When you put it like this…
“If you look at a map of where the Big 12 is, there’s not a lot of high school football in some of these states,” Casazza said. “In fact, I just did some research… Texas, for example, had about 1,100 schools that played (11 on 11) high school football. The Big 12’s other four states — Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa and West Virginia — had fewer than 900 combined. There’s four Big 12 schools in Texas. You really can’t change the fact that 40 percent of your league plays in the bottom 20 in the country of high school football teams.”
On where the talent is spread and why the SEC has an advantage:
“The top four states in the past five years for four and five-star recruits are Georgia, Florida, California and Texas. Georgia, Florida and Texas… the SEC has nine schools in those states.”
… that paints a pretty bleak demographic picture. There ain’t enough spread offense imaginable to bridge that gap.
Bottom line: if the recruiting glass is big enough, it doesn’t matter if it’s half empty. But it’s hard to quench your thirst drinking out of a thimble.
Get The Picture 
Can someone name the 9 SEC schools in Georgia, Florida, and Texas? I only count 3.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Glad it’s not just me.
LikeLike
LikeLike
Not as far off as many think when you add Bama, Auburn, SC and TN who spend more time recruiting in Georgia than their own states, plus LSU who works Texas regularly. Easy to see why the lines blur, trying to pretend the bleed over isn’t real simply distorts reality. Some of these schools are closer than the in-state schools whether you are driving or flying. And that doesn’t even address the pirates from Clemson, FSU, ohio. Are there some slight advantages to being the home state school? Sure, but four and five star athletes are going to make decisions on far more than minor travel time distances and not care about where some politicians drew an imaginary line hundreds of years ago.
LikeLike
Actually, I agree with you, Mac. Guy just did a poor job of explaining.
LikeLike
The thing is, that excuse cuts both ways. UGA has great access to South Carolina, Tennessee, North Carolina, and others geographically. And no matter what else is said about UGA’s geography within the state, we are 60 miles or so from ATL, which has become the mecca for football talent in the South. What other school anywhere has what we have? Tech? It’s hard to think of any city, geographically speaking, in 2017, better from the recruiting standpoint, than Athens, GA. Just my opinion.
LikeLike
I don’t disagree with that at all, just makes the point even stronger that zip code isn’t all that significant unless a plane ride is required for family and friends to see the athlete play every week. It is a major point with the Zamir White recruitment currently. And it has always been a point with athletes in the East. In the West, almost every major school could be a plane trip away so you see more kids going further away from home because they have so few choices close by.
LikeLike
Georgia, Florida, Texas A&M…umm…Dopey…Bashful…….
LikeLike
We do need better access to Cali recruits. Maybe the sec should ditch mizzou and get San Diego State.
LikeLike
San Diego State can’t even recruit California very well. They get what’s left over after the 12 Pack schools are done.(I know it’s Pac-12 but it should have been 12 Pack)
LikeLike
Sports Illustrated had an interesting take on this in July, 1991, making some predictions about the far-off future of tv sports watching in 2001. I note with some amusement the global warming prediction, which I am pretty sure was gratuitous and (apparently) inaccurate, but that’s neither here nor there.
https://www.si.com/vault/1991/07/22/124578/sports-in-the-year-2001-just-by-staying-home-fans-in-the-21st-century-will-become-part-of-the-action
not sure anyone could foresee the boom in streaming video in 1991, but a lot of these imaginary technologies are probably feasible right now with gigabit internet, or even just high speed internet. It wouldn’t amaze me to see some variation of a lot of these things end up being the next paradigm, but then, I’m a visionary.
LikeLike