When the sun rises on National Signing Day Wednesday, we’ll keep you up to date on the signees for each and every SEC school. One of the things we’ll be studying? Where the SEC’s 2013 talent come from.
A quick look at recent signing day results tells us that 14 states in the SEC area tend to produce either a large portion of league signees or a large portion of 4- and 5-star recruits who could have been league signees. Those states are Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and the non-SEC states of North Carolina, Virginia, and Ohio.
Below we’ve broken some interesting numbers down for you. We’ve looked at prospects who were graded by Rivals.com as being 4- or 5-star players. We’ve looked at the 2010, 2011, and 2012 signing classes. We’ve taken note of only those players attending high school or prep school in a given state. And finally, we’ve gone back to see how many of those top prospects a) signed with schools in their home state and b) signed with current SEC programs.
2012
| State |
4- & 5-stars |
Signed In State |
Signed W/ SEC |
| Alabama |
12 |
7 |
8 |
| Arkansas |
2 |
0 |
0 |
| Florida |
44 |
22 |
20 |
| Georgia |
24 |
6 |
19 |
| Kentucky |
1 |
1 |
1 |
| Louisiana |
12 |
6 |
9 |
| Mississippi |
4 |
4 |
3 |
| Missouri |
4 |
2 |
2 |
| S. Carolina |
5 |
4 |
1 |
| Tennessee |
10 |
4 |
7 |
| Texas |
38 |
29 |
10 |
| N. Carolina |
11 |
2 |
6 |
| Ohio |
20 |
9 |
0 |
| Virginia |
16 |
7 |
2 |
2011
| State |
4- & 5-stars |
Signed In State |
Signed W/ SEC |
| Alabama |
8 |
8 |
8 |
| Arkansas |
3 |
2 |
3 |
| Florida |
49 |
23 |
20 |
| Georgia |
22 |
12 |
17 |
| Kentucky |
2 |
0 |
0 |
| Louisiana |
14 |
10 |
13 |
| Mississippi |
10 |
7 |
10 |
| Missouri |
1 |
0 |
0 |
| S. Carolina |
6 |
5 |
4 |
| Tennessee |
2 |
2 |
2 |
| Texas |
41 |
23 |
4 |
| N. Carolina |
11 |
5 |
3 |
| Ohio |
16 |
8 |
1 |
| Virginia |
16 |
5 |
2 |
2010
| State |
4- & 5-stars |
Signed In State |
Signed W/ SEC |
| Alabama |
13 |
11 |
12 |
| Arkansas |
3 |
1 |
1 |
| Florida |
50 |
26 |
18 |
| Georgia |
30 |
10 |
19 |
| Kentucky |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Louisiana |
11 |
7 |
9 |
| Mississippi |
9 |
7 |
9 |
| Missouri |
8 |
4 |
4 |
| S. Carolina |
13 |
7 |
8 |
| Tennessee |
6 |
2 |
4 |
| Texas |
49 |
29 |
13 |
| N. Carolina |
11 |
5 |
1 |
| Ohio |
14 |
2 |
2 |
| Virginia |
23 |
6 |
4 |
And now a look at those three signing classes combined:
2010-2012
| State |
4- & 5-stars |
Signed In State |
Signed W/ SEC |
| Florida |
143 |
71 (49.6%) |
58 (40.5%) |
| Texas |
128 |
81 (63.2%) |
27 (21.0%) |
| Georgia |
76 |
28 (36.8%) |
55 (72.3%) |
| Virginia |
55 |
18 (32.7%) |
8 (14.5%) |
| Ohio |
50 |
19 (38.0%) |
3 (6.0%) |
| Louisiana |
37 |
23 (62.1%) |
31 (83.7%) |
| Alabama |
33 |
26 (78.7%) |
28 (84.8%) |
| N. Carolina |
33 |
12 (36.3%) |
10 (30.0%) |
| S. Carolina |
24 |
16 (66.7%) |
13 (54.1%) |
| Mississippi |
23 |
18 (78.2%) |
22 (95.6%) |
| Tennessee |
18 |
8 (44.4%) |
13 (72.2%) |
| Missouri |
13 |
6 (46.1%) |
6 (46.1%) |
| Arkansas |
8 |
3 (37.5%) |
4 (50.0%) |
| Kentucky |
3 |
1 (33.3%) |
1 (33.3%) |
Observations:
* Though Georgia produces more overall SEC signees most every year, Florida produces more high-caliber 4- and 5-stars prospects each year.
* SEC East schools like Kentucky, South Carolina, and Tennessee should be mining SEC border states North Carolina, Ohio, and Virginia. About two-thirds of all 4- and 5-star recruits from those states leave home to sign elsewhere.
* SEC teams (other than Alabama, Auburn, Mississippi State, and Ole Miss) should spend less time trying to pry recruits out of Mississippi and Alabama. A whopping 78% of the players in those states stay at home and ink with a local school.
* A few SEC schools with low numbers of high-caliber in-state prospects and no in-state SEC competition need to do a better job of harvesting those local prospects they do have: Kentucky, Arkansas, Missouri. Georgia and Florida would appear to fit in this category as well, but both of those programs are successful enough to raid other states. UK, UA and MU can’t say that as this point.
And finally, here’s a look at which of those 14 states have produced the most 4- and 5-star prospects this year:
2013
| State |
4- & 5-stars |
| Florida |
52 |
| Texas |
45 |
| Georgia |
24 |
| Virginia |
21 |
| Ohio |
19 |
| Alabama |
14 |
| Louisiana |
13 |
| Mississippi |
12 |
| N. Carolina |
9 |
| Tennessee |
9 |
| S. Carolina |
5 |
| Kentucky |
3 |
| Missouri |
3 |
| Arkansas |
2 |
