...from our friends over at Rivals.com. Don't ask me how I did it. This is a ranking of the top states by Top 100 recruits. Essentially, it ranks each state by the number of Rivals Top 100 recruits it has produced over the past 5 years (classes of 2007 through 2011). Interesting results:
1. Florida - 84
2. Texas - 68
3. California - 58
4. Georgia - 34
5. Ohio - 22
5. Alabama - 22
5. S. Carolina - 22
8. Louisiana - 20
9. N. Carolina - 15
10. Pennsylvania - 14
10. Michigan - 14
12. Virginia - 13
13. Mississippi- 8
...
Tennessee - 5
Trends over the past 5 years: Trending up - Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Louisiana. Trending down - Pennsylvania, Virginia, Alabama. Steady as she goes - Texas, California, Georgia, Michigan, Mississippi, and Tennessee (with exactly one in each of the 5 years).
Great stuff fratlock.
ReplyDeleteThat must have taken awhile but it is very interesting.
In regards to UGA. We always get a bad rap for not securing our Top 100 prospects. I understand that complaint to an extent, but alot of these kids are much closer to FSU, UT, Clemson, SC, UF, or Auburn than Athens. Is there anyother state situated like GA? Where we are literally competing against 5-6 schools that are in a closer proximity to top 25 out of state schools? No recruit living in Alabama, South Carolina, Florida or Tennessee is closer to Athens than their state schools.
Maybe I am way off or not making a coherent argument, but I think UGA has more to deal with than most of the other Top States in Recruiting.
I agree. I wasn't trying to make an argument one way or another, other than to argue our state has excellent high school football and excellent athletes.
ReplyDeleteBut you make a good point. Much of south Georgia is closer to Gainesville and Tallahasse (both north Florida schools) than Athens. Auburn and Clemson are practically on the Georgia line. Columbia in only an hour away from the Georgia line.
Also, to the extent not having much in-state competition for recruits is a good reason for UGA to recruit very hard inside Georgia, there is a flip-side to that argument as well. Because there is SO MUCH in-state recruiting competition among the multiple highly-regarded ACC/SEC schools in the states of Florida, Alabama and South Carolina (and in the case of AL and SC there are fewer top recruits to go around), all of them turn to their neighbor, Georgia, to pick off recruits in Georgia (as UGA is the only big-time program in the state) and get some relief from their in-state rivals. It's like being a large nation with lots and lots of surplus food and being surrounded by smaller starving nations. Where are those people going to turn?
Thus, to the extent we are blessed with top athletes and little in-state competition, it is also a curse, as we have so many envious neighbors coming across the borders. This is fairly unique to the state of Georgia.