SEC Football Recruiting Trends: UK, Vandy, and UT

This is the third 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.

Part Two examined Ole Miss, Arkansas, LSU, and Texas A&M.

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.

Initial Impressions:

• The state of Kentucky does not produce much FBS talent, so the lower the OOS ratio has usually correlated to a lower-rated signing class.
• Joker Phillips made it clear he wanted to emphasize recruiting. He fired a few of Rich Brooks' assistants after inheriting the head coach job, and replaced them with assistants primarily known for their recruiting abilities. Those fired assistants had helped to guide UK to three straight bowl games.
• Joker's redirected efforts resulted in UK's highest rated recruiting classes to date. However, the talent wasn't developed as it had under the previous regime, and the program lost the small foothold it had created for itself under Brooks.
• The single most important state for UK has traditionally been Georgia, but that's changing under Mark Stoops who has secured UK's highest recruiting rankings yet.
• Stoops has historical and familial ties to Ohio, while maintaining professional ties to Florida. Assistant coach Vince Marrow has arguably been Stoops most effective recruiter, and has made further impact in Ohio. Other young assistants are making limited headway in southern states.
• UK is now seeking to expand into the Mid-Atlantic, particularly the DMV area. UK has three commits from the area in the 2015 class.

• Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Texas have been important to Vanderbilt historically, though with its academic prestige it has signed recruits from 25 different states in the last ten years. That number is the highest of any program profiled yet in this series.
• James Franklin constricted Vandy's geographic footprint while improving the overall quality of signee. Under Franklin, Vandy signed a higher percentage of recruits from southern states.
• Franklin also signed a lower OOS % than Johnson did. That fact is likely explained by Vandy's increased success coupled with UT's down years, helping Vandy to make inroads with select in-state recruits.
• Franklin did sign four recruits from California in three classes which Derek Mason has matched in a single signing period. At other SEC programs profiled, in a new coach's first signing class there is usually a signee "bump" from the state they just arrived from.
• For example, Mark Stoops signed 9 recruits from FL (most ever in a single UK class), but the next signing class that number dropped by over half. Will Mason be able to continue to use California as a pipeline for talent years from now? Especially with an increasingly competitive Pac-12?
• Vandy's currently has 9 2015 commits ranging from 8 different states.
  

• Somewhat surprising to me, UT casts a wide net when it comes to recruiting, especially under Fulmer. In the last 10 signing classes, UT surpasses Auburn and Alabama and ties Vanderbilt for signing recruits from the most states.
• Unlike Vandy, UT did not have academic prestige to sell so this suggests the possibility that UT was a national brand in the early-aughts. For example, UT has a history of regularly signing California prep talent in addition to their strong presence in California JUCOs.
• The geographic footprint has constricted a bit since Fulmer, while remaining diverse compared to most other SEC programs. It constricted the most under Dooley who signed more recruits out of Georgia and Florida than other recent UT coaches.
• Jones' recruiting sees the majority of its recruits from the south, but he's also has had success in Illinois and Ohio, areas he previously had ties to. Jones' staff has also had initial success in the Carolinas.
• The 2015 class with its 23 commits looks to have several recruits from Georgia, and a few from Florida, Texas, and North Carolina along with one legacy from California.