Boilerplate for Laravel Admin Controller

BlogController.php

<?php
namespace App\Http\Controllers\Admin;

use App\BlogPost;
use Carbon\Carbon;
use Laracasts\Flash\Flash;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use App\Http\Controllers\Controller;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Redirect;

class BlogController extends Controller
{
    /**
     * Display a listing of the resource.
     *
     * @return \Illuminate\Http\Response
     */
    public function index()
    {
        $posts = BlogPost::orderBy('published_at', 'desc')->paginate(20);

        return view('admin.posts.index', compact('posts'));
    }

    /**
     * Show the form for creating a new resource.
     *
     * @return \Illuminate\Http\Response
     */
    public function create()
    {
        $post               = new BlogPost();
        $post->published_at = Carbon::now();

        return view('admin.posts.create', compact('post'));
    }

    /**
     * Store a newly created resource in storage.
     *
     * @param  \Illuminate\Http\Request    $request
     * @return \Illuminate\Http\Response
     */
    public function store(Request $request)
    {
        $this->validate($request, [
            'title'   => 'required',
            'content' => 'required'
        ]);

        $post = new BlogPost();

        $data                 = $request->all();
        $data['published_at'] = make_date($request->published_at);
        $data['slug']         = str_slug($request->title);

        $post->fill($data);
        $post->save();

        Flash::success('The post was created!');

        return Redirect::route('admin.posts.index');
    }

    /**
     * Display the specified resource.
     *
     * @param  int                         $id
     * @return \Illuminate\Http\Response
     */
    public function show($id)
    {
        $post = BlogPost::findOrFail($id);

        return view('admin.posts.show', compact('post'));
    }

    /**
     * Show the form for editing the specified resource.
     *
     * @param  int                         $id
     * @return \Illuminate\Http\Response
     */
    public function edit($id)
    {
        $post = BlogPost::findOrFail($id);

        return view('admin.posts.edit', compact('post'));
    }

    /**
     * Update the specified resource in storage.
     *
     * @param  \Illuminate\Http\Request    $request
     * @param  int                         $id
     * @return \Illuminate\Http\Response
     */
    public function update(Request $request, $id)
    {
        $this->validate($request, [
            'title'   => 'required',
            'content' => 'required'
        ]);

        $post = BlogPost::findOrFail($id);

        $data                 = $request->all();
        $data['published_at'] = make_date($request->published_at);

        $post->fill($data);
        $post->save();

        Flash::success('The post has been updated.');

        return Redirect::route('admin.posts.index');
    }

    /**
     * Remove the specified resource from storage.
     *
     * @param  int                         $id
     * @return \Illuminate\Http\Response
     */
    public function destroy($id)
    {
        $post = BlogPost::findOrFail($id);

        $post->delete();

        Flash::success('The post has been deleted!');

        return Redirect::route('admin.posts.index');
    }
}