[GoRU]

The News Star - www.thenewsstar.com - Monroe, LA

As of Thursday night, two years of intensified recruiting appeared to be going for naught as highly ranked Ocean Springs, Miss., as wide receiver DeAndre Brown was close to canceling his visit to LSU set to begin today and possibly commit to Southern Mississippi.

Brown is the No. 4 receiver prospect in the nation, according to Rivals.com, and has coveted size at 6-foot-6 and 208 pounds. He has been considered a strong lean to LSU for several weeks.

"It could upset a lot of people if LSU doesn't get DeAndre," Michael Scarborough of Rivals said Thursday. "LSU has been on him a long time."

Brown is not yet academically qualified, however, and could play immediately as a partial qualifier at USM because Conference-USA's policies are not as stringent as those of the Southeastern Conference. USM is also closer to home and has a new offensive-minded head coach in Larry Fedora, a former Florida and Oklahoma State offensive coordinator.

Brown has gone under in recent days.

"He's disappeared," Scarborough said. "No one can get in touch with him."