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Message: [QUOTE="SU94, post: 1651477, member: 202"] I agree with much of this. Some of this is semantics. What is a recruiting class' core? What is its foundation? With that said, how many schools can consistently win while recruiting a super majority (>60%) of its class consistently outside of a 4-6 hour radius from campus? I don't have the time right now to investigate, but I bet the schools that are can do this well (be successful = win big--9+ wins) are the usual suspects: Notre Dame (Golden Dome), Michigan (helmets, Big House), Ohio State (tradition, Urban), up north, perhaps Bama (Saban), Tennessee (weaker state for HS football), UNC (academics--haha/Nike), Duke (academics, private), Georgia Tech (academics, private) further south. Otherwise, most of the others are going to be getting their payloads from withing the 6-hour radius (I would think). (I just did a quick scan of UNC's class. They had about 10 of 26 players from outside the 6-hour radius. That was a quick count and I'd have to investigate some of the towns for kids from Georgia for it it to be more accurate, but Atlanta is within the 6 hours there). From my shoes, it is imperative that, [B]over time[/B], SU and D.Babers to learn to fish in (what will eventually be) familiar waters. I don't think it is unreasonable to think that when his offense invariably takes off and we are ascending/winning with some consistency, that 40-50% of our recruits come from NYS, New England, Pennsylvania and/or New Jersey. To me, this is the best path to sustainability. Let's remember, D.Babers will not be our HC forever (and this is why the transition from Coach Mac to Coach P was well executed and [U]most[/U] of our HC hires since have involved nearly starting over with the recruiting contacts and territories). But I also understand why D.Babers did not invest a lot of time toward this in his initial 2 months as SU's head coach. And it was smart to postpone that relationship building process. [/QUOTE]

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