300 mile rule applies to Florida, Texas and California.

[LonelyIowaGopher]

The states with the most high school football talent by quite a ways are Florida, Texas and California. Georgia is fourth and Ohio is fifth. Jerry Kill talked about the 300 mile rule today and, unfortunately, it applies to this states as well as Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and so forth.
If one considers the Southeastern United States as the place where the most football talent is raised, is it any surprise that 8 of the top 20 recruiting classes at this point are members of the Southeast Conference? Alabama is #1, LSU is #4, Aurburn is #6, Georgia is #7, Florida #18, Tennessee is #19 and South Carolina is #20. Is it any wonder SEC teams have won the last 5 or 6 BCS championship games in a row?
Also in the Southeast, the ACC has three top 20 recruiting classes. Florida State is #3, Clemson is #10 and North Carolina is #14. Over half of the top 20 recruiting classes come from the Southeast portion of the country.
Texas recruiting is dominated by Texas, Oklahoma and Texas Tech. Texas is ranked #2, Oklahoma is ranked #12 and Texas Tech is ranked #17.
Four PAC 12 teams dominate California recruiting. USC is #5, Oregon is #8, Washington is #10 and California is #13.
The Big 10 has only two top 20 recruiting classes. Ohio State is #11 and Nebraska is #15.
My point is simply that it is not likely that many schools more than 300 miles away from Florida, Texas and California will have top 20 recruiting classes. Hopefully, this helps put Minnesota's classes of recent years and this year into perspective. If most of the four star and five star players come from these states, Big 10 schools aren't going to get that many of them.

 

[denguegopher]

If one considers the Southeastern United States as the place where the most football talent is raised, is it any surprise that 8 of the top 20 recruiting classes at this point are members of the Southeast Conference? Alabama is #1, LSU is #4, Aurburn is #6, Georgia is #7, Florida #18, Tennessee is #19 and South Carolina is #20. Is it any wonder SEC teams have won the last 5 or 6 BCS championship games in a row?
Also in the Southeast, the ACC has three top 20 recruiting classes. Florida State is #3, Clemson is #10 and North Carolina is #14. Over half of the top 20 recruiting classes come from the Southeast portion of the country.
Texas recruiting is dominated by Texas, Oklahoma and Texas Tech. Texas is ranked #2, Oklahoma is ranked #12 and Texas Tech is ranked #17.
QUOTE]

Some schools in the SEC oversign... Because they sign more recruits than Big 10 schools they should have better classes. IMHO, its a crime. http://collegefootball.about.com/od...rsigning-College-Footballs-Hidden-Problem.htm

 

[highwayman]

Long post. You completely misinterpreted Coach Kill's comments.

You need to concentrate on and lock down the 300-mile radius. It is your bread and butter. Florida, California, Texas are the gravy and dessert.

Parents who want to see their kid play regularly will drive 300 miles one way each week. That's the radius. Plus, parents to the east of Minnesota can got to a lot of road games. Also it's easier to recruit kids closer by--you can see them more often in person. That is what the coach has said.

 

[btowngopher]

If one considers the Southeastern United States as the place where the most football talent is raised, is it any surprise that 8 of the top 20 recruiting classes at this point are members of the Southeast Conference? Alabama is #1, LSU is #4, Aurburn is #6, Georgia is #7, Florida #18, Tennessee is #19 and South Carolina is #20. Is it any wonder SEC teams have won the last 5 or 6 BCS championship games in a row?
Also in the Southeast, the ACC has three top 20 recruiting classes. Florida State is #3, Clemson is #10 and North Carolina is #14. Over half of the top 20 recruiting classes come from the Southeast portion of the country.
Texas recruiting is dominated by Texas, Oklahoma and Texas Tech. Texas is ranked #2, Oklahoma is ranked #12 and Texas Tech is ranked #17.
QUOTE]

Some schools in the SEC oversign... Because they sign more recruits than Big 10 schools they should have better classes. IMHO, its a crime. http://collegefootball.about.com/od...rsigning-College-Footballs-Hidden-Problem.htm

Bingo, it's a massive advantage to oversign. I agree however that it is very wrong. People say it's fine as long as the coaches explain to recruits what they are doing, but what coach is ever going to tell recruits that his scholarship may be pulled for a better player down the road?

 

[nsmike]

The distance for us to the major close recruiting areas of Chicago, Kansas City, and St Louis are 355, 405 and 465 miles. Coach Kill will get some recruits and most of his walk-ons with in 300 miles, but any way you cut it, we'll be doing a lot of recruiting outside the 300 mile radius.

 

[GopherInPittsburgh]

Just read the article on oversigning. Completely disgusted.

 

[mplsbadger]

Long post. You completely misinterpreted Coach Kill's comments.

You need to concentrate on and lock down the 300-mile radius. It is your bread and butter. Florida, California, Texas are the gravy and dessert.

Parents who want to see their kid play regularly will drive 300 miles one way each week. That's the radius. Plus, parents to the east of Minnesota can got to a lot of road games. Also it's easier to recruit kids closer by--you can see them more often in person. That is what the coach has said.

Your post got me thinking about something. It will always be a degree easier for UW to sign MN kids than the reverse because most of Wisconsin lives on Lake Michigan which is an hour east of Madison. Conversely most of our football players live in the cities. Their folks have to commit to a six hour drive while our kids folks have to commit to a four hour drive.

 

[LonelyIowaGopher]

Kill and 300 mile rule.

I did not misunderstand Kill's comment about the 300 mile rule. In fact, I took it to heart to consider the advantage it gives schools closest to the largest talent pools.
It would be interesting, for example, to know how many BCS scholarship football players go to school within 300 miles of their hometowns. Few young people would NOT want to go to a school that is close to their relatives and friends so that those most important to them could watch them play.
I also don't understand where over-signing enters into this. It may be a problem but a relatively small one in comparison to the fact that the richest football talent pools are always going to be most tapped by the schools closest to them.
Finally, recruiting is only part of the story. What's done with the recruits is much more important. I made my original post because it's not the helpful to discuss the signing of four and five star recruits in a context that leaves a void. Most of those "Blue blue-chipper" recruits come from states like Florida, Texas and California. They also go to schools that are mostly within 300 miles of where they grew up. Another way to look at this would be to examine which states the bulk of NFL players come from--only a very small percentage would have grown up within 300 miles of Minnesota.

 

[wait!what?]

Wi and IA realized this 20 yrs ago and began getting their own best of the state and then cherry picking the neighbors best. See Wi basketball. The BT is not what it used to be and being a contending team is to construct a team of 4-5 state talent. fortified with a FL TX CA kid for specific spots.