Thanks. Illinois with only
It's exactly why Southern
It's exactly why Southern states produce better and more football prospects. High schools pour millions of dollars into training facilities, coaches, and equipment. I've seen high school football fields here in Texas that are bigger and better than some college football fields. Football is pushed heavily by parents in these southern states; these kids focus year round training and playing against good competition. All of these factors combine to give the results that Southern states just produce great prospects. This is why I'm glad Rod and co. are focusing on Florida heavily with all the talent there. Hell, we've even made a good push into Ohio this year, which is a talent rich state. We can't survive off the state of Michigan.
We can't survive off the state of Michigan
We can't survive off the state of Michigan.
Tell that to Michigan State. Their dominance of in-state prospects will lead them to the promised land. Just ask any Sparty.
Hells YEAAA! Let's burn our
Hells YEAAA! Let's burn our own shit, brah!!!!
or uh, Duder, or El Duderino if you're not into the whole brevity thing.
It does seem skewed,
but name a state that has produced a better offensive skill trio than Jerry Rice, Walter Payton, and Brett Favre.
Ohio
Elvis Grbac, Desmond Howard and Trent Zenkewicz.
Chuck Woodson, yo.
Also -
Chuck Woodson, yo.
Also - Mister Simpson.
I've been
pwned.
NY/NJ
produce a lot of quality basketball prospects but few football prospects for some reason. The football here is virtually nonexistent. The guys Michigan recruited from NJ the last couple of years are very raw prospects.
You see that in the Big East. They are the worst football conference in the country but the best basketball conference in the country. A lot of basketball prospects from the NY Metro area are on contender teams outside the area like Pitt and Louisville. I definitely think Beilein should take a look into the area for prospects because there are a lot of them here.
I count 35 states.
(I'm pretty good at counting). That leaves 15 states not included. (I'm pretty good at subtraction). It is hard to believe that nearly a third of the states are not represented. I also noticed that West Virginia was among the states unrepresented. (I'm pretty good at noticing).
It's simply
a case of Rivals having limited resources and focusing on states that they believe (probably through history) have the best prospects.
"They're stuck with that quarterback (sophomore Braxton Miller) for the next two or three years, that's fine with me. He throws worse than (Tim) Tebow. - Steve Everitt
You also have to look at the
You also have to look at the sports of focus in those areas. I know in NYC where I grew up almost no school had a football team. The sports most played were basketball, soccer and baseball. And I agree also with the above poster that Rivals/Scout are probably only focusing on the recruiting hotbeds right now. That may change come the fall with the 2010 players' senior seasons.
Edit: or this summer when they perform well at camps.
interesting information
To be blunt, rural white America just doesn't produce a whole lot of top level D-I football talent. Not saying no talent, just not a lot. NYC is basketball territory. Illinois is also a "basketball state." (e.g. D-I football prospect from my high school just gave up football to focus on hoops: http://www.illinihq.com/news/mens_basketball/2009/03/23/tate_rayvonte_ri...)
The level of interest in the game is huge. Pahokee is a town of 6,000 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pahokee,_Florida] that has recently produced 4 NFL players and sends numerous kids to D-I schools every year. And not because they "recruit" and have people moving there to play. They just have a very speedy, football-crazy population. What can you say?
Are there undiscovered kids in Wyoming or upstate New York that could take them? I have no clue.
There is a rational
There is a rational explanation for states missing. For example, there's a lot of 7-man football in places like Wyoming, Montana, the Dakotas, etc. because of small populations and large distances between schools.
I'm sure someone can give me contradictory examples, but I've never heard of a good football player coming from Maine or Alaska.
Rhode Island is the size of my plasma TV.
Etc.
Show off...
Show off...
relax
...it's only 32".
Wait a minute...
...you were talking about my TV?
Oh, never mind.
Mark Schlareth (sp?) the ESPN
Mark Schlareth (sp?) the ESPN guy who played OL for the Denver Broncos is from Alaska. They call him "Stink" and that always makes me want to puke.
or uh, Duder, or El Duderino if you're not into the whole brevity thing.
Steve Smith, the USC
wide out, was born in Anchorage, though he grew up in DC.
I recall a white receiver
I recall a white receiver from Alaska in the Army All American game the same year Ted Ginn played.
I think that was Casey Flair,
I think that was Casey Flair, who walked on at UNLV. He had to be pretty good to be in the AAA game...but he walked on at UNLV.
All great points.
All great points. Particularly West Texas Blue. However, we are talking about 40 million vs. 2.8 million and the 2.8 million backwater has twice the players in the 250? Come on. I think whoever said that the recruitniks focus down South has nailed it. A Florida/Texas/Gulf States/California pedigree is worth a star.
"Fear. Columbus is rank with it. Let us ease their pain."
Not just recruitniks
Given how coaches tend to focus on the southern states and sign more players from there, I think the inflation of rankings in those states is well-founded.
I think there's also an
I think there's also an element of being a big fish in a small pond vs. being a medium fish in a big pond.
If you get a kid who's a pretty good athlete but has to play against tough competition and outwork other talented athletes on his own team, that's going to make him not only a better play, but a better competitor and a harder worker. I've seen some kids who are good athletes get shell-shocked by the level of competition when they go from high school to college programs.
Anybody have an NFL roster analysis by high school state?
I think that would give a good indication of whether or not the recruitniks have an undeserved bias for the south.
You'd probably want to include only, say, players with more than 3 years NFL experience to eliminate possible draft bias.
Where's Charlie Bauman when you need him?
Way to represent Connecticut!!!!!!!
Wow 2 of the top 250 in a state that does not really get football. wo hooo!!!!!!!!!!!
I agree with West Texas Blue..
The southern states definitely produce a lot more great players.
I have been told that Florida isn't close to being Texas in terms of interest, but the gap between Michigan and Florida is huge. And the talent is incredible. I am serious when I say that I know of five or six HS teams that would give Grand Valley a run for their money, and could possibly beat them. For the record, they are (most years anyway):
Lakeland
Seffner Armwood
Tampa Plant (recently arrived, but probably here to stay)
Miami Northwestern
Miami Booker T Washington
Jacksonville Bolles
I went to the nationally televised Armwood/Plant game and was amazed at the size and athleticism of the kids. I got ther early and watched some of practice from right across the fence from the "smaller" team; they were huge. Better yet, they were incredibly athletic.
As far as the individual matchups would go against GVSU, I would take both Miami schools first. I can guarantee you that either school would field a faster team than GVSU.
There is no way a high school
There is no way a high school team would beat GVSU. The top talent at Miami Northwestern might be better than the top couple at GVSU but excluding 2 or 3 that are already D1 ready, they are still just high school kids. A lot of them will someday be better than a lot of the guys at GVSU, but it still wouldn't even be close.
thank you
Every day you say something absurd and it gives me another opportunity to ponder how you have managed to make it this far in life without standing in kiddie pool and sticking a fork into an electrical socket. And that makes me smile.
great and omniscient Grand Poobah of the WLA
I currently live in Mississippi.
I have never been anywhere where people walk as slowly as they do here. I have a theory. Northern athletes waste all of their speed in the winter hurrying to get out of the cold weather. Southern athletes take their time getting to where they are going because it is not so cold. They, therefore, save their speed for the field.
you're way behind the times...
Charlie Darwin said the exact same thing. Stop plagiarizing Charlie's shit.
Don't make me
tell you to chill out. Whatever, I'll plagiarize who I want.
Don't chill out, no matter
Don't chill out, no matter what anyone says.
or uh, Duder, or El Duderino if you're not into the whole brevity thing.
Some observations
Looking at the prospects RR is offering, there is a strong correlation between where those prospects are from and the percentages above. That is to say, the offers are going to prospects from states highly represented on the list. We should all be pleased that this is happening.
The biggest surprise for me was Ohio with only 11 top 250 prospects, the same number as Mississippi. More generally, the entire midwest is underrepresented. All told, the Big Ten states have just 24 top 250 prospects. That number is very low and bodes ill for the B10 in the future. As it stands now, only Michigan and Ohio State have been able to consistently attract top recruits from the talent rich states like Florida. Penn State might be able to go into Maryland and Virginia and consider that local, so they are somewhat higher than the rest of the B10 schools. That will likely mean the conference will be carried by Michigan and Ohio State, with Penn State as a legitimate team and maybe another senior laden team X making a run each year. All told, that's not a lot. We may be looking at a permanent decline in B10 football until 1. More schools are able to recruit out of area or 2. More local prospects emerge. It doesn't look good on either end. With respect to (1), there's no reason a southern kid will commit to a B10 program other than Michigan or Ohio State because the other schools have nothing to offer other than maybe playing time. At least Michigan and Ohio State offer exposure and I think our conditioning program will also be a draw along with our academics, which distinguishes us from all legitimate southern competition by the way. With respect to (2), I haven't followed recruiting that long, but I can't imagine the midwest having equal or fewer top recruits in the past. The number now is very small and must increase if everyone except Michigan and Ohio State is to have any shot at fielding a consistently legitimate team.
I don't see how the "lack of
I don't see how the "lack of talent" in the Big Ten states bodes unwell for Big Ten football.
There's a ton of talent in Florida, right? Then why do Miami and FSU kind of suck right now? Yeah, Florida's good, but the others...eh.
There's a ton of talent in Texas, but TT got trounced by Ole Miss in the bowl game. And UT is pretty good, but they haven't been a juggernaut.
Big Ten schools will continue to harvest talent from their own states, and they'll draw interest from other states. The distribution of talent doesn't have as much to do with college teams' success as you're suggesting. It's not like Michigan and Ohio and Pennsylvania were teeming with talent during the Big Ten's dominant years but then all the good athletes moved to Florida.
True, and if teams had to
True, and if teams had to rely on instate talent, there would never be a Big 12 team outside of Texas that was any good. I didn't see a whole lot of big time prospects from Missouri, Colorado, Kansas or Nebraska, but teams from all of those states have been anywhere from good to dominant in the recent past.
Also, Washington and Oregon.
I lived in Michigan for 30
I lived in Michigan for 30 years, I currently live in Lakeland Fl, (1 of the school's that was said to be able 2 beat GVSU in an earlier post) while I don't have an opinion on that I would just like to mention that, (I think an earlier post touched on this) I drive by their High school almost daily and they are constantly running and doing some drills. They've been at it 4 at least the last month, it's in the 80's every day here. This might have a little to do with everyone's claim that the kids down here are a little more athletic than the kids up north, and though it doesn't seem fair to the northern kids it's reality. Just an observation though
You do have a point,
....although they do have weight rooms and indoor facilities in the North.
You sit on a throne of lies.
You sit on a throne of lies.
+3
+3
Is it really necessary to
Is it really necessary to type "2" instead of "to"? You're saving a whopping one keystroke.
u r so rite
n/t
Where's Charlie Bauman when you need him?
And you wasted about 90
And you wasted about 90 keystrokes to point that out.
It's no good for a man to work in cages.
Hits the town, he drinks his wages.
--The Clash
Thanks. Illinois with only three. New York and New Jersey with only one. That's over 40 million in population with only five players in the Rivals 250. Mississippi with < 3 million has 11.
Something just doesn't make sense here. That simply cannot be right. You can't account for warm weather and year-round football making that big a difference.
"Fear. Columbus is rank with it. Let us ease their pain."