Arkansas added 23 players from 9 different states on Wednesday and Thursday.  A breakdown of the Razorbacks’ “target zone” is below:

Arkansas = 7 recruits

Florida = 4

California = 3

Texas = 3

Kansas = 2

Colorado = 1

Georgia = 1

Hawaii = 1

New Jersey = 1

In-State Signees = 30.4%

Out-Of-State Signees = 69.5%

Observation:

Bret Bielema successfully locked down his state’s borders.  As a small state, Arkansas doesn’t produce a great deal of local prospects.  Those top players inside the state need to be held onto.  The Hogs signed seven in-state kids overall and they just happened to be seven of the eight highest-ranked players in the state.  Unfortunately, Alabama came in and grabbed the state’s top running back in Altee Tenpenny.  The bizarre signing of Alex Collins from Florida should help to make up for that loss.  Moving forward, let’s see if Bielema and crew are able to pull more kids from Texas and Oklahoma.

LSU added 27 players from 11 different states on Wednesday and Thursday.  A breakdown of the Tigers’ “target zone” is below:

Louisiana = 12 recruits

California = 2

Florida = 2

Georgia = 2

Mississippi = 2

North Carolina = 2

Illinois = 1

Nebraska = 1

New Jersey = 1

Tennessee = 1

Virginia = 1

In-State Signees = 44.4%

Out-Of-State Signees = 55.5%

Observation:

Aside from Nick Saban, is there anyone in the SEC who makes recruiting look this easy year-in and year-out?  Credit Saban for kickstarting the juggernaut on the Bayou, but Miles has continued to land just about any top Louisiana prospect he goes after.  This year he inked seven of the state’s top 10 recruits and it would have been eight if defensive back Jeremy Cutrer hadn’t had to go the juco route to qualify.  There’s nothing mad about Miles’ recruiting hat.  He wears it well.

No area of the country produces more NFL talent than the Southeast.  So it’s no wonder that SEC schools once again cherry-picked the best recruits from their own backyards on signing day.  But before we look at where all of this year’s signees came from, let’s first check out which SEC teams were able to stay closest to home.

Below you’ll find the 14 SEC programs ranked according to the percentage of homestate signees they inked yesterday.  This can be a little misleading because one school might reach for some lesser-ranked in-state prospects while another school might decide to chase better athletes outside its state’s borders.  Still, it’s interesting for the sake of comparison:

Below is the list of states that produced SEC signees this year, ranked from most to least:

Observations:

* More SEC signees came from Georgia than South Carolina, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, Ohio, California, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Kansas, Indiana, Arizona, New Jersey, Illinois, Michigan, Colorado and all of the other zero-signee states combined.

* Expect the number of signees from Texas to increase in 2013.  When coaches were making connections with players this time last year, Texas A&M was still looked like a Big 12 cornerstone.  SEC programs will focus much more on that state this year.  Just as more Texas athletes will pay attention to SEC games on television.

* It was a down year in Louisiana which impacted LSU’s signing class and resulted in the Pelican State producing just one more SEC signee than Tennessee.

* The number one non-SEC state for SEC talent?  North Carolina produced 10 SEC signees in 2012.  Ohio was next with five.

* Year-in, year-out, you can expect the staffs at Kentucky, Arkansas, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee and Vanderbilt to do more long-distance recruiting than their SEC brethren.  That doesn’t mean it can’t be done — witness Arkansas and Carolina now, Tennessee until the past decade — but it is a tougher slog.

That’s one reason SEC newcomer Missouri plans to send out mass “propaganda” to SEC-region high schools in “numbers you can’t imagine.”

1. There’s a perception that Florida’s football program is down right now.

2. 2013 quarterback prospect Cord Sandberg already has offers from SEC and ACC schools.

3. Defensive end JaMichael Winston explains why he committed to Arkansas.

4. SEC defensive end prospect Kenderius Whitehead plans to visit Clemson.

5. Baltimore receiver Deontay McManus will visit several schools despite his commitment to West Virginia.

6. One of the top basketball prospects in South Carolina is no longer considering the Gamecocks.

7. Here’s an update on two of the top prospects from Don Bosco Prep in New Jersey.

8. An AJC poll shows 75 percent of voters don’t like watching prospects commit at ceremonies.

Kevin Stallings’ Vanderbilt basketball team has signed up to play in the 2011 Legends Classic at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey this November.  Vandy, Texas, NC State and Oregon State will each host two games in their home arenas and then move on to the semifinals of the “tournament” which will be played in Jersey the weekend before Thanksgiving.

Vandy — as well as the other aforementioned schools — will all move on to Jersey regardless of the outcomes of the two games they’ll play on their home courts… so this isn’t a true tourney in the traditional sense.

Oh, for a publicity shot of Snookie kissing Stallings’ brilliant bald head.

South Carolina received commitments from quarterback Tanner McEvoy from Oradell High School and defensive back and Sheldon Royster from Jersey City High School in New Jersey.

McEvoy had also considered North Carolina while Royster chose South Carolina over Rutgers.

South Carolina has 30 commitments for the 2011 class.