I was shocked that the leading state was not Fla, but Georgia and also shocked to see where Texas stands. I wonder if that number for Texas is much higher now than when A&M was in the B12? Top 10 states for SEC signees, 2006-15State Signees Georgia 582 Florida 520 Texas 419 Alabama 318 Mississippi 275 Louisiana 255 Tennessee 198 South Carolina 135 Arkansas 98 Missouri 91 http://espn.go.com/blog/sec/post/_/id/102510/where-do-sec-football-players-come-from-look-to-georgia-and-specifically-atlanta
I'm mildly surprised that California is not on the list, but I certainly understand that the SEC schools don't have to look beyond their state borders for the best talent in the country in overwhelming numbers.
The great majority of Florida Gator signees hail from the state of Florida and the state does feed other SEC schools as well. But there are most definitely more Div 1 signees coming from the state of Florida than Ga because in state schools Miami and FSU get their share plus top schools from all over the country raid the state like OSU and even SouCal. I would say Georgia gets less of a percentage of it's players from it's home state than does UF get from it's home state and the state of Georgia heavily feeds signees to surrounding SEC schools like Tn, SC, Auburn, Al and even Fla.
:idea: A lot of schools get their players from Texas, Florida and California, not just the SEC schools. A few years back, Dave Francis and I went to a Oregon-UCLA game at the Rose Bowl and EVERY player in the Duck's starting lineup was from California except one...and he had been born in California. What was the old saying about Oklahoma? "The best Texans that money can buy." In recent years, several sunshine states have produced a ton of talent; Georgia, Louisiana, Arizona, Nevada etc. This trend will continue, but recruiting is national now...even international as Canadian players enter the talent pool, but don't forget, everybody recruits Texas, Florida and California.
Can we take a moment to appreciate that per capita, Mississippi and Alabama are putting incredible numbers up. Neither population is very big, but they play some pretty damned good football.
KP I was reading their methodology in that article and I noticed that players can count twice. For example, Cam Newton and Nick Marshall would count twice for Georgia since Newton was dismissed from Florida but wound up at Auburn and Marshall was dismissed from Georgia, but wound up at Auburn. That's sketchy, is Georgia leading the way in guys kicked out of programs but landing somewhere else? My overall point is that Georgia (the state) had 582 with something like 345 players coming from the Atlanta metro area. It should be mentioned that the Atlanta Metro area has a population just shy of 5.5 million people. The population of the entire state of Alabama is 4.8 million. Mississippi has a population of 2.9 million. Something of an interesting side note, Missouri's presence in this valley has grown over the past couple of years. They aren't getting the kids, yet, but their name is popping up on the list early for a lot of the local kids here. They're after 2 of the seniors on my son's team this upcoming year. We've moved our best LT to C literally because that's where they want to see him play. Louisville is also knocking on a lot of doors as well. One of Carson's good friends was going to visit Missouri and I was going to let Carson go with him since it's an "unofficial" visit, but it looks like there might be a conflict with the other 'mandatory' summer camps. Speaking of, South Alabama held a satellite camp at Decatur (last week I think?) and the coaching staff came up early to talk with Coach Adcock and watch the afternoon workouts. The staff was absolutely blown away by the workout demanded of high school kids, and coach let them know that they were for the 'easy' workouts. The defensive front 7 and OL guys are up there are 4am 3 days a week and their workout is even more brutal. Our S and C guy spent a year touring the SEC S and C programs and the workouts are a hybrid of what's being done at Alabama, Auburn and Georgia. My boy is a 6'1" 235 NG (weighed last week) and a pretty good athlete who is really strong. There are days when he comes home from the workouts and just passes out cold for hours. Heck, some days he can barely wipe his rear his arms are so sore. At the same time, they've told him that right now they expect him to work in a 3 man rotation at NG with 2 seniors so he's going to have to get bigger/stronger and do it quickly. Football is no joke here.
I was going to mention the quality of the coaching staffs too. I think one would have to be careful. Sometimes I think they might start kids too early and wear them down and risk injury. Then again there are some kids who thrive.
Common denominator Georgia? " For example, Cam Newton and Nick Marshall would count twice for Georgia since Newton was dismissed from Florida but wound up at Auburn and Marshall was dismissed from Georgia, but wound up at Auburn."
Carson is playing NG now? I was thinking he was a TE/LB/FB. What's the thought on his moving to the DL?
KP, there are some outstanding staffs here...and some that go too far. One thing is for sure about Decatur, they are never out hit and they are never worn down. It's a tiny little school, especially when you consider there official enrollment is just a bit over 900. What folks don't realize is that they have the leading special education department in North Alabama. Kids come from all over to go there. That's roughly 300 kids. If you're ever over on Prospect, that entire wing of the school that runs along the street there is the special ed program. That leaves you with about 600 kids, half of which (at least) are girls. They play against much bigger schools and are still one of the better programs in the state. The people in 6A are still hollering about the crazy re-leaguing the state did last year. It's virtually a Hoover cake walk to the 7a title while every serious challenger to them is lumped in 6a. I saw both Hoover and Clay Chalkville last year, and there was no comparison between the 2. CC was a much better team. Terry, He played a Jack LB position at the middle school and left tackle on offense. Every time he goes to a college camp, they take one look at him and say 'you're a TE' and he has to tell them that they won't play him at that position in school. Last year, he played DE and OT. This year, they eliminated the 2 way players for the most part (I think 1 guy is going both ways and that's only because Missouri and some other schools want to see him at FB, otherwise he'd just play LB. Anyway, it's my theory that they are moving Carson to the interior for 2 reasons. 1. To toughen him up. He beats and mauls people all day but seems to still avoid the physical play. The secondary stuff, the assisted tackle etc. 2. He beats and mauls people all day. The 2 seniors ahead of him are very different in build. One is a shorter guy at about 5'10" but he's built like a brick **** house. He literally has no neck. He doesn't miss leg day. The dude is just a fire plug. The other guy is a bigger body at 6'1" 260 and does a decent job of creating a pile in the middle. Carson has a huge wing span and he is constantly beating people off the line to cause the blocking scheme to collapse. The defense they play at Decatur is all about pressure and physicality. They'll give up the sporadic long TD on a fade or crossing pattern, but they beat on you and force you to make quick decisions. With so many teams going to that Auburn spread flex, it's nice to have a 3 man rotation at NG for fresh bodies and especially when the youngest one is always in the backfield quickly. His issue will be muscling up and getting stronger. The 2 older boys simply don't get out muscled at all. I think he'll spend a year getting knocked around at NG and then probably move to DT. Decatur is ridiculously loaded at DE/OLB so moving him to the interior is a pretty smart move, IMHO.
Corey, yeah sometimes it seems like Hoover and Prattville are more interested in national recognition than in playing Alabama high school football. Hartselle is usually an interesting team to watch as well. They are a smaller school but are extremely well coached.