Heather Dinich of ESPN.com has done a little number-crunching with ESPNU’s Top 150 recruit lists. Over the past six years, she’s found that the SEC has nearly doubled up the ACC in terms of signed studs.
You can find her excellent breakdown right here. It’s from an ACC perspective, by the way.
Below, you’ll find her numbers. Then, we’ll take things a bit further with some of our own:
| ACC ESPNU Top 150 Signees |
SEC ESPNU Top 150 Signees |
|
| 2006 |
22 |
50 |
| 2007 |
23 |
54 |
| 2008 |
33 |
38 |
| 2009 |
23 |
54 |
| 2010 |
18 |
56 |
| 2011 |
32 |
48 |
| Total |
151 |
300 |
Why the disparity? First, SEC schools simply have better tradition than ACC schools. And, yes, that’s a generality. Florida State, Clemson, Miami, Virginia Tech… those are viewed as top football programs. But the SEC has had five different schools win BCS titles since 1998 and five league teams in a row have captured that flag. In terms of reputation, SEC coaches simply have more to sell to recruits than ACC coaches.
Second, let’s look at where the NFL goes to find its talent. Over the last decade (the drafts of 2002 through 2011) the following ACC and SEC states have produced the most pro draftees:
| SEC or ACC State |
NFL Picks Since 2002 |
| Florida |
212 |
| Georgia |
101 |
| Louisiana |
84 |
| Virginia |
73 |
| Alabama |
65 |
| South Carolina |
62 |
| North Carolina |
56 |
| Maryland |
37 |
| Tennessee |
37 |
| Mississippi |
34 |
| Arkansas |
25 |
| Kentucky |
17 |
| Massachusetts |
14 |
If we toss out Florida, Georgia and South Carolina because both leagues have schools in those states — technically, we consider Florida and Georgia to be strong SEC leans — we’re left with six SEC states to cull talent from versus only four states for the ACC.
Lop off Florida, Georgia and South Carolina and the remaining states in the SEC footprint produced 262 NFL draftees over the last 10 years. The states remaining in the ACC footprint produced 180. That’s 82 NFL-caliber players over the course of a decade, or eight per year. Keeping things in general terms, that suggests the top eight teams in the SEC are landing one more pro prospect per year — every year — than the eight best programs in the ACC.
Yes, that’s oversimplified, but the fact remains, the SEC has more tradition and a better talent base, no matter how you slice it.
(And for you expansion junkies out there, the production of Virginia’s high school system is another reason the folks at this website would like to see the SEC chase Virginia Tech somewhere down the road.)
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[...] By John Pennington, Mr. SEC Over the past six years, Heather Dinich of ESPN.com found that the SEC has nearly doubled up the ACC in terms of signed studs. Why the disparity? First, SEC schools simply have better tradition than ACC schools. And, yes, that’s a generality. Florida State, Clemson, Miami, Virginia Tech… those are viewed as top football programs. But the SEC has had five different schools win BCS titles since 1998 and five league teams in a row have captured that flag. In terms of reputation, SEC coaches simply have more to sell to recruits than ACC coaches. Lop off Florida, Georgia and South Carolina and the remaining states in the SEC footprint produced 262 NFL draftees over the last 10 years. The states remaining in the ACC footprint produced 180. Keeping things in general terms, that suggests the top eight teams in the SEC are landing one more pro prospect per year — every year — than the eight best programs in the ACC. Yes, that’s oversimplified, but the fact remains, the SEC has more tradition and a better talent base, no matter how you slice it. [More] [...]
[...] By John Pennington, Mr. SEC Over the past six years, Heather Dinich of ESPN.com found that the SEC has nearly doubled up the ACC in terms of signed studs. Why the disparity? First, SEC schools simply have better tradition than ACC schools. And, yes, that’s a generality. Florida State, Clemson, Miami, Virginia Tech… those are viewed as top football programs. But the SEC has had five different schools win BCS titles since 1998 and five league teams in a row have captured that flag. In terms of reputation, SEC coaches simply have more to sell to recruits than ACC coaches. Lop off Florida, Georgia and South Carolina and the remaining states in the SEC footprint produced 262 NFL draftees over the last 10 years. The states remaining in the ACC footprint produced 180. Keeping things in general terms, that suggests the top eight teams in the SEC are landing one more pro prospect per year — every year — than the eight best programs in the ACC. Yes, that’s oversimplified, but the fact remains, the SEC has more tradition and a better talent base, no matter how you slice it. [See More] [...]