Earlier this morning, Maize.Blue Wagner posted a fantastic diary detailing the "Best Michigan Player From Each State". In order to finish his diary, he did an extraordinary amount of research into the amount of players hailing from each state (and Canadian provinces), which I'll base this post on. To be clear: I did not compile these numbers myself. Any and all credit for the research it took to get my raw data belongs to Maize.Blue Wagner.

I started by breaking down states by athletic conferences, with states able to double-count (Ohio skews the Big East numbers in a huge way) and took a look at who Michigan likes to deprive of talent. The results look something like this:

Big Ten
Illinois	491
Indiana	181
Iowa	47
Michigan	2601
Minnesota	34
Nebraska	13
Ohio	683
Pennsylvania	141
Wisconsin	70
Total	4261

 

SEC
Alabama	6
Arkansas	5
Florida	69
Georgia	13
Kentucky	26
Louisiana	18
Mississippi	1
South Carolina	7
Tennessee	13
Total	158

 

Pac 12
Arizona	9
California	69
Colorado	24
Oregon	4
Utah	6
Washington	16
Total	128

 

BXII
Iowa	47
Kansas	13
Missouri	37
Oklahoma	11
Texas	53
Total	161

 

ACC
Florida	69
Georgia	13
Maryland	16
Massachusetts	46
North Carolina	7
South Carolina	7
Virginia	17
Total	175

 

Big East
Connecticut	13
Florida	69
New York	133
Kentucky	26
New Jersey	50
Ohio	683
Pennsylvania	141
West Virginia	11
Total	1126

 

Non-BCS
Delaware	1
DC	13
Hawaii	2
Idaho	4
Maine	2
Montana	18
Nevada	2
New Hampshire	4
New Mexico	2
Rhode Island	3
South Dakota	13
Vermont	3
Wyoming	5
Total	72

 

Within the Big Ten:

Excising the Big Ten from the numbers:

As I said before, states double-counting skews numbers, especially Ohio in the Big East, and to a lesser extent Iowa in the BXII. Since I can't simply pretend Cincinnati and Iowa State aren't BCS schools likely to offer in-state talent, I decided to compare by region.

I'm sure there's some criticism headed my way for how the states are broken down (I have an entire book devoted to defining the concept of "Midwestern"), but I'll explain my rationale here. I went with six regions: Midwest, Colonial, Left Coast, Rocky, Cowboy and Dixie.

Midwest was the most straightforward, including the Big Ten footprint plus Missouri and Kansas.

Midwest
Illinois	491
Indiana	181
Iowa	47
Kansas	13
Michigan	2601
Minnesota	34
Missouri	37
Nebraska	13
Ohio	683
Wisconsin	70
Total	4170

Colonial is the former colonies that didn't secede, plus Maine, DC and Vermont.

Colonial
Connecticut	13
Delaware	1
DC	13
Maine	2
Maryland	16
Massachussetts	46
New Hampshire	4
New Jersey	50
New York	133
Pennsylvania	141
Rhode Island	3
Vermont	3
Total	425

Left Coast is made up of states with a Pacific coast. Hawaii is included in the Left Coast states simply because there was no other semi-logical choice.

Left Coast
California	69
Hawaii	2
Oregon	4
Washington	16
Total	91

Rocky states include Colorado, Idaho, Montana, the Dakotas, Utah, Wyoming, and Alaska for the same reason Hawaii is "Left Coast".

Rocky
Alaska	1
Colorado	24
Idaho	4
Montana	18
North Dakota	9
South Dakota	13
Utah	6
Wyoming	5
Total	80

Cowboy is Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.

Cowboy
Arizona	9
Nevada	2
New Mexico	2
Oklahoma	11
Texas	53
Total	77

Dixie is the former Confederacy, minus Texas and with Kentucky and West Virginia added.

Dixie
Alabama	6
Arkansas	5
Florida	69
Georgia	13
Kentucky	26
Louisiana	18
Mississippi	1
North Carolina	7
South Carolina	7
Tennessee	13
Virginia	17
West Virginia	11
Total	193

By region, Midwest included:

By region, Midwest removed:

Basically, breaking this down to its simplest form, Michigan, throughout its history, has been totally dependent on Michigan and Ohio recruiting to survive. Even with a "national brand", the vast majority of players (84.6%) come from within our conference footprint and 77.1% of players from the footprint hail from Michigan or Ohio. I hope this was informative, and again, make sure to go read and posbang Maize.Blue Wagner's diary.