The Tri-State Area Produces Football Talent

[UConnJim]

I'm sick of hearing people saying the Northeast does not produce football talent relative to other areas of the country. This is a huge misconception which holds UConn back when it comes to Conference Realignment. There is more than enough local football talent to produce a consistent winner.

Look at the tri-state region. For the non-locals, that is NY/NJ/CT. On opening day NFL rosters, there were 108 players that played high school football in the tri-state area. This area would be the #5 ranked state in the country behind only Florida (239), California (220), Texas (214), and Georgia (119), but ahead of Ohio (94), Alabama (68), Pennsylvania (68), Louisiana (62), North Carolina (60), South Carolina (57), Virginia (50), Michigan (49)...Oklahoma (18), Kansas (15), Iowa (14), West Virginia (2).

There is a ton of talent in the Northeast, but the high school talent isn't as developed as some other areas of the country, so the kids don't get high recruiting rankings. But, a high number of kids make it to the NFL. There is plenty of talent in the tri-state region for UConn to compete in a P5 conference with local talent. The key is to convince the kids to stay close to home.

 

[huskymedic]

You can play more w/ the data here... Mapping Every 2016 FBS College Football Player's Hometown

 

[JMick]

There is a ton of talent in the Northeast, but the high school talent isn't as developed as some other areas of the country, so the kids don't get high recruiting rankings. But, a high number of kids make it to the NFL. There is plenty of talent in the tri-state region for UConn to compete in a P5 conference with local talent. The key is to convince the kids to stay close to home.

Honestly they're not even less developed. They're just less scouted. A bunch of the top kids end up going to college for lacrosse, too.

 

[timdawg]

I'm sick of hearing people saying the Northeast does not produce football talent relative to other areas of the country. This is a huge misconception which holds UConn back when it comes to Conference Realignment. There is more than enough local football talent to produce a consistent winner.

Look at the tri-state region. For the non-locals, that is NY/NJ/CT. On opening day NFL rosters, there were 108 players that played high school football in the tri-state area. This area would be the #5 ranked state in the country behind only Florida (239), California (220), Texas (214), and Georgia (119), but ahead of Ohio (94), Alabama (68), Pennsylvania (68), Louisiana (62), North Carolina (60), South Carolina (57), Virginia (50), Michigan (49)...Oklahoma (18), Kansas (15), Iowa (14), West Virginia (2).

There is a ton of talent in the Northeast, but the high school talent isn't as developed as some other areas of the country, so the kids don't get high recruiting rankings. But, a high number of kids make it to the NFL. There is plenty of talent in the tri-state region for UConn to compete in a P5 conference with local talent. The key is to convince the kids to stay close to home.

I think people like to break things down by state, without realizing how disproportionate state sizes are. CA is 32 times the size of CT. TX is 48.5 times the size of CT. So for every 10 FBS level players that we produce, they should be easily producing way more

 

[Marty Jackson]

I think people like to break things down by state, without realizing how disproportionate state sizes are. CA is 32 times the size of CT. TX is 48.5 times the size of CT. So for every 10 FBS level players that we produce, they should be easily producing way more

I think you need to look at population, not land mass. Alaska isn't producing more than Texas.

 

[Marty Jackson]

I'm sick of hearing people saying the Northeast does not produce football talent relative to other areas of the country. This is a huge misconception which holds UConn back when it comes to Conference Realignment. There is more than enough local football talent to produce a consistent winner.

Look at the tri-state region. For the non-locals, that is NY/NJ/CT. On opening day NFL rosters, there were 108 players that played high school football in the tri-state area. This area would be the #5 ranked state in the country behind only Florida (239), California (220), Texas (214), and Georgia (119), but ahead of Ohio (94), Alabama (68), Pennsylvania (68), Louisiana (62), North Carolina (60), South Carolina (57), Virginia (50), Michigan (49)...Oklahoma (18), Kansas (15), Iowa (14), West Virginia (2).

There is a ton of talent in the Northeast, but the high school talent isn't as developed as some other areas of the country, so the kids don't get high recruiting rankings. But, a high number of kids make it to the NFL. There is plenty of talent in the tri-state region for UConn to compete in a P5 conference with local talent. The key is to convince the kids to stay close to home.

I agree, nobody wants to give ct football credit. But is the tri-state area dominated by NJ?

 

[UConnJim]

I agree, nobody wants to give ct football credit. But is the tri-state area dominated by NJ?

Ct = 17. NY = 32. NJ = 58. Actually the total is 107 not 108. And there are only 4 FBS schools in the trip-state area.

 

[mavblues]

Ct = 17. NY = 32. NJ = 58. Actually the total is 107 not 108. And there are only 4 FBS schools in the trip-state area.

And none of those are in NJ.

 

[JMick]

And none of those are in NJ.

....?

 

[ramses 2.0]

But it's not really a apples to apples comparison. NFL scouts have the benefit of 3-5 years of additional development while college coaches are projecting still developing talent. It's a enact science & any coach that wants to stay employed long term is going to focus their recruiting in areas that produce the most talent

 

[billybud]

With all of that available talent...why are not Rutgers and UConn known football powers?

....lack of recruiting that talent?

.....having some of that talent...but not enough spread across the roster?

 

[Marty Jackson]

With all of that available talent...why are not Rutgers and UConn known football powers?

....lack of recruiting that talent?

.....having some of that talent...but not enough spread across the roster?

Fair questions....
I think the choice of penn state or Rutgers didn't bode well for Rutgers. That has since changed. Uconn still has the G5 issue.

i wonder if it also has to do with kids in the northeast involved with multiple sports and not as dedicated to football. Some kids might go in a different direction because their are other options.

Whatever the reason, NJ is definitely a known recruiting hot bed. Not fl or tx, but pretty high up despite the 'kids don't play football in the northeast' stigma.

Ct gets a few but just doesn't have the population of ny or nj.

 

[UConnJim]

With all of that available talent...why are not Rutgers and UConn known football powers?

....lack of recruiting that talent?

.....having some of that talent...but not enough spread across the roster?

Great question! I think there are a number of reasons including:

1) Relatively short history at the highest level for UConn and somewhat for Rutgers.
2) Lack of investment in football over the years. Programs were late to upgrade facilities and haven't paid up for top coaches.
3) Average to below average coaching hires over the years. Relates to #2.
4) Kids inthe tri-state have tended to go to schools outside the tri-state.
5) The Northeast high schools have not been offensive innovators leading to fewer highly developed QBs.

All of these factors can be overcome, but you need a committed university and creative AD.

 

[Adios]

UConn is obviously working hard to fence in CT and succeeding to a good extent.

 

[huskymedic]

With all of that available talent...why are not Rutgers and UConn known football powers?

....lack of recruiting that talent?

.....having some of that talent...but not enough spread across the roster?

UConn = AAC

 

[Ldandy]

There definitely is 1A talent in CT, NY and especially NJ, just less off it than in The South, with plenty of schools competing for it. For top talent you see competition between PSU, UM, OSU, and ND regionally, as well as from other national programs looking to cherry pick the top players from outside of their area.

Getting into this competition is not easy and not for the faint of heart. Schiano did it for one season(2011) at RU, but he could never replicate that success again. While there is still enough talent for Uconn, RU, Cuse and others to build the foundations of their programs, it would definitely be in these schools' best interests to look to FL, TX, GA and elsewhere to grab skill players that are plentiful in these states despite the number of programs already in those areas.

 

[upstater]

With all of that available talent...why are not Rutgers and UConn known football powers?

....lack of recruiting that talent?

.....having some of that talent...but not enough spread across the roster?

Look at the NFL. These 2 schools have 20+ players in the NFL, and in Rutgers's case, 30+

You are catching us at a bad time. We are not putting out the pros we did consistently for a decade. That pipeline ended a few years ago, and the same goes for Rutgers.

A study of NFL players and blue chips in college actually found that Connecticut outdoes New York state and Massachusetts on a per capita basis. UConn is in the 30-40 rank range of states, not in the bottom 10. It is on par with Wisconsin and places like that, behind New Jersey and Maryland, ahead of Iowa and Oregon.