This was a very interesting read, great job. Reminds me of UGA’s 2023 class (the first cycle where the staff had a national championship under their belts).
The in-state performance was abysmal, in part due to other schools stealing their lunch money, but also because the class was a down year instate.
It’s always interesting to consider where exactly a lot of these prospects are on the boards of these staffs. A lot of times in Georgia, there are kids who are highly rated and have a UGA offer, but who the staff are not prioritizing.
I agree with your conclusion that ideally I’m sure Bama’s staff would have liked to secure more prospects in-state (a few of them were committed before flipping to Auburn or elsewhere), but they also might not have been as impressed with the instate players this cycle. Will be interesting to see if it’s a trend, or just a momentary blip.
Yeah it’s really tricky to parse who exactly they were really trying to get, you saw that with Ohio State in-state this cycle as well when they only offered like 3 kids from Cincy. I’m hoping I can get closer with the whole competitive recruit thing, but it’s an iterative process so we’ll see!
I think next year will solidify whether it’s a blip or not, but I have some feeling that it’s not just because they seemed to have eschewed the *entire* south (and Miami!) this cycle. I don’t know if that happens by accident. But now that I said it they’ll get all ~20 good kids from the state next year so who knows lol
No problem! It's great work. Would love an analysis of Georgia (which is imo the most interesting recruiting state).
UGA fans will tell you that Gwinnett County (north eastish ATL suburb) is cursed because none of the big prospects over there ever seem to pick UGA, despite the proximity. Unfortunate because that's maybe the single greatest county in terms of producing talent in-state.
In general, Kirby has been much better with rural GA prospects (especially in middle/south GA), so whenever there's a class like 2025 where most of the big prospects are rural south/middle GA kids, UGA does a lot better in-state. When the class are mostly metro ATL kids, UGA has a harder time. It's an interesting phenomenon to me, at least, haha.
ATL metro is heavily recruited and relied on by neighbouring programs like Clemson, Tennessee and Auburn. South Georgia is a battle with Florida State usually as most of those kids grew up as FSU fans. West Georgia (Columbus area) always a battle with Auburn and Alabama. The state has grown so much as a football talent producing state though, that it really is a national recurring ground now with programs like USC, Ohio State and Texas routinely coming in for players.
This was a very interesting read, great job. Reminds me of UGA’s 2023 class (the first cycle where the staff had a national championship under their belts).
The in-state performance was abysmal, in part due to other schools stealing their lunch money, but also because the class was a down year instate.
It’s always interesting to consider where exactly a lot of these prospects are on the boards of these staffs. A lot of times in Georgia, there are kids who are highly rated and have a UGA offer, but who the staff are not prioritizing.
I agree with your conclusion that ideally I’m sure Bama’s staff would have liked to secure more prospects in-state (a few of them were committed before flipping to Auburn or elsewhere), but they also might not have been as impressed with the instate players this cycle. Will be interesting to see if it’s a trend, or just a momentary blip.
Appreciate the kind words!
Yeah it’s really tricky to parse who exactly they were really trying to get, you saw that with Ohio State in-state this cycle as well when they only offered like 3 kids from Cincy. I’m hoping I can get closer with the whole competitive recruit thing, but it’s an iterative process so we’ll see!
I think next year will solidify whether it’s a blip or not, but I have some feeling that it’s not just because they seemed to have eschewed the *entire* south (and Miami!) this cycle. I don’t know if that happens by accident. But now that I said it they’ll get all ~20 good kids from the state next year so who knows lol
No problem! It's great work. Would love an analysis of Georgia (which is imo the most interesting recruiting state).
UGA fans will tell you that Gwinnett County (north eastish ATL suburb) is cursed because none of the big prospects over there ever seem to pick UGA, despite the proximity. Unfortunate because that's maybe the single greatest county in terms of producing talent in-state.
In general, Kirby has been much better with rural GA prospects (especially in middle/south GA), so whenever there's a class like 2025 where most of the big prospects are rural south/middle GA kids, UGA does a lot better in-state. When the class are mostly metro ATL kids, UGA has a harder time. It's an interesting phenomenon to me, at least, haha.
ATL metro is heavily recruited and relied on by neighbouring programs like Clemson, Tennessee and Auburn. South Georgia is a battle with Florida State usually as most of those kids grew up as FSU fans. West Georgia (Columbus area) always a battle with Auburn and Alabama. The state has grown so much as a football talent producing state though, that it really is a national recurring ground now with programs like USC, Ohio State and Texas routinely coming in for players.