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Recruiting in the Deep South

Odysseus said:
How about Chicago area
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Everyone forgets we got two 5* DL last cycle from Chicago area. St. Louis can have some studs too. It seems like we mostly go National for QB, TE, OL, and DL. Everything else is either Florida or Deep South. Not sure we need to focus on specific metro areas when going for those first 4 groups anyway. Nor do we need to go outside the Fl/Deep South group for everything else.
 
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I don’t think most people realize that Bama’s NIL game really isn’t that strong when compared to some other schools. They raked in immense talent every year based upon winning, development, NFL draft success, and Saban. If several of these things start to slip the door will be wide open for programs like us to take advantage.
 
grover said:
TC is a big state. Best entry point IMHO is Houston. When Katrina hit, I predicted Houston would become a talent powerhouse. It was already low Top 10 metro for HS football talent. Overnight doubled the talent pool with all the families flocking in from greater NO. Now they're rivaling DFW for best in state and getting to Top 5 territory.

For Miami recruiting, my Top 5 Metros would be:
Miami
ATL
NO/HO
NY/NJ
DMV
+ Rest of FL
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DMV?
 
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Memnon said:
Recruit. Texas.
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I figured you'd say that. That's why I have this statement in the OP

Is it worthwhile or a waste of time to recruit this area of the country especially when you have UM friendly areas like TX that probably could use more focus.​

There is an opportunity cost of recruiting the Deep South. Some of the resources spent here could be allocated to TX and the question is which area would yield more impact recruits? I guess we'll find out.

But so far, the hit rate for the recruits we've targeted in the Deep South area is actually relatively high under Mario. @Odysseus , info isn't tracking your prediction.
 
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NIL has opened a lot of doors, not to just Miami but all schools.
Pre NIL, I would say most of these kids would be $EC bound, to collect their bag.
 
SSCane said:
NIL has opened a lot of doors, not to just Miami but all schools.
Pre NIL, I would say most of these kids would be $EC bound, to collect their bag.
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Nil has certainly even the playing field for Miami. And with Cristobal at the helm recruiting no one is really ungettable at most positions. Cb is still a position we have to continue to work at though. We get talented guys but not THE guy at that spot and it’s been like that for us for a while now
 
Different in these small towns like Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, etc. These kids grow up idolizing those schools in their state. Parents in those states want their kids to go to those state schools and in turn, the kids want to go there to be close to momma, daddy and grandma. South Florida different...mommas and grandmas (not so much daddies) telling their kid "Get the "7734 upside down" outta here and don't look/come back. That's not all kids, but I bet it's a majority. I know it is in Georgia...kid gets an offer to UGA and he's good, mama and daddy say "Go to Athens son, we'll be there to watch you every weekend and we'll travel to see you when you play out of town". NIL maybe stop some of that.
 
gacaneaddict said:
20 minutes if you get behind a tractor in the road! It's almost the same town lol

Like no way we are getting these types 94% of the time. I will say Georgia has become little more friendly since Atlanta is so big and sprawled. Those kids sorta go a lot of places not just Georgia.
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my college teammate was from Opelika...Those kids worship auburn.

crazy also had teammated from Phenx City and it was all Bama.

We wont pull this kid lol
 
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hesskilla said:
Everyone forgets we got two 5* DL last cycle from Chicago area. St. Louis can have some studs too. It seems like we mostly go National for QB, TE, OL, and DL. Everything else is either Florida or Deep South. Not sure we need to focus on specific metro areas when going for those first 4 groups anyway. Nor do we need to go outside the Fl/Deep South group for everything else.
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Why Metro areas? You can accomplish a lot over the phone, text, Zoom etc. But at some point you need to be physically present to develop relationships with the recruit, family, coaches et al. If our staff can get to multiple schools and recruits for every trip they make, allowing Mario to save those helicopter flights for the absolute most critical moments, then that gives the program the highest chances of closing the best classes. There are always exceptions to the rules.

So IMO, the geographic targets can't be as general as "Texas" or "Deep South" because you can't drive to more than 1 or 2 kids a day if you're in rural Louisiana or Arkansas. It's a full day to get to Pensacola from Miam. Texas is country-sized. You need to pick your battles.

As far as Chicago goes, we got the 2 best kids out of there in a long time. There are only 2 other recruits in the Rivals 250 that are from the entire state of IL. And in 2023, the highest rated IL player on Rvials was #133 from East St Louis. That feels more like national recruiting than territory recruiting to me, like when we went after Okunlola last cycle.

But sure, if there are a handful of kids in a specific year you like out of Chicago, Detroit, LA, Cleveland, Philly, then definitely assign a lead guy to cover it. I'm talking more programmatically. And I think we can get 90% of all our needs with those 5 Metros + the rest of FL. Those last ~3 kids each class would go into a national recruit bucket that you hunt regardless of location.
 
After listening to @Geo305 recruiting space this afternoon and reading between the lines, it seems like the top of our DE board is

Iose Epenesa
Zion Grady
Jared Smith

IDK the exact pecking order, but that's my guess. That means that 2/3rds of the initial top of the board is from Bama. Here's to hoping Bama's death grip on DLs in Bama left w/Saban.
 
hesskilla said:
Something else to consider:

Even if we don’t land these targets, Mario is making sure Auburn, Alabama, Ole Miss, Miss St., and Georgia use more resources to secure the commitments. Those spent resources could limit their ability to recruit South Florida. With previous Miami staffs, I would think it a waste of time. With this staff, we likely have a time resource advantage as our recruiting team never relents. Also, the obvious resource of money too. Let’s make sure they pay for their in state guys too.
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Dwinstitles said:
Yup we already have relationships on the roster. Bama doesn’t carry that fear anymore and that offer now doesn’t mean “take a look at the film”.

Now when they offer it’s not like it’s a Saban eval. I look at their offer now like a piece of cardboard with old bubble gum on it, and the pen is made of everyone’s tooth from the area.
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