RE: Who should the Big Sky try to get for twelve.
Backing up SDHornet:
Montana Football roster has
34 Montana, 5 Idaho,
13 Washington, 8 Oregon
20 California, 7 Arizona, 3 Colorado players
They also have 5 from Oklahoma, 5 from elsewhere (Texas, Florida, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Tennessee)
// Oklahoma looks like a fluke influx of walk ons
After local kids from Montana and Idaho (39), the recruiting breaks down to 21 from the NW, 20 from CA, 10 from Southwest, 10 from elsewhere .
Nobody is from the Midwest region covered by the MVFC and SUmmit (save Denver and ORU)
For Northern Arizona
38 Arizona, 37 California, 7 other West (2 Utah, 2 Nevada, Colorado, Idaho, Oregon), 3 other (Germany, Texas, WV)
For Weber State
44 Utah, 17 California, Idaho 7, 3 Nevada, 2 Colorado, 2 Arizona, 2 Washington, 3 other (Texas, Virginia, Minnesota)
For Idaho State
29 Idaho, 20 Washington, 19 California, 4 Utah, 1 Nevada, 1 Oregon, 7 other (2 Georgia, Florida, .. 2 BYU transfers)
I think that is a good enough sampling. California is critical for the rosters of all the schools, and also for general students. What is interesting is well over 90% of the athletes are from the West. There South seems to be where many of the odd ones come from. But there is absolutely no cross pollination with the Midwest or Great Plains. These schools have almost zero contact with that region.
Now let's look at North Dakota's roster
26 Minnesota, 12 North Dakota, 11 Wisconsin, 5 Illinois, 3 Missouri, 2 Indiana, 1 Nebraska, 1 Michigan, 3 Canada
6 South (Alabama, Florida, Maryland, Louisiana, Texas), 1 other (Sweden)
4 Colorado, 3 California, 2 Washington
The impact of the Big Sky can be seen in the 9 Western players (4 are Colorado which is something of a 'tweener). But that is minimal, will likely vanish in MVFC.
There is barely a trace of overlap between UND and the Big Sky schools. No similarity in make up of the teams. The Big Sky circulates around Washington and California recruits. UND focuses on Minnesota, Wisconsin, and other Midwestern states.
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