Cartography

Not to mention 50 percent more players than the rest of the country combined.

When that map went up, I immediately thought something was fishy.

That’s utter bullshit. California by itself can holds its own with any region. Toss in the Oregon, Washington and Zona? Please. ESPN is so fucking funny.

As the man said, we’re in the business of selling newspapers, not reporting news.

Rivals has a recruiting specialist assigned to Florida. They do not have such a specialist assigned to Texas or California.

The SEC run of bowl dominance, especially MNC, has to end or this kind of stuff will fall on deaf ears. We had the tide by the nuts . . . oh nevermind.

texastough – Let me clear, I’m not complaining and I don’t care. There are tons of great players in the SEC region and the SEC. And they are kicking a lot of ass.

I just thought it was funny to look at a constellation of California and like eight other states and say, yes, they represent 12 % of the best high school athletes. Again, it’s not really mysterious why, it’s just funny.

I found a very useful website that breaks down current NFL players by the state in which they attended high school. (I’ll see if I can dig up the link). SEC territory had the most NFLers, as you would expect, but the ratio was 4-1 ratio that ESPN’s recruiting rankings would have you believe. Now the graphic that Sailor posted doesn’t exactly correspond with conference territories, as the Southeast includes two states in Virginia and North Carolina that don’t have an SEC school but have decent talent. Still, it’s not nearly enough to explain the discrepancy.

Who knows though. Maybe the southeast is producing talent at about double its historic rate this year.

its funny but my gut says there’s something sinister about it too

Everything is coded. That is the trend.

…more bang for your buck.

I imagine that the talent evaluators in SEC country might just grade easier than the rest. You don’t have ONE guy doing ALL the grading do you? Cuz then you have other issues. Lemming anyone??

Its not like someone is just flipping a coin, I’m sure its debated. But there could be some rival bullshit involved . They wash it over and then they spruce it up to make it appear to be fair and neutral. Guess your right, all about selling papers.

SEC territory had the most NFLers, as you would expect, but the ratio was 4-1 ratio that ESPN’s recruiting rankings would have you believe.

Jesus. That came out poorly. I tried to use less than and greater than signs and it rendered my post nearly incomprehensible. What I meant to say is that SEC territory has produced slightly less than double the amount of NFLers that Big 12 or Pac-10 territory have produced.

Too funny!

A few thoughts:

1) The SE region is represented by 11 states and has 91 players on this list. That is about 8 1/4 players per state. There are 22 players from the SW region that is only made up of 3 states (only one of which is a major supplier of talent. That equals 7 1/3 players per state. To be honest that ratio is probably actually hurt by the addition of the other 3 states. Texas would probably fair better if it just represented itself on this map.

2) The SE region not only has more states making it up on this map, but it also comprises a region where for a practically purposes basically partook in eugenics less than 200 years ago. That’s a comment that does involved race, so in that way I guess it is racist, but it also happens to be true.

3) The West region gets 10 states, and only comes up with 18. That’s 1.8 players per state. Once again, California is hurt in the average by the addition of the other states.

4) Maybe the kids from the South (shouldn’t Texas be split between 3 different regions really…if you’ve been to Beaumont, you know it is truly the South) do deserve to be ranked more often in the top 150 coming out of high school, but maybe the schools they end up going to do a worse job of preparing them for the NFL, maybe they don’t finish school, or maybe they were just incorrectly rated all along.

“it also comprises a region where for a practically purposes basically partook”

Whoa. That’s the way I talk in my dreams.

*..that for all practical purposes, basically partook…

Sorry, dosing off…so you aren’t far off in your dream like assessment.

This reminds me of the prophetic bumper sticker on the back of Trips Right’s dually.

“The South Will Rise Again!!!”

“dosing off….” Indeed you are. Codeine, imo.

Transformers are better, imo.

Put an Optimus Prime in front of the flat screen, cancel the renter’s insurance, enjoy the financial rewards of having an Autobot security system.

Wait, was there other stuff on this thread?

Just re-emphasizing here that the chunk of the US they have under “West” comprises a massive percentage of the population. I’d only be guessing but 25% seems like a safe guess.

I grew up in the Beaumont area. I’ve lived along the South Carolina-Georgia border (Augusta) and in Florida. I now live in Houston, Beaumont is NOT part of the ‘true south’. The area resembles Louisiana (which is in its own little universe) much more than it does the true south.

Good stuff, Sailor.
 
The South does have an inordinate amount of elite talent, but the ultimate proof is always in the NFL pudding.

mmmmm pudding.

while media bias may have something to do with it, it could possibly be that high school football has more emphasis within southern culture and as a result more youth are playing football and people are putting more time/resources into improving their players. there could be a greater number of kids from the south closer to their natural ceiling than from other parts of the country (particularly the mid west, north east and west coast), and this is reflected in the recruiting service rankings when kids from the south look relatively better than kids of the same age from other areas. once all the kids start going to major programs, they put in more or less the same level of effort/resources into improving and they all start closing in on their upside more evenly. by the time these players are in the NFL, it’s balanced out.

maybe.

SEC! SEC! SEC!

Yeah, this is total bullshit. The “southeast” just happens to be the footprint of the SEC plus three unrelated states that contribute 10 ESPNU 150’s to the SE total.

Plus, I object to any categorization that pairs Texas and Oklahoma.

Yeah, what MB said! Just how long are we gonna have to carry those Okie assholes? Them twinkie-eatin’, trailer-livin’ bitches is getting heavy…

And while we’re at it, can we get Collieville lumped in with Beaumont and call it Loserana too?

Seems to me like a know your audience type of thing. Both ESPN and Rivals know that they get most of their revenue regarding High School football and recruiting from the South (whether it be ACC or SEC). Therefore they spend their resources in the south in terms of research and other areas. They are hesistant to rate players from other areas whom they haven’t seen in person yet (due to lack of effort). If they rate CA and TX players over the south without seeing them they risk even worse results.

For these reasons i’d look more at State 100’s than National at this point. Even if the national guy is a better evaluator, he’s not seen enough data to make proper decisions. These guys are Mel Kiper with less support, experience, and hair gel.

These evaluations carry an accuracy level rivaled by, say, annual hurricane predictions.

I would venture that part of the inordinate love for the South is due to the explosion of 7-on-7 tournaments which showcase the position players, and provide additional scouting opportunities. It’s natural that when you have more chances (and year-round, at that) to see the players, you’re more inclined to bump them up as known quantities.

I understand that recruiting gives us something to talk about between seasons, but it’s become somewhat overblown. Raw talent makes a difference, but these rankings don’t reflect how well teams do at addressing need.

Don’t fucking challenge me, bateshorn. I have teams of these guys and they work in shifts.

nice windows/light in the living room…..really opens it up.

Is Ripley fashioning a boner in that picture, or is it the pleats?

ballrific watches HGTV. I know because it’s the one thing my chick watches that I can sometimes tolerate.

And I mentioned I have a girlfriend because of my first comment.

Good stuff. You gotta watch out for Bumblebee. That guy likes the sauce a little much and will drift off on the job if you’re not careful.

Kind of like nordberg.

Jesus Sailor, is that a
Ficus?

Is Ripley fashioning a boner in that picture

Football season is near.

Jesus Sailor, is that a Ficus?

Hell if I know.

Did I just see a UT fan complain about Rivals rankings being biased?

Isn’t that like Hitler complaining that the ashtrays in Volkswagens are too small?

If you are referencing me, then the answer is no, I’m not complaining. I though I made that pretty clear when I said:

 Let me clear, I’m not complaining and I don’t care.

Great work keeping your pinky finger out of the picture.

People get so defensive about the media, worried the truth comes out.Its not just about selling papers.

Hmm! seems like we share the same point of view.