Do you know where to recruit?

[GoBoilers]

http://highschool.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1290345 I think this guy was drunk when he put Indiana 8th! LOL

[Spence]

http://highschool.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1290345 I think this guy was drunk when he put Indiana 8th! LOL

I'm surprised to see Pennsylvania drop that far.

[GoBoilers]

http://highschool.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1290345 I think this guy was drunk when he put Indiana 8th! LOL

I'm surprised to see Pennsylvania drop that far.

Me too. I always thought of PA as one of the top 6-7 states for football. I wasn't totally surprised southern states growing with the population shift the past 30 years.

[billybud]

Yep ...recruiters are all flocking to Indiana.

[billybud]

Rivals Top 100 2012

Indiana...2

NJ........2

North Carolina...4

Florida.......21

Cal..........15

Tx...........13

[WoVeU]

Yep ...recruiters are all flocking to Indiana.

Yes Indiana is comparable to Capistrano when considering those swallowing flocks of recruiters!

Bad data, I quit reading about word 30. College rankings are subjective enough...to rank high schools is thin. (Not even attemptable if it weren't for these "invitee" schools. Which is one of the root problems in amateur sports.) And Georgia doesn't recruit an entire High School class...it doesn't work that way. But I would be remiss to not say recruiting has to show growth in states not named Florida, Texas, and California. Especially Florida, when you are on top, by a good measure, there is no where to go but down.

And I don't know how much it means, but I have yet to witness any kids playing sandlot football in all of my time in Texas. Nor have I seen any kids playing baseball in any of the fields that I still look at with 12 year old eyes. I have seen 4 to maybe 6 kids playing basketball. Have sports become as institutionalized as education?

[billybud]

It is a different world from when I was a kid tackling Buddy, Doug, Skip, Harry, Chuck and others on a vacant lot.

(by the by..Buddy went on to play linebacker at Auburn, Doug played at Florida, and Harry at Southern Miss...I played on the regimental team in the Corps one year.)

Tallahassee is alive with organized sports and it is a good thing. In youth baseball there is City League, Little League, Babe Ruth, Little Major League, Tallahassee Baseball Club (recent AAU national champs for the 3rd time), etc.

Ball parks are located around town (4-8 fields per park) and teams play night and day (they are lit). On any given Saturday a hundred games go on. Kids practice in the evening after school and play on weeknights and Saturdays.

Football...the City League operates both flag and tackle leagues in the fall for groups from 40 to 275 pounds.

Soccer...there are organized leagues ranging from recreational to competitive. !000's of kids play year round in dedicated soccer parks...I coached and officiated for some years and was on the board of a competitive league.

Where you see the pick up games, like we grew up with, are in any black neighborhood in Tallahassee. There will be kids slamming a basketball towards a rusty hoop or a group of kids lined up with a football on an empty lot. Organized sports require parent involvement (a good thing, I guess) where the neighborhood games are the realm of those who don't have rides, the registration fees, etc for organized sports.

[donovan]

Our backyard baseball league, with a bat and a sock filled with other socks because we did not have that big of a back yard is a great memory. We kept statistics...Tommy went on to an electronic guy for Tektronix, Marggie passed away...she was about 16 before we realized she was a girl...Jimmy became a police officer and I became a decrepit, cantankerous curmudgeon....and the all said, "Amen."

Organized sports at lower levels are more out of control here in the Northwest than the educational programs.

[Spence]

Our backyard baseball league, with a bat and a sock filled with other socks because we did not have that big of a back yard is a great memory. We kept statistics...Tommy went on to an electronic guy for Tektronix, Marggie passed away...she was about 16 before we realized she was a girl...Jimmy became a police officer and I became a decrepit, cantankerous curmudgeon....and the all said, "Amen."

Organized sports at lower levels are more out of control here in the Northwest than the educational programs.

I lived in a big neighborhood as a kid. We picked teams, had leagues, kept stats and played non stop all summer. Baseball changed to football, and football changed to basketball and sledding in the winter depending on whether or not the playground had snow or not. Some of the kids did well, some did alright, and some died young. Anytime I think of them I see their 12 year old faces, even if I know their 50+ year old faces. I always remember warm sunshine, even when I remember 12" deep snow........and smiles.........lots of smiles.