SEC greed, baby!

I’m sure most of you are aware that the SEC dominated this year’s recruiting cycle.  (To put things in perspective, Vanderbilt, facing its traditional limitations and James Franklin’s successful raiding of much of its initial batch of commitments, still finished in the top fifty in the country.  Georgia Tech did not.)  But there’s an element to its success that may not have been brought to your attention.

Take a look at this interactive map.  You’ll see that the conference’s recruiting footprint has spread.  Some of it is the result of expansion, of course – it seems like most of the conference has jumped into Texas – and some appears to be the product of new coaches’ old ties (Arkansas and Vanderbilt, for example).  But notice the clawing into Big Ten territory and up the eastern seaboard, as well.

Here’s a chart John Pennington compiled.

School	AL	AR	FL	GA	KY	LA	MS	MO	SC	TN	TX	OTHER	Total Signees
Alabama	7	1	2	2	0	4	2	0	1	0	1	7	27
Arkansas	0	5	5	2	0	3	0	3	0	0	2	3	23
Auburn	7	0	2	10	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	1	23
Florida	1	0	14	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	1	6	24
Georgia	0	0	6	11	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	3	21
Kentucky	1	0	4	2	4	0	1	0	1	0	2	13	28
LSU	0	0	2	0	0	12	1	0	0	0	6	2	23
Miss. State	3	0	0	4	0	0	15	0	0	0	1	0	23
Missouri	1	0	7	3	0	0	1	8	0	3	2	3	28
Ole Miss	2	0	1	4	0	1	14	0	0	1	1	3	27
S. Carolina	1	0	4	5	0	0	0	0	9	0	1	1	21
Tennessee	1	0	3	4	0	0	0	0	0	10	1	13	32
Texas A&M	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	0	16	3	22
Vanderbilt	3	0	1	5	0	1	0	0	0	3	2	7	22
State Totals	27	6	51	52	4	24	38	11	13	17	36	65	344

So from a total of 344, SEC schools signed 65 kids from outside the conference footprint, just shy of 20%.  Every school but one had at least one such signing.

And SEC schools aren’t settling for mere quantity, either.  As Michael Elkon writes,

According to the 247Sports Composite, Alabama signed the best player in Virginia, Iowa, and Oklahoma and the second-best player in Minnesota and Texas. Okay, you might say, Alabama is the best program in the country and can be expected to pick off five-star players from around the country, just like Florida State and USC did when they were dynasties.

Why don’t we take a look at Kentucky, the team that finished dead last in the SEC? The Cats signed Thaddeus Snodgrass from Ohio, a four-star wide receiver who claimed offers from Notre Dame and six Big Ten schools. They also signed Darius West, a four-star safety from Ohio who claimed offers from Notre Dame and eight Big Ten teams. The fact that the last-place team in the SEC is able to pull from Ohio a pair of blue-chip players with offers from at least half of the Big Ten (and eight of the state’s top 35 players) is a nice illustration of the point that SEC teams are now more likely that Big Ten teams to lure out-of-region players. Put another way, Ohio is supposed to be the primary recruiting state for the Big Ten, not unlike Texas for the Big 12 and California for the Pac 12, but Kentucky managed to sign more four-star Ohioans than any Big Ten program other than Ohio State.  [Emphasis added.]

That can’t be good news for Jim Delany.

All of this is being driven by a chase for better and better classes.  Even in places like Georgia and Florida, there are only so many elite athletes to go around.  Here’s another Pennington chart.

School	Leading Talent State	% of Total Class	In-State Talent	% of Total Class
Alabama	AL (7 of 27)	25.9%	7 of 27	25.9%
Arkansas	AR & FL (5 each of 23)	21.7%	5 of 23	21.7%
Auburn	GA (10 of 23)	43.4%	7 of 23	30.4%
Florida	FL (14 of 24)	58.3%	14 of 24	58.3%
Georgia	GA (11 of 21)	52.3%	11 of 21	52.3%
Kentucky	OH (11 of 28)	39.2%	4 of 28	14.2%
LSU	LA (12 of 23)	52.1%	12 of 23	52.1%
Miss. State	MS (15 of 23)	65.2%	15 of 23	65.2%
Missouri	MO (8 of 28)	28.5%	8 of 28	28.5%
Ole Miss	MS (14 of 27)	51.8%	14 of 27	51.8%
S. Carolina	SC (9 of 21)	42.8%	9 of 21	42.8%
Tennessee	TN (10 of 32)	31.2%	10 of 32	31.2%
Texas A&M	TX (16 of 22)	72.7%	16 of 22	72.7%
Vanderbilt	GA (5 of 22)	22.7%	3 of 22	13.6%

Less than half the schools in the conference brought in a majority of their classes from their home states.  (Isn’t it about time we knock off the “close the border” griping of Richt?)  Again, some of that isn’t anything new, as Fulmer made a living over the years grabbing out-of-state kids to make up for talent shortcomings in Tennessee.  What is new is how widespread this is.

And I’d say the trends favor that continuing and even growing.  The SEC Network is going to bring more money and more exposure to conference teams.  And as that noted sage Les Miles remarks, don’t ignore the effect of technology.

I think the country gets smaller.  And I think it gets smaller with technology.  It gets smaller with I pads and TV and phones that are computer driven.
I had a prospect who is currently on our campus and going to school, so I guess he would be our LSU Tiger, and he said to me, here, coach, I want you to talk to Trey L, and he handed me his phone.  And he was Face Timing Trey L.  And I could see this little square in the corner that was me and this big, happy, smiling Trey there.  And I could tell him that we were closer and that this was easy.  And that we might try it again.  Except that I made the observation that it was me he was looking at and that had to be painful.  So I may kind of face time one way, if I can.  But my point is that that’s what’s going on today.  Today the planes seem to fly more efficiently.  The travel seems to be easier.  I think this country is smaller and it continues to shrink.  And I think the opportunity to play at best programs.  The opportunity to play at places that you’re being played as a freshman, the place that will make sure that you get your degree, the place that will allow you to show your skills and abilities in the NFL.  Those places have advantages and that’s where the players want to go…

They’ve got the money.  They’ve got the pressure to succeed.  They find it easier to reach out to national recruits than ever before.  Of course this will continue.