Recruiting Louisiana

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So, the latest recruit is from Louisiana? It's been slim pickin's in that state from past recruiting years. Why is that? Certainly, Louisiana produces a ton of football talent. I know that it's not a natural location for a recruit to consider, but that's never stopped us from recruiting Florida or Texas. Is it because LA has a higher proportion of academic risks? Is it no history with previous recruits? No coaches familiar with the high schools? Or, maybe it's a combination of all that.

The only standout recruit that I recall from Louisiana is Omar Douglas who played wide receiver in the mid 90's. He was smallish, but effective. I would imagine he didn't have offers from the SEC schools and chose Minnesota over Tulane or Northeast Louisiana He was a big part of one of my favorite games. Minnesota 59, Purdue 56. He also played a stint in the NFL. Am I forgetting other Louisiana recruits?
 

I think it's a combination of all three, and that unlike, say California, there are other school options not that far away.

Think about it this way. If you're from Houston and you get an offer from Texas Tech, that's 9 hours away. Texas is, obviously, fucking huge. So if you don't get that offer from UT or maybe A&M or Baylor, your family and friends are flying no matter where they go. Anecdotally, I would also guess that regional loyalty to the Big 12 isn't nearly as strong in Texas as it is in to the SEC in the deep South. Most people in the state root for a team, but not for the league.

Although LSU is the only big BCS game in the state, schools like Arkansas, Ole Miss, and even Alabama and Tennessee (equally about 9 hours away) aren't that far away, and are watchable on the tele.

It's always been hard for the Big Ten to recruit in the Deep South outside of Florida. Some schools don't even try.
 

Also, on a side note, Louisiana was 12th in the last 5 years in # of BCS athletes.

It's also worth noting that Derek Lewis has been recruiting a few players from the area, including Mitchell, and is a Louisiana native himself. There's an obvious attempt to increase our efforts there.

I'm not against that at all, but in terms of secondary options I still think we should be doing a lot more in the NYC/Philadelphia/DC range. Penn State is the big game in town there, schools like Rutgers and Maryland usually pick up the scraps. Chicago is another area that we've done well in and should continue to pursue.
 

Cant wait till tomorrow for the scrimmage ,i will get to see how far the team has come since the spring scrimmage. The tour should be a good time too.
 

The locker room is off limits on the tour Saturday.
 


Gopherprof said:
Also, on a side note, Louisiana was 12th in the last 5 years in # of BCS athletes.

It's also worth noting that Derek Lewis has been recruiting a few players from the area, including Mitchell, and is a Louisiana native himself. There's an obvious attempt to increase our efforts there.

I'm not against that at all, but in terms of secondary options I still think we should be doing a lot more in the NYC/Philadelphia/DC range. Penn State is the big game in town there, schools like Rutgers and Maryland usually pick up the scraps. Chicago is another area that we've done well in and should continue to pursue.
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The state of NY does not have good HS football. I have a friend that coached at Buffalo and when I asked him about the talent around there he told me it was behind Minnesota.

New Jersey actually does have a lot of talent and Rutgers has always struggled to close the border. Illinois (w/ Locksley at OC) got a lot of talent from DC including Vontae Davis & Rejus Benn so you may be on to something. There were actually a lot of names popping up with offers in Pennsylvania earlier this spring but for whatever reason it doesn't look like many-if any-will be Gophers. We did pull Jewhan Edwards, Simoni Lawrence & Jeff Wills from that area in the '08 & '09 classes.

Chicago and St. Louis are going to be major areas of focus. St. Louis has been very good to us in the past and it will likely get better with Cosgrove on staff because he has been very good in that area for a very long time.
 



grunkiejr said:
The state of NY does not have good HS football. I have a friend that coached at Buffalo and when I asked him about the talent around there he told me it was behind Minnesota.

New Jersey actually does have a lot of talent and Rutgers has always struggled to close the border. Illinois (w/ Locksley at OC) got a lot of talent from DC including Vontae Davis & Rejus Benn so you may be on to something. There were actually a lot of names popping up with offers in Pennsylvania earlier this spring but for whatever reason it doesn't look like many-if any-will be Gophers. We did pull Jewhan Edwards, Simoni Lawrence & Jeff Wills from that area in the '08 & '09 classes.

Chicago and St. Louis are going to be major areas of focus. St. Louis has been very good to us in the past and it will likely get better with Cosgrove on staff because he has been very good in that area for a very long time.
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You mean Cosgrove had been good in the St. Louis area, he hasn't recruited a great player out of that area in quite a few years and the previous "success" he had was largely before programs like Illinois and Missouri were respectable and serious competition for recruiting in that area.
 



poverty

From my experience living in the south and spending some time in Louisiana, I can make one important observation. Louisana has a level of poverty that makes the poor part of Florida look like Beverly Hills. I suspect that in LA, many good atheletes slip through the cracks because of the lack of support/opportunity. A huge part of LA has no industry/business, and relies almost entirely on Government programs to survive. Much more so than many states, it is very possible for a very good athelete to go "unnoticed".
 

Gopherprof said:
Also, on a side note, Louisiana was 12th in the last 5 years in # of BCS athletes.

It's also worth noting that Derek Lewis has been recruiting a few players from the area, including Mitchell, and is a Louisiana native himself. There's an obvious attempt to increase our efforts there.

I'm not against that at all, but in terms of secondary options I still think we should be doing a lot more in the NYC/Philadelphia/DC range. Penn State is the big game in town there, schools like Rutgers and Maryland usually pick up the scraps. Chicago is another area that we've done well in and should continue to pursue.
Click to expand...

I think it is hard for the gophers to recruit Louisiana and the south because we don't really have a history of doing it in the past and therefore have had few players on the rosters that could assist in making these southern players feel at home. Add that to the fact that the cultures are so dramatically different and it makes it difficult to attract these kids. I would be interested to see in the next few years if the gophers are able to get in on the up and coming recruiting hotspots like Phoenix and Las Vegas. These two areas are beginning to boom for recruiting due to a population shift out of the rust belt and unlike the south the majority of people there don't have a history of 5 generations living there making it easier for these kids to move.
 

Is the tour for anybody at the game? Or is it a Goal Line Club exclusive?
 

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