New Geographical Inroads for your school in recruiting?

[ngineer]

I think it interesting each year to see where schools are getting their recruits. Many of us have our traditional regions in which we recruit, primarily due to economics of recruiting. Lehigh has always gotten the majority of its players from PA,NJ,NY,MD. That has expanded in recent years to OH and New England,with smatterings from FL,GA, LA, AZ and CA. This year, in addition to FL (4), we have players coming in from NC (2), IL (1) and WA(1). May be our first football player from WA ever, or at least in last four decades. So what "new" region of the country do you have any recruits hailing from?

[MR. CHICKEN]

I think it interesting each year to see where schools are getting their recruits. Many of us have our traditional regions in which we recruit, primarily due to economics of recruiting. Lehigh has always gotten the majority of its players from PA,NJ,NY,MD. That has expanded in recent years to OH and New England,with smatterings from FL,GA, LA, AZ and CA. This year, in addition to FL (4), we have players coming in from NC (2), IL (1) and WA(1). May be our first football player from WA ever, or at least in last four decades. So what "new" region of the country do you have any recruits hailing from?

17555.....C'MON ngineer......KNOW IT'S HARD FO' UH HAWK....TA SPIT OUT......DELAWARE.....BUT YA GOT ONE UH OURIN'.......FROM WILMINGTON....DAT RIGHT..DELAWARE.....IN PIERCE RIPANTI LB 6'0" 200......CARAVEL ACADEMY...DELAWARE'S....2012 D-II STATE CHAMPS...HE'S INTELLIGENT TOO.....HONOR SOCIETY...ME THINX...YA GOT PLENTY MORE....IN YEARS AGO......xrotatehx.....BROCK/BARAK/BRAWK!!

[jmufan999]

JMU seems to be moving north.

Besides all of VA, JMU focuses on MD, PA, and NY. Heavy emphasis on MD and NY in my opinion. Mickey has a philosophy not to recruit much in places south of VA. His reasoning was that it's easier to get northern kids to come south than vice-versa.

[Uncle Rico's Clan]

Montana recruited a little more to the east this year. We have a few new Grizzlies from South Dakota, Minnesota, and Indiana, with no incoming freshmen from California, which is odd for us.

[SU DOG]

Not a new region, but Samford got a third of the signees this year from the state of Florida. Yes, I know it is a border state, but in years past, we would only get one occasionally. Coach Trickett, now in his 3rd season at SU, has the connections there as he came to us from FL State. We currently have 20 players on our roster from the Sunshine State. A player is a player, regardless of what state he is from, BUT I think that most folks would agree that having FL players on your team is generally a big plus.

[Kramer]

Actually, Lehigh also picked up an OL from Delaware last year as well, I believe.

[Eaglesrus]

Most of ours again come from GA, with a few from FL and SC, as usual. Some years we bring in one or two from Alabama. We really went off our normal chart this year, however, with one signee from Ohio and another from New Jersey.

[RichH2]

Be interesting to see how PL recruiting expands. Cross seems to have logged the most miles. Ill. First recruit I can recall. 2 from the Carolinas a first. Usually we are in Ga but not this yr. From offers made coahes were in Ore,Cal, Okla, Tn & Ken.

[PaladinNation]

Furman signed 2 from SC, 5 from GA, 4 from FL, 3 from TN, 2 from NC and 1 from AL.
Nothing surprising except the Florida and Tennessee players are higher than normal.
The recruits from FL, and TN are what makes this class probably on paper the best Furman class in ten years.
Furman was able to beat several MAC schools, SoCon schools, Military Academies, and CAA schools for those 7 players.

The Furman coaches expressed a renewed commitment to SC, Furman has recruited SC poorly for the last 5-7 years.
Admissions is one of the issues.

Furman appears to be starting to recruit northern players from Virgina to Ohio. With Lacrosse getting a full commitment from Furman, scholarships, Hall of Fame Head Coach, renovated Paladin Stadium and a shared play turf field, I hope football will take advantage of lacrosse recruiting and bring some New England football players down south.

[CID1990]

I think it interesting each year to see where schools are getting their recruits. Many of us have our traditional regions in which we recruit, primarily due to economics of recruiting. Lehigh has always gotten the majority of its players from PA,NJ,NY,MD. That has expanded in recent years to OH and New England,with smatterings from FL,GA, LA, AZ and CA. This year, in addition to FL (4), we have players coming in from NC (2), IL (1) and WA(1). May be our first football player from WA ever, or at least in last four decades. So what "new" region of the country do you have any recruits hailing from?

We've been getting a bunch from PA. I assume that is because of Coach Higgins.

We reached into Alabama and Oklahoma this year as well.

[superman7515]

I was actually pretty impressed with Morgan State (in Baltimore, Maryland; reminds me I need to go finish up the MEAC signings) in the amount of time/effort they put into this years class. I know, I know, MEAC school. They signed 14 players from Texas, 3 from California, 3 from Tennessee, 2 from Alabama, as well as recruits from Ohio, Michigan, Oklahoma, and Florida. Whether or not the recruits pan out for them remains to be seen, just like everyone else, but getting 18 recruits where the closest one was 1,360 miles from campus took some serious recruiting effort.

[813Jag]

This year Southern did the opposite, instead of reaching out of their region, they intensely focused on Louisiana. Getting 17 kids from the state up from getting 3 last year.

[Mattymc727]

UNH has been dipping south a bit. It used to be northeast and the west, now its just east coast. Virginia and Florida are the new areas along with the original New England, NY, PA, MD, and NJ.

[SFA 93]

Texas:84 players
Louisiana:2 players
Arkansas:1 player
Florida: 1 player

[ngineer]

17555.....C'MON ngineer......KNOW IT'S HARD FO' UH HAWK....TA SPIT OUT......DELAWARE.....BUT YA GOT ONE UH OURIN'.......FROM WILMINGTON....DAT RIGHT..DELAWARE.....IN PIERCE RIPANTI LB 6'0" 200......CARAVEL ACADEMY...DELAWARE'S....2012 D-II STATE CHAMPS...HE'S INTELLIGENT TOO.....HONOR SOCIETY...ME THINX...YA GOT PLENTY MORE....IN YEARS AGO......xrotatehx.....BROCK/BARAK/BRAWK!!

Sorry for the oversight, Mr. Chicken. Didn't mean to "ruffle the feathers"! Yes, Ripanti looks like a very good get. In fact, supposedly his best friend on his HS team is going to Bucknell, so they'll be facing off against each other. Yes, we've had a few Delawareans over the years, not a regular stream.

[superman7515]

Sorry for the oversight, Mr. Chicken. Didn't mean to "ruffle the feathers"! Yes, Ripanti looks like a very good get. In fact, supposedly his best friend on his HS team is going to Bucknell, so they'll be facing off against each other. Yes, we've had a few Delawareans over the years, not a regular stream.

Delaware doesn't recruit Delaware either, haha.

[lionsrking2]

Southeastern Louisiana usually goes heavy Louisiana, solid in Mississippi and pulls an occasional player out of Texas ... that's still pretty much the base though with the new coaching staff, and Ron Roberts being from California, they'll go nationwide or wherever they can find a player they think can help us win a championship ... we hit the JC circuit hard with a mix from California & Mississippi and a player each from Kansas and Texas JCs ... hometowns range from California, Texas, Tennessee to New Jersey to south Florida ... still found a good local mix of HS kids from an hour radius from Hammond, but there are no limits with this staff, as long they have money to recruit ... also brought in three FBS transfers, including former Oregon QB, Bryan Bennett ... and I'm pretty sure they're not done ... they never are.

[seantaylor]

I've noticed Monken has a ton of contacts outside of Georgia and Florida.

[Ivytalk]

Harvard, as usual, spread it out. Got a 3-star QB from PA.

[Pard4Life]

Harvard, as usual, spread it out. Got a 3-star QB from PA.

Yup, the kid from Conestoga HS just a few miles we of Villanova. We offered him but he committed in June.

[Pard4Life]

The Pards had as many signees from Colorado and Tennessee as its home state, Pennsylvania. We had the usual from Florida, but five from New York and New Jersey, which makes me happy because we have not been as competitive there the past few years.... also some from North Carolina, Ohio. Last year, we had a kid from Montana.

... still waiting on Texas and more from California (only one that I can ever recall).

[McNeese75]

There have been three new Cowboys from Florida in the last two class which is unusual.

[UCABEARS75]

While are primary recruiting area will always be Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi we went to St Louis this year for who we hope is a big time playmaker WR/RB/KR

[citdog]

There have been three new Cowboys from Florida in the last two class which is unusual.


the first cowboys were from Florida.

here's more good info.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVBxQNfooMk

[Tribe4SF]

W&M reversed its usual mix by signing 8 of 12 from Virginia. Historically it would be the other way around. The other states represented were PA, NJ, MD, and NC. None from GA this year, which is unusual, after losing a commit to UVA.

[Sam I Am]

Most of ours again come from GA, with a few from FL and SC, as usual. Some years we bring in one or two from Alabama. We really went off our normal chart this year, however, with one signee from Ohio and another from New Jersey.

The Savannah Morning News has a great article concerning recruiting connections for Georgia Southern:

http://savannahnow.com/sports/2013-02-10/donald-heath-georgia-southerns-connections-lead-recruits

So Monken made signing a placekicker a priority Wednesday on national signing day.

He sought the advice of three experts to produce lists of top kickers available and he started going down the lists.

He came to a prospect in New Jersey. The player had already committed to another school, but curiosity led Monken to a local newspaper article about the kicker.

The story mentioned several other top kickers in the area.

Monken watched YouTube highlight films of the others and started another round of calling.

He liked the video of YoungHoe Koo, an athlete of Korean heritage, and brought him to Statesboro for a recruiting visit.

Along with learning about the football program, Koo was introduced to several Korean professors on campus and gained a level of comfort. It didn’t take long for Koo to verbally commit and then sign to play for a school he may never have heard of before.

And that’s how a kid of Korean heritage from Ridgewood, N.J., earned a scholarship to play for the Eagles.


The good word

The bread and butter for Georgia Southern recruiting lately has been word of mouth. There’s been a football program here for about 30 years and former players are becoming the school’s best advertisers.

Former Eagles are coaching in high schools around the state and they’re spreading the word. Harris County assistant coach Danny Durham, who played for Erk Russell in the 1980s, provided some inroads with Jay Ellison, a three-star defensive lineman. According to Scout.com, Ellison had offers from Georgia Tech, Auburn, Michigan, Mississippi and Mississippi State, Pittsburgh, South Carolina and Tennessee.

At a summer camp, the Eagles staff had the advantage of being there first when running back Darius Jones of Woodruff High School was timed at 4.39 in the 40-yard dash.

Alfred Ramsby was a top option quarterback for Colerain High School outside Cincinnati.

So how did the Eagles recruit Ohio?

About 15 years ago, when Monken was an assistant for Paul Johnson at GSU, Colerain High’s coaching staff came to Statesboro to learn more about the option offense.

Monken recruited the Cincinnati area when he left with Johnson for Navy and furthered his relationship with then-Colerain head coach Kerry Coombs, who is now an assistant at Ohio State.

Upon hearing about Ramsby, Monken contacted Coombs. Now Monken might have landed the Eagles’ future starting quarterback.

It’s good to have connections.

[lionsrking2]

The Savannah Morning News has a great article concerning recruiting connections for Georgia Southern:

http://savannahnow.com/sports/2013-02-10/donald-heath-georgia-southerns-connections-lead-recruits

So Monken made signing a placekicker a priority Wednesday on national signing day.

He sought the advice of three experts to produce lists of top kickers available and he started going down the lists.

He came to a prospect in New Jersey. The player had already committed to another school, but curiosity led Monken to a local newspaper article about the kicker.

The story mentioned several other top kickers in the area.

Monken watched YouTube highlight films of the others and started another round of calling.

He liked the video of YoungHoe Koo, an athlete of Korean heritage, and brought him to Statesboro for a recruiting visit.

Along with learning about the football program, Koo was introduced to several Korean professors on campus and gained a level of comfort. It didn’t take long for Koo to verbally commit and then sign to play for a school he may never have heard of before.

And that’s how a kid of Korean heritage from Ridgewood, N.J., earned a scholarship to play for the Eagles.


The good word

The bread and butter for Georgia Southern recruiting lately has been word of mouth. There’s been a football program here for about 30 years and former players are becoming the school’s best advertisers.

Former Eagles are coaching in high schools around the state and they’re spreading the word. Harris County assistant coach Danny Durham, who played for Erk Russell in the 1980s, provided some inroads with Jay Ellison, a three-star defensive lineman. According to Scout.com, Ellison had offers from Georgia Tech, Auburn, Michigan, Mississippi and Mississippi State, Pittsburgh, South Carolina and Tennessee.

At a summer camp, the Eagles staff had the advantage of being there first when running back Darius Jones of Woodruff High School was timed at 4.39 in the 40-yard dash.

Alfred Ramsby was a top option quarterback for Colerain High School outside Cincinnati.

So how did the Eagles recruit Ohio?

About 15 years ago, when Monken was an assistant for Paul Johnson at GSU, Colerain High’s coaching staff came to Statesboro to learn more about the option offense.

Monken recruited the Cincinnati area when he left with Johnson for Navy and furthered his relationship with then-Colerain head coach Kerry Coombs, who is now an assistant at Ohio State.

Upon hearing about Ramsby, Monken contacted Coombs. Now Monken might have landed the Eagles’ future starting quarterback.

It’s good to have connections.

These stories are fairly common among FCS coaching staffs ... you have to be creative and have connections to be able to expand the base, especially when there's lots of competition for players in the backyard.

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

Lehigh has really done a good job of recruiting their backyard again. After about a 10 year down period there's been a large influx of kids from the talent rich Lehigh Valley willing to stay at home.

Hopefully, this will help to boost attendance. When Lehigh was averaging 10k+ in late the 90's, early 00's they relied on a lot of local kids.

[ngineer]

Won't affect attendance much. The total culture has changed at Lehigh and many NE schools. The people who would follow the local kids to Lehigh (or Lafayette) have the same scheduling conflicts and things to do on Saturdays as everone else. The downturn in attendance is primarily due to the downturn in student attendance. It's a different world.

As for regional inroads, to get back on thread, many geographical aberrations are due to family connections, or specific academic interests that aren't available in the student's local region. This is not to say that consistent recruiting and 'showing the flag' in certain regions won't get you a steady stream or trickle of kids coming your way, but it does take time for that happen.

[PaladinFan]

These stories are fairly common among FCS coaching staffs ... you have to be creative and have connections to be able to expand the base, especially when there's lots of competition for players in the backyard.

Particularly true for Furman. It is quite shocking how many high school and college coaches have a connection to the Paladin program.

Furman did a good job again this year in landing players from Tennessee, Florida, and Alabama. The coaching staff still has deep ties from Vanderbilt, so that seems reasonable. I imagine you'll see Furman attempt to take more SC players in the future.