SIAA: Recruiting Trends and Georgia's emergence in the CFB recruiting landscape and the massive amount of class of 2021 prospects already verbally committed
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00:00 [MUSIC]
00:02 During the process of SI All-American
00:05 establishing its first list of potential All-Americans
00:09 in the class of 2021, we stumbled upon some interesting
00:12 trends for more.
00:13 We bring in former NFL and collegiate coach Jim Mora.
00:17 Jim, obviously this class of 2021
00:19 is set apart by itself because of COVID
00:23 and so many other circumstances.
00:25 But within that, we're starting to find some trends
00:27 with this rising senior group.
00:29 Mainly, the volume, over 800 already committed.
00:33 How tied in do you think that is to COVID
00:36 and maybe kids feeling like they need to claim
00:38 a spot on a certain roster?
00:40 I think if you look at years past,
00:44 we're seeing a trend towards more early commits.
00:47 Now, this is an awfully large number,
00:49 and I'm sure it is influenced to a large degree by the fact
00:52 that there is so much uncertainty going
00:54 into a senior year.
00:56 It'll be interesting to see as we go through the fall, what
01:00 happens, first of all, with high school football,
01:02 but what happens with these commits.
01:03 How many of them stick or how many of them
01:05 decommit and keep looking around and maybe end up
01:09 committing elsewhere?
01:11 Yeah, certainly a lot of elements
01:13 lead you to think that they could make some change of heart
01:16 decisions there.
01:17 But hey, one of the things that we normally
01:19 see as a catalyst for something like that
01:22 is the on-campus visit, something that obviously
01:24 has not happened since early March.
01:26 So we'll see if that happens during the regular season,
01:29 should there be a regular season in 2020.
01:32 Another big trend, Jim, is the state of Georgia.
01:36 I think over the last few years, everyone
01:37 has recognized how elite it is.
01:40 But at this point in our calculation,
01:42 more SI All-American candidates in Georgia
01:45 than the state of California.
01:47 Typically, the big three is California, Texas,
01:49 and of course, Florida.
01:51 So now Georgia is in that conversation,
01:53 at least for this class.
01:54 Is this a trend?
01:55 Is this something you see having staying power?
01:58 And why is the state of Georgia all of a sudden
02:00 producing more talent?
02:02 I think it does have staying power, John.
02:04 I think that Georgia is a great football state.
02:07 I think it always has been.
02:08 And now I think that there's more really good players being
02:13 recognized as to coming out of the state of Georgia.
02:16 I see on the West Coast at some level
02:20 maybe a little bit of falling off in great interest
02:24 in playing football.
02:25 I don't know that it's as important as it is down South.
02:29 On the West Coast, there seems to be so many options
02:32 for young men, where in the South,
02:34 football is like a religion.
02:36 So it doesn't surprise me that Georgia's entered the picture.
02:40 It won't surprise me if some of the other Southern states
02:44 start to really, really make a defined impact as well.
02:49 As we all know that have been in coaching,
02:51 that have been in recruiting, there
02:54 are some great players all across this country.
02:57 But when you go down South, John,
03:00 you find a different type of mindset
03:04 than maybe you do in any other part of the country.
03:06 And it's a mindset of toughness and determination.
03:10 It's a mindset of grit, of trying
03:15 to achieve something special in the football field,
03:17 and really a rare, rare toughness in my opinion.
03:21 Yeah, other states in the South, North Carolina, Alabama
03:24 also heavily involved in the top 10.
03:26 And then the DMV, DC, Maryland, Virginia,
03:29 another one that is seemingly on the rise
03:31 over the last few years.
03:33 For all the latest SI All-American candidates,
03:36 check out siallamerican.com.
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