“LSU might be the one exception since it is the one place he’s been accepted that might be on the edge of affordability. I don’t know it if he should necessarily decline or ask for a one-year deferral of his admission / attendance.”
I don’t think LSU offers official deferrals. But it doesn’t matter because LSU has auto-admit critera that the OP easily meets. And auto-scholarships as well, although those may change a bit.
For TOPS, I think you only have one year to defer–but I think you do have that year. So the OP could wait a year to go to college but would lose TOPS after that. But please don’t take my word for that. If you decide to defer, verify that TOPS will still be availble.