Maybe the top-tier powers with national recruiting organizations are grabbing many of the the blue-chip prospects from everyone else?
I think it's kind of the opposite. There are more players to go around so there's no longer much difference between the Power 5 bottom feeders and most everyone else (except the few elites). And the Group of 5 teams are also much better than they were 20-30 years ago.
The USC Trojans have long said that building a fence around California is the best way to maintain success in the game of college football. One of the first things Pete Carroll did when he took the job at USC was work to rebuild the fence around California recruiting, bringing in the state’s best players and convincing them that USC was the place to play. The plan worked for a good while, but then it fell apart when schools such as Alabama and Clemson were able to convince kids in California to leave for greater riches on the opposite side of the country.
Take Texas for example. Ohio State has enjoyed more four and five stars out of Texas than the Longhorns. Why? The program wins.
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OSU (7) has 3 more pledges from 5-stars in Texas than UT (4) since 17:
Browning(OSU, '17)
Okudah(OSU, '17)
Foster(UT, '18)
Sterns (UT, '18)
Wilson (OSU, '19)
Whittington(UT, '19)
Smith-Njigba (OSU, '20)
Jackson (OSU, '21)
Sanders (UT, '21)
Ewers (OSU, '22)
Burton (OSU, ‘22)
Florida and Florida State have to deal with Alabama, Clemson, and Georgia poaching their best in-state players. That also never used to be a thing. In short, it has become nearly impossible to put up a fence, as they call it. There’s just too much competition.
That is hard to match. even for a school terrible at hiring football coaches.KU's last Big 12 road victory was in 2008....
I think it was here that someone mentioned that talented players would rather go start for Baylor then spend two years riding the pine in Oklahoma. In fact years back he used exactly those two schools.I think it's kind of the opposite. There are more players to go around so there's no longer much difference between the Power 5 bottom feeders and most everyone else (except the few elites). And the Group of 5 teams are also much better than they were 20-30 years ago.