One, if you are relying on just local recruiting, we are dead in the water. Two, CR has made BC, Cuse, and Rutgers much more attractive than UCONN. UCONN is at a far disadvantage to any P5 eastern school.
Maybe ... but the point is that Tulane, Houston, and SMU are much less attractive than Texas, A&M, Baylor, TCU, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, LSU, Ole Miss, Miss State, and Alabama. UCF and USF are much less attractive than Florida, FSU, Miami, Georgia, Ga Tech, Alabama, Auburn, South Carolina, Clemson. and so on. I like our chances to compete BC, Cuse, and Rutgers more than the southern AAC schools to compete with those.
Our recruiting area is not football-player-rich but it is athlete rich and it is not as well scouted or recruited as other parts of the country. There is room for local football to grow.
We're talking about winning the AAC here, not being better than BC, Cuse, and Rutgers. It's a doable target. UConn has by far the best facilities in the AAC. It has the biggest brand. It should be able to outcompete the AAC.