Football Recruiting at Notre Dame – A Regional Disadvantage?

If you get a chance to check out Andy Staples’ Inside Recruiting article titled “The State of Recruiting,” you’re in for an informative, thought-provoking read. Notre Dame features prominently in the article’s narrative, so even if you’re not really interested in the trends and strategies of the whole nation’s college football recruiting status, it’s still a great way to find out about the factors affecting Notre Dame’s incoming talent pool.

Summarizing the article’s content doesn’t give it justice, so instead the Notre Dame Blog will ask a few questions that the article expands upon. Why is it that ten, fifteen years ago Notre Dame, Nebraska, Colorado and Michigan were the best college football teams, and nowadays’ it’s USC, LSU, Alabama and Florida? Of course, there are exceptions, but there is a definite migration of power from the North to the South.

Are recruits tempted to sign with Southern California because of the weather? Do they pass up Notre Dame because of the harsh winters? It wasn’t the case for Jimmy Clausen and Dayne Crist, but it could happen with players who aren’t in the spotlight as much. The article also gives a breakdown of where UND players come from. Not surprisingly the Domers have a rather large recruiting geography, and in-state recruits are few. Perhaps this is because of Indiana’s relatively small population- and the fact that Chicago, Milwaukee and Detroit aren’t technically in-state, despite being some of Notre Dame’s more important recruiting territory.

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Permalink - Posted in General on January 21, 2009 - Post a comment