clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

SEC Football Recruiting Trends SEC West

A look at out-of-state recruiting trends for the SEC West programs Ole Miss, Arkansas, Texas A&M, and LSU between 2004-2014. Part deux of a four part series.

If you buy something from an SB Nation link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

Steve Dykes-USA TODAY Sports

This is the second installment in a four part series that will attempt to measure the quantity and quality of OOS recruits for every SEC football program between the 2004-2014 signing classes. Some variables - such as coaching changes, programmatic success/failure, and increased/decreased competition - will be highlighted to demonstrate their impact.

Part One examined Alabama, Auburn, and Mississippi State.

Note: For simplification, an attempt was made to filter out JUCO and military academy transfers from the results, and only high school senior signees (not necessarily qualifiers) were counted. Additionally, Rivals ratings were used until the 2010 Class at which point the 247 composite ranking became available.

For complete OOS tallies of the below teams click here.


Ole Miss

Year

Total Signees

Total OOS

%

OOS 4*

OOS 5*

2004

25

10

40

-

-

2005

28

21

75

2

-

2006

30

13

43

2

1

2007

22

13

60

4

-

2008

31

18

58

-

-

2009

37

27

73

5

-

2010

27

15

55

-

-

2011

26

8

31

-

-

2012

18

11

61

-

-

2013

29

17

59

3

3

2014

25

8

32

1

-

Initial Impressions:

  • 2005 is the first recruiting class from Ed Orgeron and it looks very different from Cutcliffe's last class. Many of Orgeron's OOS signees were two star recruits, but he did manage to sign his fair share of blue chips in three classes.
  • Coming from USC, Orgeron had the connections to sign six California recruits in his three classes. He actually signed more from the West Coast if we were counting JUCO's for this exercise.
  • The Houston Nutt years saw more signees from Georgia and Florida. Recruiting in Florida was led by assistant Chris Vaughn who graduated from Godby HS. Little surprise so many recruits came from the Tallahassee area.
  • Nutt also expanded Ole Miss recruiting into Texas, Maryland, and Illinois which is something Hugh Freeze has continued.
  • I thought I'd see more Tennessee signees from Freeze, but there hasn't been an appreciable uptick yet. Freeze has continued the success of signing players out of Georgia. The departure of assistant Wesley McGriff, after helping Ole Miss sign it's top ten class in 2013, hasn't slowed Ole Miss down too much in Georgia yet.
  • The commits for 2015 appear to fall along similar lines as Freeze's previous classes.
Arkansas

Year

Total Signees

Total OOS

%

OOS 4*

OOS 5*

2004

32

14


44


-

-

2005

24

13


54


2

-

2006

26


16


62


-

-

2007

27


13


48


1

-

2008

26


11


42


1

-

2009

32


18


56


3

-

2010

25


16


64

1

-

2011

32


16


50

1

-

2012

23


17


74

3

-

2013

23


10


43


1

-

2014

25


16


64


3

-

  • It's interesting to compare the Nutt time at Arkansas to his time at Ole Miss. Georgia recruiting was still successful, but Florida recruiting was not. I suspect this has something to do with not having Chris Vaughn on staff at Arkansas.
  • Nutt did have success signing recruits out of Texas.
  • Petrino has a bad recruiting reputation, but going off this chart he was a far superior recruiter than Nutt. Petrino continued Arkansas' presence in Texas, but also succeeded in diversifying Arkansas' recruiting geography. Petrino had specific success in Oklahoma.
  • Bielema's presence hasn't been followed by an uptick in Midwest recruiting, but he has displayed an ability to sign highly-ranked offensive linemen from places like Hawai'i and Minnesota. Neither state is the typical origin of Arkansas football players.
  • Bielema has had more success in Florida than either of his forbearers, specifically the Miami area.  
Texas A&M

Year

Total Signees

Total OOS

%

OOS 4*

OOS 5*

2004

28

2

7

-

-

2005

25

2

8

-

-

2006

23

2

9

-

-

2007

18

2

11

-

-

2008

24

2

4

-

-

2009

28

1

7

1

-

2010

24

2

17

-

-

2011

21

4

29

1

-

2012

19

3

16

-

-

2013

32

5

15

2

-

2014

21

4

19

-

2

  • With its large population of FBS-bound recruits Texas A&M has been able to be more insular than North Korea. I wonder if prior to Sumlin's arrival OOS recruits didn't want to play for A&M, and these days A&M can afford to not even bother with most of them?
  • The vast majority of OOS signees has come from Louisiana for the last ten years.
LSU

Year

Total Signees

Total OOS

%

OOS 4*

OOS 5*

2004

26

10

38

4

1

2005

13

5

38

2

-

2006

26

13

50

4

-

2007

26

14

54

10

1

2008

26

11

42

4

1

2009

24

10

42

5

2

2010

29

11

38

5

-

2011

23

6

26

2

-

2012

23

7

30

4

-

2013

26

11

42

7

-

2014

25

10

40

3

2

  • LSU's success rivals that of Auburn and Alabama, so it's little surprise that they recruit and develop at the same level.
  • What was surprising to me was how little OOS recruiting LSU does compared to Auburn and Alabama. It is a prestigious program too, but remarkably can rely on recruiting within a low population state. These kids are also growing up in a state with a single football power.
  • The majority of OOS recruits come from Texas as one probably imagines. Recent years have seen successful forays into the Midwest and The Plains States.