LeMoyneCuse
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It was raised on another thread that all teams start roster construction and get specific skill sets from outside areas. It got me thinking - is this true? Is there a standard template for how to build a team?
I aggregated 2023 rosters - including name, position, and hometown - for all ACC teams, plus Notre Dame, Maryland, Rutgers, Penn State, and West Virginia. I then calculated as-the-crow-flies distance from hometown to the city their college is in using Excel. I organized the results into 3 buckets - 100 miles or less from home (Backyard Guys), 100 - 300 miles from home guys (One Tank of Gas Guys), and 300 Miles + (Long Distance Guys). Arbitrary, sure, but it's all subjective.
A few things stood out to me:
- Not surprisingly, Syracuse had the fewest players of the bunch from within 100 miles of campus. But Florida State (!?) and Virginia Tech also had few close-to-campus recruits. It makes sense when you think about it - Tallahassee and Blacksburg / Roanoke aren't huge population centers, and like Syracuse, they're both multiple hours from larger metros.
- 69% of Notre Dame's players come from 300+ miles from campus. BC comes in at 64%. While Syracuse has the fourth most long-distance players (58%), that's no different from Florida State or Louisville (Both 56%). And 54% of Miami's, MIAMI, squad came from more than 300 miles away.
- The team with the most localized rosters, Rutgers (68% 100 miles or less) and Maryland (59% 100 miles or less) went 7-6 in 2023. The three teams with the most players from far away (Notre Dame, Duke, BC) all posted winning records. At least in 2023, then, it's safe to say that there's no correlation between where players call home and winning.
- In general, there's no standard template of how to recruit - each team acquires talent as they seem fit and proximity to campus is not a huge factor for everyone.
Full results here and active Excel table attached.
I aggregated 2023 rosters - including name, position, and hometown - for all ACC teams, plus Notre Dame, Maryland, Rutgers, Penn State, and West Virginia. I then calculated as-the-crow-flies distance from hometown to the city their college is in using Excel. I organized the results into 3 buckets - 100 miles or less from home (Backyard Guys), 100 - 300 miles from home guys (One Tank of Gas Guys), and 300 Miles + (Long Distance Guys). Arbitrary, sure, but it's all subjective.
A few things stood out to me:
- Not surprisingly, Syracuse had the fewest players of the bunch from within 100 miles of campus. But Florida State (!?) and Virginia Tech also had few close-to-campus recruits. It makes sense when you think about it - Tallahassee and Blacksburg / Roanoke aren't huge population centers, and like Syracuse, they're both multiple hours from larger metros.
- 69% of Notre Dame's players come from 300+ miles from campus. BC comes in at 64%. While Syracuse has the fourth most long-distance players (58%), that's no different from Florida State or Louisville (Both 56%). And 54% of Miami's, MIAMI, squad came from more than 300 miles away.
- The team with the most localized rosters, Rutgers (68% 100 miles or less) and Maryland (59% 100 miles or less) went 7-6 in 2023. The three teams with the most players from far away (Notre Dame, Duke, BC) all posted winning records. At least in 2023, then, it's safe to say that there's no correlation between where players call home and winning.
- In general, there's no standard template of how to recruit - each team acquires talent as they seem fit and proximity to campus is not a huge factor for everyone.
Full results here and active Excel table attached.
Team | % 100 Miles or Less | % 101 - 300 Miles | % 301+ Miles | 2023 Record |
Notre Dame | 14% | 18% | 69% | 10-3 |
Duke | 10% | 24% | 66% | 8-5 |
BC | 16% | 20% | 64% | 7-6 |
Syracuse | 6% | 36% | 58% | 6-7 |
Florida State | 10% | 34% | 56% | 13-1 |
Louisville | 23% | 21% | 56% | 10-4 |
Miami | 33% | 13% | 54% | 7-6 |
UVA | 33% | 14% | 53% | 3-9 |
Wake Forest | 18% | 36% | 46% | 4-8 |
Pitt | 27% | 28% | 46% | 3-9 |
WVU | 9% | 48% | 42% | 9-4 |
UNC | 25% | 34% | 41% | 8-5 |
VTech | 11% | 50% | 39% | 7-6 |
NC State | 33% | 35% | 32% | 9-4 |
Clemson | 36% | 35% | 28% | 9-4 |
Maryland | 59% | 13% | 28% | 7-6 |
Penn State | 11% | 64% | 25% | 10-3 |
Rutgers | 68% | 9% | 23% | 7-6 |
Georgia Tech | 59% | 22% | 20% | 7-6 |