In state, Central is at the top

RIVALSMICHIGANSITES:UofM|MSU

|CMU

|WMU

BradyHokeandMarkDantonioaren'ttheonlycoachesinMichiganemphasizingtheimportanceofsigningin-staterecruits.

Infact,noFBSprograminthestaterecruitsMichiganprospectsasheavilyasCentralMichigan.Overthelastfiveyears,54percentoftheplayerstosignwiththeChippewashavecomefromthestateofMichigan.

"We'renotCentralFloridaorCentralArkansas,"ChippewascoachDanEnossaid."We'reCentralMichigan.I'vealwaysbelievedyou'vegottodoaswellasyoucanrecruitingyourhomestatefirst."

Thenumberssuggestthat'saclearphilosophicaldifferencefromMichigan'sothertwoMid-AmericanConferenceprograms:EasternMichiganandWesternMichigan.

Lessthan20percentofthesigneesatEasternMichiganandWesternMichiganoverthelastfiveyearswerein-staterecruits.WesternMichiganactuallyhassignedmorethantwiceasmanyFloridiansasMichigandersoverthelastfiveyears.

WesternMichigan'semphasisonFloridaiseasytounderstand.WesternMichigancoachBillCubitisaformerUniversityofFloridaandUCFassistantwhoalsohadaheadcoachingstintatStuart(Fla.)MartinCountyHigh.Andit'shardtoarguewithEasternMichigan'sstrategy,astheEagleswent6-6lastyearwhileproducingtheirhighestwintotalsince1995.

AlthoughCentralMichigan'sfocusonin-staterecruitsprecededhisarrivalastheChippewas'coach,Enoshascontinuedthatapproach.Hebelievessigninglocalplayersisasaferlong-termstrategy.

Enosnotesthathe'slikelytohavemorecontactwitharecruitfromclosebythenwithaprospectfromacrossthecountry.Thecloseproximitynaturallymakesiteasiertohavemoreface-to-faceconversationswiththerecruitaswellashiscoachandhisfamily.

Andthatnaturallymakesiteasiertoknowwhetherthatprospectistherightfitforhisprogram.

"Ifyou'regoingtohavegoodretentionincollege-andincollegefootballthat'skey,especiallyinthisconference,tohaveguyswhowillremainwithyoufourorfiveyearssoyoucandevelopthem-you'dbetterknowwhatyou'regettingatthefrontend,"Enossaid."It'sveryimportanttoestablisharelationshipwiththesepeople.Obviously,theclosertheyaretous,themorewe'llknowaboutthem."

SteveMegargeeisanationalwriterforRivals.com.Hecanbereachedatsmegargee@rivals.com,andyoucanclickheretofollowhimonTwitter.

MorefromRivals.com:

RIVALS.COM/VTO camps: Spots filling up fastClick Big Ten Breakdown: Big week for O'BrienClick CMU hoops: Second-round comeback falls shortClick Here to view this Link.Here to view this Link.Here to view this Link.

[rl]