The South keeps 91 percent of its top football recruits home, more than any other region

How each part of the country compares at producing elite high school players and hanging onto them for their college careers.

I split the country into five regions and found where the top 100 247Sports Composite recruits in each of the past five recruiting classes are from. Then I looked at which region each player went to for college.

It's no secret that the best high school football players are in the South. And even though there's a surplus of talent, most it stays right at home. A whopping 91 percent of Southern stars stay within their region for college, with 66 percent going to SEC schools.

While the West Coast isn't quite as loaded, it also keeps a ton of its top-100 blue-chips nearby for college. Eighty percent from the West go to Western schools, likely due to geography. While players in other regions have many options semi-close to home, the Pac-12 is so isolated that it has a big advantage over other conferences for schools in its region.

But players don't always stay in their native regions. The SEC has done a good job pulling stars from the Midwest, East Coast and Southwest, the latter partly due to the addition of Texas A&M. Notre Dame gets a substantial number of players from every region, in many cases beating out entire conferences, thanks to its national brand.

Region	Number of top-100 recruits	Percent of top 100
South	226	45%
West	86	17%
Southwest	70	14%
Midwest	62	12%
East Coast	55	11%
Canada	1

As for conferences themselves, the SEC took more than twice as many top-100 recruits as any other conference, with the Pac-12 making up a little ground.

Conference	Number of top-100 recruits	Percent of top 100
SEC	198	40%
Pac-12	90	18%
ACC	79	16%
Big Ten	67	13%
Big 12	43	9%
Notre Dame	21	4%
American	1
Mountain West	1

The South has more elite players, so the SEC should get more of them. But players in different regions have different tendencies. Some stay home, but others choose to leave for better opportunities elsewhere.

Region	% Stay	% Leave
South	91%	9%
West	80%	20%
Midwest	77%	23%
Southwest	60%	40%
East Coast	35%	65%

While the South's SEC and ACC teams have a distinct advantage, the region's also able to keep recruits at home at a higher percentage. Western teams also keep elite recruits at home.

Midwestern teams have generally been able to keep other top programs out, while the Southwest is heavily recruited by the entire country. The East Coast — home to mostly middling teams in the ACC and Big Ten — has only kept elite recruits home 35 percent of the time.

Where top recruits from each region go

East Coast

Conference	Percent of top-100 recruits
ACC	33%
Big Ten	29%
SEC	16%
Notre Dame	9%
Pac-12	9%
Big 12	4%

Midwest

Conference	Percent of top-100 recruits
Big Ten	61%
SEC	23%
Notre Dame	8%
Big 12	5%
ACC	2%
Pac-12	2%

South

Conference	Percent of top-100 recruits
SEC	66%
ACC	26%
Pac-12	4%
Big Ten	2%
Notre Dame	2%
Big 12	1%

Southwest

Conference	Percent of top-100 recruits
Big 12	47%
SEC	29%
Pac-12	10%
Big Ten	9%
ACC	3%
Mountain West	1%
Notre Dame	1%

West

Conference	Percent of top-100 recruits
Pac-12	80%
SEC	7%
Notre Dame	6%
Big 12	3%
Big Ten	2%
American	1%

Where the best players in each state go

There are some surprises. Of Arizona's 10 top-100 recruits, none went to an Arizona school, while all 10 elite recruits in Mississippi went to a school in-state. As likely expected, Texas, USC, Alabama and Florida State dominated their in-state counterparts over the last five years.

The takeaway? Geography matters a lot in recruiting, but if you know where to go, you can steal some players who might be looking to play far away from home.

State	Top-100 recruits	By school (schools with one signee in a state unlisted, unless they're all that state has)
Alabama	24	Alabama 15, Auburn 5, Florida State 2
Arizona	10	Stanford 2, Texas A&M 2, UCLA 2
Arkansas	6	Arkansas 3, Alabama 2
California	58	USC 25, UCLA 7, Cal 4, Oregon 4, Stanford 4, Washington 3, Arizona State 2, Notre Dame 2, Oklahoma 2
Canada	1	Oklahoma
Colorado	1	Stanford
Connecticut	2	Clemson, UCLA
Florida	85	Florida State 22, Florida 14, Miami 11, Alabama 8, Clemson 8, Notre Dame 3, Ohio State 3, USC 3, Arkansas 1, Auburn 2, Georgia 2, Louisville 2, LSU 2, Stanford 2
Georgia	43	Georgia 18, Auburn 6, Alabama 4, Clemson 2, Ohio State 2, South Carolina 2
Hawaii	2	Oregon, Texas Tech
Idaho	1	Notre Dame
Illinois	12	LSU 2, Notre Dame 2, Ohio State 2
Indiana	5	Notre Dame 3
Iowa	2	Alabama, Iowa State
Kansas	2	Auburn, Oklahoma
Kentucky	3	Alabama, Louisville, Notre Dame
Louisiana	23	LSU 14, Alabama 6
Maryland	8	Alabama 2, Maryland 2
Michigan	10	Michigan 4, Michigan State 3, Ohio State 2
Minnesota	2	Minnesota, Ohio State
Mississippi	10	Ole Miss 7, Mississippi State 3
Missouri	7	Missouri 3
Nevada	1	Notre Dame
New Jersey	13	Notre Dame 3, Miami 2, Rutgers 2
New Mexico	1	Notre Dame
New York	3	Florida, Notre Dame, Ohio State
North Carolina	17	Clemson 4, Florida 3, Georgia 3, North Carolina 2, Tennessee 2
Ohio	22	Ohio State 16, Michigan 3
Oklahoma	5	Oklahoma 2
Oregon	3	Oregon 2
Pennsylvania	9	Pitt 2
South Carolina	6	South Carolina 3, Clemson 2
Tennessee	8	Tennessee 6
Texas	64	Texas 20, Texas A&M 10, Alabama 5, Baylor 5, LSU 3, Nebraska 3, Ohio State 3, Oklahoma 3, Oregon 2, UCLA 2
Utah	4	USC 2
Virginia	17	Virginia 5, Alabama 2, Florida State 2, Ohio State 2
Washington	6	Washington 3, USC 2
Washington, DC	4	Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Maryland

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