With National Signing Day having come and gone, look for high winds and gusty breezes in the rest of country the next few days.
The entire southeast is letting out a huge sigh of relief, or groan of frustration, depending on the school. The region's second season, and the pressure cooker that comes with it, has just come and gone.
The final verdict? The south wins again.
If college football in the south is king, then recruiting is his jewel-studded crown.
While growing publicity has made recruiting a more mainstream event nationally, the chase has long been a second season in the Deep South. The actual games are just one third of the college football fixation down here. Recruiting and spring practice carry almost as much weight. Success on the recruiting trails can prompt just as much celebration as a bowl victory and unfulfilled expectations can dampen momentum like a loss to an archrival. The emotions, the intensity and the enemies remain the same. Only the playing field and the definition of victory actually change. This, of course, is where it all begins. The obsession is a shared trait between the coaches and the fans. The programs and the masses that follow them do it best in the southern states and have the results to prove it.
ESPN.com's recruiting service Scout’s Inc. had two teams from the ACC (Miami, Clemson) topping their team rankings, followed by three consecutive SEC teams (Alabama, Florida, Georgia). SuperPrep.com, of Scout.com, echoed those sentiments, with just one non-southern school being ranked in their top six classes. Seven of Rivals.com's top 12 classes were ACC or SEC schools.
Pittsburgh, which finished first in the Big East per Rivals.com, would have had the eighth best recruiting class in the SEC. Southern Cal, which landed two five-star prospects and boasted a nationally-acclaimed class, would have finished fourth.
This time last season, ESPN.com had a poll on the front page of its college football section. The survey read: “How closely do you follow your favorite college team’s recruiting efforts?”. There were three options: “I know every recruit before they sign”, “I start to follow after players sign” and “I don’t follow recruiting”. With over 75,000 votes compiled, only eight states voted that they knew every recruit before they signed. Seven of them were from the Deep South. The color green was associated with not following recruiting, red with moderately following recruiting and blue with closely following recruiting; the southeastern portion of the map looked like it got hit with a big drop of blueberry slushy.
With the exception of football-crazed Nebraska, the rest of the United States was a mix of green and red. California, much of the Midwest, and a good portion of the northeast stated that they didn’t follow recruiting at all. Results were the highest in Alabama, where 60% of voters stated they knew every recruit’s name before they signed.
It’s fitting that recruiting stirs up such interest in the south as many of the premier prep players in the nation come from this part of the country. Florida is generally regarded as the most fertile state in America when it comes to recruiting. Just look at the consistent success of in-state programs Florida, Florida State and Miami, whose rosters are always made up predominantly of homegrown talent, as testaments to that talent level. It’s no coincidence that Miami and Florida State are two of the colleges with the most current players in the NFL either. Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, *Tennessee, Virginia and the Carolinas are other noted recruiting hotbeds.
The end of the postseason brings the end of college football to many fans throughout the nation. Here in the south, it brings the beginning of a completely new one.
For three months, the sanctities of various states hang on the words ands whims of a select group of 17 and 18 year old kids. Just ask Julio Jones and the state of Alabama.
All of the drama and theatre comes to a close on National Signing Day, a date that has caused more missed school and work days than the flu bug, family vacations and playing hooky combined. NSD is the New Years’ Day of college football in the south; anticipation, excitement and celebration included.
While coaches sweat through loaded schedules and crucial rivalry games, the tension doesn’t stop once the games do. The recruiting period brings upon a whole new array of strain, one with no shortage of criticism, inspection and diligence. Entering mid-February, the infatuation and the story-lines don’t stop, they just shift. Spring ball starts in just a few weeks. Remember, the rest of the nation may have four seasons. Down here, we have three.
(Editors note: Recruiting followers in the Volunteer State will attest, however, that if not for the fertile recruiting grounds of Memphis and West Tennessee, the state of Tennessee would rank near the bottom among states in the U.S. which annually produce the best high-level football talent. Memphis is usually one of the four or five best areas in the entire country though.)