Locking Down the Borders

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EE_Gopher

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Okay, I apologize to anyone upset that I would put together a totally unscientific ranking. I looked at the Big Ten schools and decided to rank there ability to keep in state talent. This assumes normalizing all the talent so just because Ohio has more recruits, it doesn't give them an advantage.

1. Wisconsin
2. Ohio State
3. Nebraska
4. Minnesota
5. Michigan
6. Michigan State
7. Penn State
8. Iowa
9. Northwestern
10. Purdue
11. Illinois
12. Indiana

Wisconsin consistently locks down every high ranked player from their state.
Ohio State generally picks the ones they want from the 60+ potential recruits from their state although the current probation has caused a few defections.
Nebraska does not produce a high amount of in state potential but if it's there, they tend to get it.
Minnesota has actually started to get a larger percentage of their instaters although the top pick is usually lost.
Michigan and Michigan State fight each other. It is only because of each other that I ranked them below Minnesota.
Iowa actually loses players to Iowa State more than one would think. They actually seem to be better at recruiting Illinois than Iowa.

The last four are kind of thrown out there. It is amazing how few Illinois recruits stay in state. If Illinois could keep players at the same percentage we do, they would be a team to reckon with.
Purdue and Indiana have Ohio State and Notre Dame to deal with.
 


In-state talent is all about fan base and school pride. Wisconsin has done a great job of creating an atmosphere around their metro areas that is pro-UW. Minnesota has failed to do that consistently with the football program.
 

Alot of apples to oranges there.
We all know some of the issues involved locally.
High influx of other Big Ten school graduates, pro sports team town, poor recent on field performance, lack of school admin support for the program, pro sports biased media coverage, etc.

OSU can get alot of in state talent if they want them, often picking the best and moving on.
Michigan has had similar results in Michigan until Dantonio focused in state while RichRod focused outstate. Now they are shifting back, but Michigan will win most of those fights.

Alverez built wisconsin like Nebraska, focus on state/school pride, a fun very collegiate athmosphere, solid foundation of in state recruting up front, strong walk on program.
Wisconsin can get most of it's own home grown big fish, same with nebraska.

NW/IL/Purdue/Indiana have to fight off alot of schools, none own their respective recruiting grounds. Notre Dame looms large.

Iowa gets most of their in state targets they want, often they take from Chicago.
ISU very well may be swinging the tide like Dantonio did in Michigan, they are a very interesting case to watch develop right now.

Our own issues are self inflicted.
Our strong business community brings in tons of Midwest/Big Ten graduates to fill it's ranks. Roots are put down, but often they remain loyal to their colleges, bring their kis back to their alma mater, etc. No jobs in Iowa city/Madison means they keep what they have.
This is good and bad, it means we have a nice thing going as a state, but we end up with kids like Beau Allen, Tobi Okieumi, Will Johnson, Casey Dehn, etc.
Phillip Nelson is the exception as I'm glad he is. I'd bet he'd be gone if Kill wasn't here.

The pro sports scene here also plays a role. I'd bet most of the kids that leave to go elsewhere to play are still Viking/Wolves/Twins/Wild fans. There's no identification of the gophers football program as "the state's team", like there is in Nebraska/wisky/OSU

Our lack of success in the last 50 years hurts too, since even bandwagon fans can become hardcore ones when they are taken on a ride(ex:98' vikes) Our last ride was in the 60's. That's gonna hurt perception.

The lack of support is the one which can and I think is being fixed now. No longer do we ship fans/students to the dome, the administration isn't looking to defund the athletics dept, slowly a gameday atmosphere is forming. Kaler can move this thing forward more by developing a more college atmosphere around campus, keep Coach Kill supported, and fighting those who stand in the programs' way politically.

The media coverage hasn't turned on Kill yet, that will change as it is with Tubby if success doesn't come. The sports media in this town is pathetic. Built on negativity and sarcasm, they are lazy and only looking for a scapegoat or lightning rod.
No creativity and no hometown pride means no positive coverage for the college without success forcing them to simply report facts.

It's getting better, Kill seems to fit our state well, i see better recruiting going forward.
 

A better measure of locking down the boarders might be to look at how many instate kids end up at another Big Ten or BCS school. Also not sure it is fair to rank MSU and Michigan below Minnesota for losing guys to each other. Then you could get a percentage of the guys that were lost to other schools on a similar competition level. Right now it looks like there are 10 guys in the state that have made BCS commitments. 7 of them are to us and 3 are headed out of state (30%).
 


So schools that are the only major program in the state are at the top of the list, and those that aren't are at the bottom. Got it. :)
 

MNVCGUY said:
A better measure of locking down the boarders might be to look at how many instate kids end up at another Big Ten or BCS school. Also not sure it is fair to rank MSU and Michigan below Minnesota for losing guys to each other. Then you could get a percentage of the guys that were lost to other schools on a similar competition level. Right now it looks like there are 10 guys in the state that have made BCS commitments. 7 of them are to us and 3 are headed out of state (30%).
Click to expand...

Minnesota is 2 out of 5 for kids with a BCS offer outside of their Minnesota offer. 40% is not closing down the borders.
 

Ole said:
Alot of apples to oranges there.
We all know some of the issues involved locally.
High influx of other Big Ten school graduates, pro sports team town, poor recent on field performance, lack of school admin support for the program, pro sports biased media coverage, etc.

OSU can get alot of in state talent if they want them, often picking the best and moving on.
Michigan has had similar results in Michigan until Dantonio focused in state while RichRod focused outstate. Now they are shifting back, but Michigan will win most of those fights.

Alverez built wisconsin like Nebraska, focus on state/school pride, a fun very collegiate athmosphere, solid foundation of in state recruting up front, strong walk on program.
Wisconsin can get most of it's own home grown big fish, same with nebraska.

NW/IL/Purdue/Indiana have to fight off alot of schools, none own their respective recruiting grounds. Notre Dame looms large.

Iowa gets most of their in state targets they want, often they take from Chicago.
ISU very well may be swinging the tide like Dantonio did in Michigan, they are a very interesting case to watch develop right now.

Our own issues are self inflicted.
Our strong business community brings in tons of Midwest/Big Ten graduates to fill it's ranks. Roots are put down, but often they remain loyal to their colleges, bring their kis back to their alma mater, etc. No jobs in Iowa city/Madison means they keep what they have.
This is good and bad, it means we have a nice thing going as a state, but we end up with kids like Beau Allen, Tobi Okieumi, Will Johnson, Casey Dehn, etc.
Phillip Nelson is the exception as I'm glad he is. I'd bet he'd be gone if Kill wasn't here.

The pro sports scene here also plays a role. I'd bet most of the kids that leave to go elsewhere to play are still Viking/Wolves/Twins/Wild fans. There's no identification of the gophers football program as "the state's team", like there is in Nebraska/wisky/OSU

Our lack of success in the last 50 years hurts too, since even bandwagon fans can become hardcore ones when they are taken on a ride(ex:98' vikes) Our last ride was in the 60's. That's gonna hurt perception.

The lack of support is the one which can and I think is being fixed now. No longer do we ship fans/students to the dome, the administration isn't looking to defund the athletics dept, slowly a gameday atmosphere is forming. Kaler can move this thing forward more by developing a more college atmosphere around campus, keep Coach Kill supported, and fighting those who stand in the programs' way politically.

The media coverage hasn't turned on Kill yet, that will change as it is with Tubby if success doesn't come. The sports media in this town is pathetic. Built on negativity and sarcasm, they are lazy and only looking for a scapegoat or lightning rod.
No creativity and no hometown pride means no positive coverage for the college without success forcing them to simply report facts.

It's getting better, Kill seems to fit our state well, i see better recruiting going forward.
Click to expand...
Yep.

I agree; Kaler & Kill seem to be the guys that can right the ship, though it has a wide turning radius.
 

Gold Vision said:
Minnesota is 2 out of 5 for kids with a BCS offer outside of their Minnesota offer. 40% is not closing down the borders.
Click to expand...

Yes, but Leidner, Nelson, and Williams all probably would have got other BCS offers if they hadn't committed so early.
 



Yeah, no offense, but this list is pretty absurd. Besides not 'locking down' our borders, in the last ten years basically every highly-recruited kid (or at least the top 5 or so) to come out of MN has gone elsewhere. I can't imagine that happens at Penn State, and probably not at Iowa either (though off the top of my head I can't think of any really big name recruits on the level of Seantrel or Michael Floyd to come out of Iowa recently.)
 

RoyalGopher said:
Yes, but Leidner, Nelson, and Williams all probably would have got other BCS offers if they hadn't committed so early.
Click to expand...

That could be true, just pointing out we didn't technically win battles for those three.
 

RoyalGopher said:
Yes, but Leidner, Nelson, and Williams all probably would have got other BCS offers if they hadn't committed so early.
Click to expand...

Yeah the whole offer thing is really unreliable so that is why I used the actual commitments. We have to hope that if Kill offered a guy a scholarship that he is good enough to have played at another Big Ten or BCS school even if his offer list might not reflect that.
 

EE_Gopher said:
Okay, I apologize to anyone upset that I would put together a totally unscientific ranking. I looked at the Big Ten schools and decided to rank there ability to keep in state talent. This assumes normalizing all the talent so just because Ohio has more recruits, it doesn't give them an advantage.

1. Wisconsin
2. Ohio State
3. Nebraska
4. Minnesota
5. Michigan
6. Michigan State
7. Penn State
8. Iowa
9. Northwestern
10. Purdue
11. Illinois
12. Indiana

Wisconsin consistently locks down every high ranked player from their state.
Ohio State generally picks the ones they want from the 60+ potential recruits from their state although the current probation has caused a few defections.
Nebraska does not produce a high amount of in state potential but if it's there, they tend to get it.
Minnesota has actually started to get a larger percentage of their instaters although the top pick is usually lost.
Michigan and Michigan State fight each other. It is only because of each other that I ranked them below Minnesota.
Iowa actually loses players to Iowa State more than one would think. They actually seem to be better at recruiting Illinois than Iowa.

The last four are kind of thrown out there. It is amazing how few Illinois recruits stay in state. If Illinois could keep players at the same percentage we do, they would be a team to reckon with.
Purdue and Indiana have Ohio State and Notre Dame to deal with.
Click to expand...

I am curious how you went about ranking these, what methodology you used if any?
 



RedPoo said:
Yeah, no offense, but this list is pretty absurd. Besides not 'locking down' our borders, in the last ten years basically every highly-recruited kid (or at least the top 5 or so) to come out of MN has gone elsewhere. I can't imagine that happens at Penn State, and probably not at Iowa either (though off the top of my head I can't think of any really big name recruits on the level of Seantrel or Michael Floyd to come out of Iowa recently.)
Click to expand...

Noah Spence, Rushel Shell, Terrelle Pryor, Jordan Hall. The list goes on. Penn State usually does not get the best PA recruits. The best prospect for the last few years out of PA has gone to Ohio State.
 

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