No doubt. KY certainly has the D1 players, but the "lower level" (non BCS conference talent) usually elects to go out of state rather than EKU or WKU. I guess the question would be why?

Your right. That is the question. Why do they choose another school?

I would be interested to see if any other college in America did not receive a single player from the state in which the college was located.

 

In a single class like WKU? I'm sure there are plenty. First and foremost, some have uneven classes and take a small number of players. Second, think of places like Maine (where hockey is king). I'm sure they have to go out of state to find D1 talent in most cases. I'd be interested to see the numbers too if you can find them.

Simple math and logic. Let's say there are 50 D1 players in KY and 500 in FLA. The top 10 are taken by the "major" in state schools. 20-30 gone from KY, approx. 50-60 from Florida. If half of the remaining players leave and go to out of state schools that leaves 10 left in KY and 220 left in FLA. Thus, your chances of landing one of said "leftover" recruits are much higher in FLA. Not to mention things like overall talent gap, quality of football in the state, etc. Simply put, there are better leftovers in states like FLA and TX than in KY. It is how schools like Texas A&M, USF, UCF, etc. have managed to field quality football teams despite playing 4th or lower fiddle in their own state.

 

I understand that. What I'm saying is that the level of football player coming out of GA or Fl will be comparable to that coming from KY as the KY player is much more likely to be passed over by schools outside our state than a player from GA or Fl will have when there are so many schools recruiting those states. Those kids, I would assume, receive more exposure than kids here do. So, if every other school in the Eastern US has passed them over before they to WKU, then I would believe that those coaches saw something that they didn't like, or the kids aren't of a level far and above the players from KY who may have only been scouted by coaches w/in the state. I hope that that makes sense. What I'm trying to get at is that WKU isn't getting blue chippers, the players that they get may not be head and shoulders better than the players that they could land out of KY.

I will have to give WKU a pass for this season. I have always felt that WKU did a great job recruiting the state of KY. Maybe they had some bad luck with getting commitments this year or something. Now if it happens on a consistent basis, I would be disgruntled. I would say that WKU is trying to up their speed, thus going south. There is little question that the southern states has much more speed then the schools in KY

I've always felt that since we citizens of Kentucky pay taxes for these scholarship athletes to these state colleges, we should see some Kentucky boys benefiting from our taxes. I mean I guess I could send a check to Florida.

I will have to give WKU a pass for this season. I have always felt that WKU did a great job recruiting the state of KY. Maybe they had some bad luck with getting commitments this year or something. Now if it happens on a consistent basis, I would be disgruntled. I would say that WKU is trying to up their speed, thus going south. There is little question that the southern states has much more speed then the schools in KY

 

After talking with Elson today, I'm inclined to be similarly sympathetic. I haven't checked it against the roster posted online, but he said they have 32 kids from Kentucky on scholarship, and another 17 on the roster. He said they "combed the state" and the overall level of talent (that they need to be able to compete in the Sun Belt) in the state was down from recent years, and that the guys they would like to have had ended up opting for elsewhere.

After talking with Elson today, ......... He said they "combed the state" and the overall level of talent (that they need to be able to compete in the Sun Belt) in the state was down from recent years, and that the guys they would like to have had ended up opting for elsewhere.

 

I can't agree with the first bold statement. Kentucky has some great talent out there. I would guess some BGP members could pick quite a few players that are going to lesser colleges (level-wise) and find some some misses on WKU' part.

 

The second bold statement put the caveat on the first bold - Colleges don't recruit every position every year. I realize they are sometimes loaded with linemen, or d-backs, etc. I also realize they recruit for depth (picking up 2-3 QB's in any year to make sure they have a capable backup). The other part of this is they can't look at these players in detail - which is why I think a lot of colleges rely on: 1) minimum dimensions (height, wing span, etc.); 2) minimum speed (skill positions primarily); 3) coaches recommendation (or lack there-of).

 

A lot of talent that can compete at Sun-belt level and above gets overlooked because they don't pan out in one of the three categories listed above.

2009 class will have several kentucky kids:cool:

Very well said. There is not much D1 talent in the state, that is the bottom line. Recruiting KY boys just for the sake of recruiting them gets the program nowhere, especially in the critical transition period that they are in.

 

WKU and EKU will NEVER have winning programs without fans in the stands... as long as the schools continue to reruit entirely out of the state of Kentucky they will continue to lose games with nearly empty bleachers. Heck, I would rather go to a Ohio State game than a WKU or EKU contest. At least there is noise, excitement and a football atmosphere...

After talking with Elson today, I'm inclined to be similarly sympathetic. I haven't checked it against the roster posted online, but he said they have 32 kids from Kentucky on scholarship, and another 17 on the roster. He said they "combed the state" and the overall level of talent (that they need to be able to compete in the Sun Belt) in the state was down from recent years, and that the guys they would like to have had ended up opting for elsewhere.

 

What will their excuse be next year?

Great job on the research! :thumb:

 

I agree, there are quite a few young men who can play D1 ball in KY(just not as many as TX, FLA, etc.). My contention is, they already do play D1 ball!!!

 

I subscribe to the Occam's Razor view, that if there were D1 talent available to WKU and EKU in state, they would recruit and retain said talent. What's more likely, that they skipped over a bunch of really talented guys less than an hour from their campuses.....or that the talent simply wasn't there??

 

The guys that are good enough to play D1 ball, usually end up playing D1 ball somewhere. Yes, guys are skipped over because they are too small, short, fat, etc, but generally very little talent is missed.

 

So I say if WKU signed 0 guys from KY, it was because there was a particularly weak class of D1 athletes OR they were all gobbled up by UK/UL/ or out of state schools.

 

 

If WKU could win with out of state athletes I would agree with your summary. However, they don't - so why not give a Kentucky athlete a chance and see what happens. I saw a lot of talent at the Kentucky State Chapionships this year...

If WKU could win with out of state athletes I would agree with your summary. However, they don't - so why not give a Kentucky athlete a chance and see what happens. I saw a lot of talent at the Kentucky State Chapionships this year...

 

:thumb:I agree:thumb: