenfell (Baton Rouge), Megan Cox (Scottsdale, Ariz.), Jessie James (Albany, Ore.), Caley Oquist (Monitcello, Minn.), Stacey Stanfield (Jacksonville, Fla.), Allie Alter (New Albany, Ohio) and Isabelle “Izzy” Choquehuanca (Laguna Nigel, Calif.).