A Coach's Perspective: Strength in Numbers

     If there is any truth to the old adage that theres strength in
numbers, college football programs in warm weather states California and
Texas are at a distinct advantage when recruiting home-grown, high school
football talent.

     In the 2007 Texas high school football season, 161,503 boys played
football with 1,050 high schools.  In California, 1053 high schools fielded
108,153 football players.  In contrast, two Midwest states known for
quality high school football fielded many less players.  In Ohio, 727 high
school football programs included 52,908 players.  In Michigan, 630 high
school football programs dressed 46,395 players.  So, Ohio and Michigan
fielded 50-60,000 fewer high school football players than California and
100-115,000 fewer high school football players than Texas.  If you are
wondering about Florida high school football and its numbers.. 509 Florida
high schools fielded 36,101 football players in 2007.

     When recruiting high school football talent, Coach Brown at Texas and
Coach Carroll of USC enjoy fishing in much larger, home-state ponds than
Coach Tressel at Ohio State and Coach Rodriquez at Michigan.  Oh, by the
way, havent the cold weather colleges (Ohio State & Michigan) struggled
when playing the warm weather (Texas & USC) programs?

     Interestingly enough, there are 10 D.1 college football programs in
Texas; 7 D.1 programs in California; 7 D.1 programs in Ohio; and 7 D.1
programs in Michigan.

     One last tidbit.. In the recent NFL draft of college talent, if you
would track the 256 draftees and the high schools from which they
graduated, you would discover that:
                        -39 NFL 2009 draftees played at Texas high schools
                        -28 played at California high schools
                        -17 played at Florida high schools
                        -16 draftees played at Ohio high Schools.

These were the top four states throughout the country, and they prepped 100
NFL draftees this past April.

     In the next newsletter, I will speculate about other advantages that
college football programs in Texas and California may have over their
Midwest counterparts.   Your thoughts??????

Al Gizzi     
Berea, Ohio