02-06-2015, 05:17 PM
I have looked over the B'ham NEWS Sports section for Friday Feb. 6th which lists high school football recruits who signed with colleges on Wednesday's NSD.
The 14 SEC schools classes were listed, of course with AU and UA separate. Of the 24 signees for Bama, 6 were from Alabama public high schools (+1 from 2014). Of the 26 signees for Auburn, 4 were from Alabama public high schools (-1 from 2014). Miss State signed 5 from Alabama public high schools (same as 2014) and South Carolina signed two. The other 10 SEC schools signed ZERO from Alabama's public high schools.
That means that if one takes out the 10 signed by Bama and Auburn, who are politically pressured to sign at least a token number from their home state, you have seven signed by the SEC schools out of approx. 300 signed by SEC teams that day. If you INCLUDE the two state schools, you get 17 out of 350, hardly a rousingly cheerful number. Today's Alabama's public high schools have become the recruiting hotbed for D2, D3 and lesser divisions of football playing schools.
On page 33 the statewide signees were listed (including the 17 SEC signed players) by their high schools. Of the hundreds (perhaps thousands) of senior public high school players across the state, a total of 43 were signed by D1 schools from several states across America.
Apparently, as long as our D1 schools can bring in top rated players from the better financed programs in other states (many due to gaming profits), our fans won't care where they come from as long as their team wins. But for now, Alabama's reputation as a high school football powerhouse is equivalent to B'ham's former boast as the "Football Capitol of the South".
This is the second year that these numbers have run in this pattern. To me the message is that leading the nation in cutting per pupil public school funding since 2008 apparently has had a negative effect on its athletic programs as well as its academic ones. Only a few of the state's 133 districts (and a few private schools) can afford the programs to develop the "impact" players the D1 schools are seeking. They are therefore looking in other states than Alabama for the players they need - including our own D1 state universities (Troy-7; USA-5). BTW, UAB signed only 4 from state public schools on Feb.5, 2014.
ADD ON: NEWS had a list of leading QB recruits for AU and UA in today's (WED, 2/11/15) paper. Out of the ten (5 each school) QBs listed ZERO were from Alabama. The trend just keeps rolling on. Have you bought your GA, TN, or FL lottery tickets yet? Got to keep those football factory high schools in other states funded so our state's universities can bring them in to win NCs..
The 14 SEC schools classes were listed, of course with AU and UA separate. Of the 24 signees for Bama, 6 were from Alabama public high schools (+1 from 2014). Of the 26 signees for Auburn, 4 were from Alabama public high schools (-1 from 2014). Miss State signed 5 from Alabama public high schools (same as 2014) and South Carolina signed two. The other 10 SEC schools signed ZERO from Alabama's public high schools.
That means that if one takes out the 10 signed by Bama and Auburn, who are politically pressured to sign at least a token number from their home state, you have seven signed by the SEC schools out of approx. 300 signed by SEC teams that day. If you INCLUDE the two state schools, you get 17 out of 350, hardly a rousingly cheerful number. Today's Alabama's public high schools have become the recruiting hotbed for D2, D3 and lesser divisions of football playing schools.
On page 33 the statewide signees were listed (including the 17 SEC signed players) by their high schools. Of the hundreds (perhaps thousands) of senior public high school players across the state, a total of 43 were signed by D1 schools from several states across America.
Apparently, as long as our D1 schools can bring in top rated players from the better financed programs in other states (many due to gaming profits), our fans won't care where they come from as long as their team wins. But for now, Alabama's reputation as a high school football powerhouse is equivalent to B'ham's former boast as the "Football Capitol of the South".
This is the second year that these numbers have run in this pattern. To me the message is that leading the nation in cutting per pupil public school funding since 2008 apparently has had a negative effect on its athletic programs as well as its academic ones. Only a few of the state's 133 districts (and a few private schools) can afford the programs to develop the "impact" players the D1 schools are seeking. They are therefore looking in other states than Alabama for the players they need - including our own D1 state universities (Troy-7; USA-5). BTW, UAB signed only 4 from state public schools on Feb.5, 2014.
ADD ON: NEWS had a list of leading QB recruits for AU and UA in today's (WED, 2/11/15) paper. Out of the ten (5 each school) QBs listed ZERO were from Alabama. The trend just keeps rolling on. Have you bought your GA, TN, or FL lottery tickets yet? Got to keep those football factory high schools in other states funded so our state's universities can bring them in to win NCs..