Recruiting shift in College Football

Cane01

Redshirt Freshman
Joined
Jun 18, 2013
Messages
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As a long time lurker and seldom time poster I am amazed (not really, $$$) to see the shift in recruiting grounds. If you go back over the past 20-30 years of recruiting you would never see a Baltimore or Brooklyn kid go to LSU, New Jersey or Miami kids going to Texas A&M, Vegas, Phoenix or NYC kids to Georgia, Hawaiian or Los Angeles kids going to Bama, DC or Los Angeles kids going to Florida.

This has really become obvious over the last 5 years or so, especially since Smart got to Georgia. Their recruiting footprint has expanded to areas of the country they never recruited to instantly bagging 5 stars from there. I feel him and Jimbo Fisher ramping up the Bama model have taken the sport to a much worse place. We have known that SEC has paid forever, that's no secret. However the last 5 years or so its become so blatantly obvious.

For instance Saban's first title and subsequent classes were predictably southeast heavy (Bama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Florida, Carolinas) In recent years, they've grabbed kids from Cali, Hawaii, Colorado, Miami, Baltimore, Washington, New Jersey, Chicago, Philly, Nevada, Indianapolis, Utah.

I know that championship teams have their pick of the litter but I can't recall any other teams having that kind of pull nationwide, ignoring distance and cultural fit. Take a look at where Jimbo pulled kids from last year. A&M would have zero footprint or presence in those areas, and he pulled a bunch of 4 and 5 star guys. I see this as different from a ND, OSU, MIchigan. These teams have always recruited somewhat nationally. Just an observation mixed with some SEC teflon frustration.
 
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-The Internet has made the world smaller
-Kids want to play at their dream school no matter how far (ex. Los Angeles kids coming to Miami, Florida kids going to USC/Oregon)
-$$$
-Coaching staffs recruit where they know best (Jimbo recruited the Northeast a lot while at FSU)
-Coaching staffs recruit where the talent is (New York area/the DMV have been pumping out a lot of talent the last several years)
 
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The point is how and why.

Thought he already made that point.

Recruits are getting seen by everyone with camps, 7 on 7 tourneys, and the internet which allows coaches to see every game they play in high school.

Add in how every game is on television and friends as well as family are a video call away, going away for school isn't the big deal it once was.

Lastly, there's only 5 to 10 perennial contenders and everyone wants on board. Those schools are spending a fortune on their staff and facilities. Big state schools have a tremendous advantage here due to large donor pools that dwarf a school like ours.
 
I agree that technology has shrunk the world, making recruiting easier. However, I don't see schools outside the SEC, other than maybe Oregon (Nike money, uniform pull) that are expanding their recruiting footprint the same way.

Eg. OU and Texas still overwhelmingly have classes comprised of Texans
USC and Washington not much outside of Cali/AZ/Nevada
OSU and Michigan-Ohio, Penn, NJ, NY, MD, Florida, Texas- areas they've always recruited going back 30+ years
PSU- Penn, Ohio, NJ, NY, MD, Tidewater area
ND- Has always been national recruiters (Catholic, subway alumni)
FSU and Clemson- Florida, Georgia, Carolinas, Tidewater, Mississippi, Alabama

I guess I'm just wondering why with all the increased recruiting budgets and big money (these schools definitely have it too) why aren't these schools pulling the head scratching, odd cultural fit commits? Eg. Isaiah Wilson-Brooklyn to Georgia, Donell Harris-Miami to A&M etc.
 
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Much smaller world these days. How many High schoolers in the 90s had cell phones? Social media and the internet has made it much easier for coaches to find players out of state and build those relationships. Also much more camps and overall money in college football. But...just win and they will come
 
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Technology has a lot to do with it but so has the culture of why you are choosing a particular school. Its all about the NFL to a high school prospect.

Look at just about any school finishing top 5 since they started ranking the classes and you will find most of them recruited pretty nationally. Whenever a school isnt winning conf or national championships their footprint shrinks.

All about winning to pull kids far from home.
 
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