Rivals Top 100 High School Football Players

Another football list in the spring; I love it.

Rivals just released their Top 100 senior-to-be high school football players for the 2011 season. Just for fun I broke down the recruits listed per state, per power conferences dominating said state, and total number of recruits committed to date.

Total number of recruits per state and total per power conference:

ACC – 10 recruits in region

North Carolina 4

Virginia 3

Maryland 2

Washington DC 1

Big East – 4 recruits in region

New Jersey 3

New York 1

Big 12 – 16 recruits in region

Texas 14

Missouri 2

Oklahoma 0

Big 10 – 15 recruits in region

Ohio 7

Pennsylvania 3

Illinois 3

Michigan 1

Wisconsin 1

PAC 12 – 20 recruits in region

California 16

Arizona 2

Washington 2

SEC – 34 recruits in region

Florida* 18

Georgia 7

Alabama 4

Louisiana 2

South Carolina 1

Kentucky 1

Tennessee 1

Independent

Indiana** 1

* Florida is an overlapping region with the ACC. Since University of Florida has been the dominate team over the past 10 years I awarded the SEC the state of Florida.

**Even though there are two Big-10 teams in the state of Indiana (Purdue and University of Indiana), I awarded Notre Dame Indiana. Not that any of the three schools have been very successful over the past… when did Lou Holtz leave Notre Dame?

Total number of recruits (31) that have already orally committed and to said team:

University of Texas 7

Florida State 5

University of Southern California 3

LSU 2

Notre Dame 2

Stanford 2

Ohio State 1

Alabama 1

Texas A&M 1

University of California 1

University of Florida 1

Oklahoma State 1

Penn State 1

Auburn 1

Michigan 1

Wisconsin 1

There are few surprises on the recruiting lists once I had a chance to look everything over. Here’s what I noticed:

Texas always does a good job of jumping on in-state players early. This year being no different as they have 7 of the 14 in-state players listed committed. I guess Mack Brown's first losing season at Texas has not dampened any enthusiasm for the program. Texas A&M and Oklahoma State have grabbed verbal commitments from two different Texas recruits; Barry Sanders son has committed to OSU.

I was surprised that FSU has already grabbed 5 early commitments. With Urban Myer gone, the state of Florida is wide open again… for now.

Notre Dame’s name is so big they can still grab 2 players even though they have not had a successful program in years. At least those players are getting a great education. If Notre Dame can do it, why can’t Duke?

Mississippi and Oklahoma have 0 Top 100 recruits in state. OU always pulls well from the state of Texas and they will have to double their efforts this year. Typically each state has at least one top recruit. Mississippi schools can always pull from the junior college ranks if needed.

Missouri has two Top 100 recruits in state, including the #1 player.

Westlake Village high school (Los Angeles, in the valley) has 2 recruits from the same school.

Taft and Notre Dame high school (LA valley schools) didn’t have a recruit listed. They always have at least one recruit per school.

Will Ohio State be able to keep all 7 in-state players? Time will tell if further NCAA infractions are found by OSU, their players, and/or boosters. The sharks have to be swimming in the warm recruiting waters of Ohio this spring.

Oregon has no early recruits committed out of the Top 100. I’m sure Kelly and his coaches have hit the recruiting trail hard but I’m surprised that a NCAA runner-up finish has not netted them one top recruit. If Oregon hopes to keep USC at arms length, they will have to take some of the top players out of the state of California. It appears that USC is on their way to rebuilding what Pete and Bush left in shambles… grrr!

Just to clarify, even though 31 total recruits have already committed to a school, these commitments are nonbinding. This list could change dramatically by mid November, as there’s a lot of football to be played this fall. I look forward to seeing the final outcome in February when players sign their letter of intent.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/footballrecruiting/football/recruiting/rankings/rank-2867