(04-08-2022 01:31 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  Could this be because some of those rural Appalachian school districts are too small to sponsor 11 vs 11 football so their best athletes gravitate towards soccer, which needs a much smaller roster of say 15-18 kids?

Keep in mind the top talent in the nation for the most part isn't playing college ball anymore and is instead breaking through in MLS in their late teens or getting signed by European teams straight out of MLS academies. That is probably leveling the playing field with schools in more populated areas since MLS teams and their academies are all in large cities absorbing the top tier talent around them. Guys like Weston Mckennie in Dallas and Tyler Adams outside NYC got scouted by MLS at 11 years old and then spent their teenage years focused on becoming players capable of playing at the highest level internationally. (Which is what needs to happen to compete with Europe and South America since their top talent is also receiving professional level coaching at that age and often younger)

Also there are big name schools in hot bed areas for talent that don't even have men's soccer like Texas and Texas A&M so we're not seeing what those big name schools could do with the local talent that just missed out on being good enough for FC Dallas.