📝 7 maps that help explain National Signing Day 2015

[planomateo]

http://www.sbnation.com/college-foo...lts-maps-alabama-usc-florida-california-texas

The site has many additional maps, but here are a few that you guys might find interesting. Click the link above to see the rest of the data.


1. Where does the most talent come from?
Since it's clear stars matter, there's a reason the SEC has been so dominant in recent years. A bulk of the nation's elite talent comes from the region, with many of those players choosing to stay home at nearby schools.

This year, Florida had twice as many 247Sports Composite five-star prospects as any other state, with five of them electing to sign with SEC schools. That helps show why three of the top five and half of the top 12 classes are in the SEC.


5. Taking the biggest brand national
There's no recruiting powerhouse quite like Alabama, which secured its fifth straight recruiting titleon Signing Day.

Winning three national titles in a four-year stretch didn't hurt the Tide's national profile, and continuing to gather top recruiters like Mario Cristobal didn't either. Many assistants have specific territories they recruit, but Cristobal, named the national recruiter of the year by three different services, landed 12 commits from three different time zones. After he was curiously fired as the head coach at FIU, it's safe to say he'll get another chance to run a program some day.

 

[planomateo]

Ran across this one as well, a different twist on the one above. Explain how the state of Texas has only won 3 national titles in the last 50 years...

http://www.teamspeedkills.com/2015/2/10/8013855/college-football-recruiting-map-explained

Note: map has been updated. Somehow I credited one of Nebraska's '70s titles to Notre Dame. Don't ask me how.

The numbers you see are the number of national titles (AP Poll, Coaches' Poll, BCS, and CFP only) won by teams in each state in the past 50 years. The observant among you will notice that the numbers total 59. It's because there have been nine split titles in the past half century.

Anyway, 37 of the 59 national titles (62.7%) of them came from teams either inside of or bordering Florida, Texas, and California. Being near these talent pools is a big advantage.

Other southern states produce talent like Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana, so they kind of mix in with Florida and, to a lesser degree, Texas. If there is another distinct area beyond these three that produces good amounts of prospects, it's Ohio and Pennsylvania. Lo and behold, that's where the other cluster of titles is. Twelve more have come from schools inside or bordering Ohio and Pennsylvania. I will note that Indiana just means "Notre Dame" here, and it has always recruited nationally. Ohio's direct influence on those titles is lesser than it might seem on the surface.

In any event, the effect has become more pronounced over time. In the BCS era to now, Tennessee and Ohio State are the only states to produce champions without being or bordering the Big Three.

It just goes to show two big things. First, not being right next to a big talent pool makes it far harder to put together a champion. Second, Nebraska football's success is pretty much a miracle.