Ask Farrell: Why are so many top prospects going out of state?
TAKE TWO: Does Kentucky have an edge for Michigan five-star Justin Rogers?
Eleven of the top 23 prospects in the Rivals100 are committed and it’s not looking good for in-state schools.
Only one of those players - five-star offensive tackle Paris Johnson Jr. - has made his pledge to an in-state program as the Cincinnati (Ohio) Princeton standout picked Ohio State last summer. Plenty of programs are continuing to pursue him.
All the others have picked out-of-state teams, many of them going to national powerhouses.
The No. 1 player in the country, five-star quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei from Bellflower (Calif.) St. John Bosco, recently committed to Clemson. Elias Ricks, who plans to transfer out of Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei for his senior season, pledged to LSU.
Damascus, Md., five-star defensive end Bryan Bresee also recently selected Clemson. LSU went to Washington (D.C.) St. John’s to get five-star receiver Rakim Jarrett and Clemson dipped into Lakeland, Fla., for five-star running back Demarkcus Bowman.
On and on it goes: Georgia got five-star linebacker Mekhail Sherman from Washington (D.C.) St. Johns; Baltimore (Md.) St. Frances standout Chris Braswell picked Alabama; LSU went to Woodbridge, Va., for five-star linebacker Antoine Sampah; Stanford landed five-star offensive lineman Myles Hinton from Norcross (Ga.) Greater Atlanta Christian; and Clemson won out for Jacksonville (Fla.) Trinity Christian Academy’s Fred Davis.
One final thing to consider: Last recruiting cycle, three prospects in the top 10 - Derek Stingley, Jr., Zacch Pickens and DeMarvin Leal - all stayed in-state to play college ball and many of the other five-star prospects picked schools in their home region.
FARRELL'S TAKE
We ask Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell whether social media plays a role in so many more kids leaving their home states since they can develop deeper relationships with other prospects sooner. Also, do earlier visits aid out-of-state schools, who oftentimes have more to offer, or is this just an anomaly for this recruiting class?
"I can tell you this, before social media and so many camps, there was no way for kids to form the bond they have with each other the way they do now and that plays a huge role in out-of-state recruiting.
"Is it the reason so many kids are leaving the state now? I don't think so, not for 2020, because there are other circumstances like USC recruiting horribly and teams like LSU stepping up their out of state recruiting. Players like Braswell will always go to Alabama and players like Jarrett will always leave the area until Maryland starts winning, so that doesn't surprise me. Stanford has an academic lure that is hard to turn down.
"I think Clemson has taken the next step in national recruiting so that will impact things as well but there is no doubt that social media and earlier out-of-state visits certainly play a role. It's just been that way for a long time now, it's not new."