Bellard Lands LSU Offer; Powell, Hughes Lead 2028 Standouts

Ruston RB Dalen Powell (Photo: Jerit Roser)

Jerit Roser February 28, 2026 @ 11:01 PM

The 2027 recruiting class has taken center stage as the bulk of the college football programs around the country have largely finalized their 2026 hauls.   Prep Redzone Louisiana has been running through a series of position-by-position articles updating the latest offers rolling in for many of the state's top rising seniors.   But some standout 2028 prospects — current sophomores soon to be juniors — have been racking up notable lists of early offers in their own right as well.   Continuing our early-offseason looks at Louisiana's latest recruiting updates, we'll run down the latest offers for those budding stars.   Note: The recruiting process doesn't ramp up for most prospects until junior year — and typically following junior seasons. But a few top prospects in each class do earn notable offers particularly early.   Here's a look at six 2028 offensive standouts — four running backs and two offensive linemen — who have reported new offers during the past few weeks.     [player_tooltip player_id='1145834' first='Caiden' last='Bellard'] — 5-10, 190 RB — Lafayette Christian   Alphabetical order worked out well here for the perfect place to start. On the heels of an all-state sophomore season, Bellard recently became just Louisiana's second 2028 prospect to receive an offer from home-state LSU amid a notable wave of offers that also includes TCU, Houston and Wyoming during the past few weeks.   [player_tooltip player_id='1802121' first='Raymond' last='Hughes'] — 6-5, 335 OL — Archbishop Rummel   Prep Redzone Louisiana's highest-ranked offensive lineman in the class was recently re-offered by hometown Tulane's new-look staff and added a new program in Troy to his early list of options that also includes Ole Miss, Auburn and Nicholls State. Also notably, the Ole Miss offer came last year when coach Lane Kiffin, now at LSU along with much of his same offensive staff, was still in Oxford, Miss. But offensive line coach John Garrison is among the holdovers remaining in Mississippi with new coach Pete Golding.   D.J. Neal — 5-9, 200 RB — Franklin Parish   The most under-the-radar prospect on this list to start this offseason, but don't expect that dynamic to last much longer. Neal earned a top-40 spot in Prep Redzone Louisiana's class rankings last year after some intriguing flashes as a freshman. And after continuing to emerge this fall and early this offseason, he appears poised for a rankings leap and has also recently added Arkansas and South Alabama offers to kick off his recruiting process   [player_tooltip player_id='1845257' first='Dalen' last='Powell'] — 6-1, 170 RB/ATH — Ruston   Arguably no Louisiana player had a bigger breakout sophomore season this fall than the Bearcats' electric running back — who Prep Redzone Louisiana had already ranked at No. 5 in the state ahead of his first meaningful varsity action — and a late-season injury hasn't slowed down the subsequent recruiting blowup. Kentucky, Arkansas, Florida, South Alabama and Syracuse have all extended offers in recent weeks, joining Louisiana Tech, Grambling State, Houston and Baylor during the season.   [player_tooltip player_id='1845261' first='Jayden' last='Taylor'] — 6-4, 240 OL — St. Augustine   The Purple Knights' young left tackle lived up to his top-30 Prep Redzone Louisiana ranking with his sophomore campaign, and the college offers have started to fall into place early this calendar year with Oregon State and Syracuse extending his first offers and kicking off his recruiting process.   [player_tooltip player_id='1375178' first='Noble' last='Williams'] — 5-11, 175 RB — Alexandria   Alexandria boasts a pair of promising 2028 running backs both named Williams and both of whom had strong sophomore campaigns this fall. Syracuse became the first college program to extend an offer to Noble just a few weeks ago. More are sure to follow both for him and his running mate, Kason.

The 2027 recruiting class has taken center stage as the bulk of the college football programs around the country have largely finalized their 2026 hauls.