I split the country into five regions and found where the top 100 247Sports Composite recruits in each of the past five recruiting classes are from. Then I looked at which region each player went to for college.
The South keeps 91 percent of its top football recruits home, more than any other region
How each part of the country compares at producing elite high school players and hanging onto them for their college careers.
It’s no secret the best high school football players are in the South. And even though there’s a surplus of talent, most of it stays right at home. A whopping 91 percent of Southern stars stay within their region for college, with 66 percent going to SEC schools.
While the West Coast isn’t quite as loaded, it also keeps a ton of its top-100 blue chips nearby for college. Eighty percent from the West go to western schools, likely due to geography. While players in other regions have many options semi-close to home, the Pac-12 is so isolated it has a big advantage over other conferences for schools in its region.
But players don’t always stay in their native regions. The SEC has done a good job pulling stars from the Midwest, East Coast and Southwest, the latter partly due to the addition of Texas A&M. Notre Dame gets a substantial number of players from every region, in many cases beating out entire conferences, thanks to its national brand.
| Region | Number of top-100 recruits | Percent of top 100 |
| South | 226 | 45% |
| West | 86 | 17% |
| Southwest | 70 | 14% |
| Midwest | 62 | 12% |
| East Coast | 55 | 11% |
| Canada | 1 |
Percentages don’t all add up to 100, due to rounding.
As for conferences themselves, the SEC took more than twice as many top-100 recruits as any other conference, with the Pac-12 making up a little ground.
| Conference | Number of top-100 recruits | Percent of top 100 |
| SEC | 198 | 40% |
| Pac-12 | 90 | 18% |
| ACC | 79 | 16% |
| Big Ten | 67 | 13% |
| Big 12 | 43 | 9% |
| Notre Dame | 21 | 4% |
| American | 1 | |
| Mountain West | 1 |
The South has more elite players, so the SEC should get more of them. But players in different regions have different tendencies. Some stay home, but others choose to leave for better opportunities elsewhere.
| Region | % Stay | % Leave |
| South | 91% | 9% |
| West | 80% | 20% |
| Midwest | 77% | 23% |
| Southwest | 60% | 40% |
| East Coast | 35% | 65% |
While the South’s SEC and ACC teams have a distinct advantage, the region’s also able to keep recruits at home at a higher percentage. Western teams also keep elite recruits at home.
Midwestern teams have generally been able to keep other top programs out, while the Southwest is heavily recruited by the entire country. The East Coast -- home to mostly middling teams in the ACC and Big Ten -- has only kept elite recruits home 35 percent of the time.
Where top recruits from each region go
East Coast
| Conference | Percent of top-100 recruits |
| ACC | 33% |
| Big Ten | 29% |
| SEC | 16% |
| Notre Dame | 9% |
| Pac-12 | 9% |
| Big 12 | 4% |
Midwest
| Conference | Percent of top-100 recruits |
| Big Ten | 61% |
| SEC | 23% |
| Notre Dame | 8% |
| Big 12 | 5% |
| ACC | 2% |
| Pac-12 | 2% |
South
| Conference | Percent of top-100 recruits |
| SEC | 66% |
| ACC | 26% |
| Pac-12 | 4% |
| Big Ten | 2% |
| Notre Dame | 2% |
| Big 12 | 1% |
Southwest
| Conference | Percent of top-100 recruits |
| Big 12 | 47% |
| SEC | 29% |
| Pac-12 | 10% |
| Big Ten | 9% |
| ACC | 3% |
| Mountain West | 1% |
| Notre Dame | 1% |
West
| Conference | Percent of top-100 recruits |
| Pac-12 | 80% |
| SEC | 7% |
| Notre Dame | 6% |
| Big 12 | 3% |
| Big Ten | 2% |
| American | 1% |
Where the best players in each state go
There are some surprises. Of Arizona’s 10 top-100 recruits, none went to an Arizona school, while all 10 elite recruits in Mississippi went to a school in-state. As likely expected, Texas, USC, Alabama and Florida State dominated their in-state counterparts over the last five years.
The takeaway? Geography matters a lot in recruiting, but if you know where to go, you can steal some players who might be looking to play far away from home.
| State | Top-100 recruits | By school (schools with one signee in a state unlisted, unless they're all that state has) |
| Alabama | 24 | Alabama 15, Auburn 5, Florida State 2 |
| Arizona | 10 | Stanford 2, Texas A&M 2, UCLA 2 |
| Arkansas | 6 | Arkansas 3, Alabama 2 |
| California | 58 | USC 25, UCLA 7, Cal 4, Oregon 4, Stanford 4, Washington 3, Arizona State 2, Notre Dame 2, Oklahoma 2 |
| Canada | 1 | Oklahoma |
| Colorado | 1 | Stanford |
| Connecticut | 2 | Clemson, UCLA |
| Florida | 85 | Florida State 22, Florida 14, Miami 11, Alabama 8, Clemson 8, Notre Dame 3, Ohio State 3, USC 3, Auburn 2, Georgia 2, Louisville 2, LSU 2, Stanford 2 |
| Georgia | 43 | Georgia 18, Auburn 6, Alabama 4, Clemson 2, Ohio State 2, South Carolina 2 |
| Hawaii | 2 | Oregon, Texas Tech |
| Idaho | 1 | Notre Dame |
| Illinois | 12 | LSU 2, Notre Dame 2, Ohio State 2 |
| Indiana | 5 | Notre Dame 3 |
| Iowa | 2 | Alabama, Iowa State |
| Kansas | 2 | Auburn, Oklahoma |
| Kentucky | 3 | Alabama, Louisville, Notre Dame |
| Louisiana | 23 | LSU 14, Alabama 6 |
| Maryland | 8 | Alabama 2, Maryland 2 |
| Michigan | 10 | Michigan 4, Michigan State 3, Ohio State 2 |
| Minnesota | 2 | Minnesota, Ohio State |
| Mississippi | 10 | Ole Miss 7, Mississippi State 3 |
| Missouri | 7 | Missouri 3 |
| Nevada | 1 | Notre Dame |
| New Jersey | 13 | Notre Dame 3, Miami 2, Rutgers 2 |
| New Mexico | 1 | Notre Dame |
| New York | 3 | Florida, Notre Dame, Ohio State |
| North Carolina | 17 | Clemson 4, Florida 3, Georgia 3, North Carolina 2, Tennessee 2 |
| Ohio | 22 | Ohio State 16, Michigan 3 |
| Oklahoma | 5 | Oklahoma 2 |
| Oregon | 3 | Oregon 2 |
| Pennsylvania | 9 | Pitt 2 |
| South Carolina | 6 | South Carolina 3, Clemson 2 |
| Tennessee | 8 | Tennessee 6 |
| Texas | 64 | Texas 20, Texas A&M 10, Alabama 5, Baylor 5, LSU 3, Nebraska 3, Ohio State 3, Oklahoma 3, Oregon 2, UCLA 2 |
| Utah | 4 | USC 2 |
| Virginia | 17 | Virginia 5, Alabama 2, Florida State 2, Ohio State 2 |
| Washington | 6 | Washington 3, USC 2 |
| Washington, DC | 4 | Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Maryland |
