Attyla the Hawk
Well-known member
- Joined
- Mar 11, 2013
- Messages
- 2,559
- Reaction score
- 47
DomeHawk":2ae3n6ck said:JSeahawks":2ae3n6ck said:Ducks also just landed 3 star corner DJ James from Spanish Head, Alabama. Flipped him from Mississippi State. I'll take 3 stars from down south all day long.
There is this myth that players from down south are better football players than players from the west coast. I guess this is based on the SEC being in the CFP every year.
Not entirely true. Although it is a component.
There are a lot of other factors at play besides population distribution
1. Climate
2. Size of School
3. Culture
4. Resources
Just to name a few. Generally speaking, there are a lot more superior athletes produced in the south than elsewhere despite what one would expect due to population. That's been a growing trend over the last several decades.
Probably the single biggest unique factor is #3 and #4 on this list. Larger schools have bigger budgets. You don't see a lot of 5A/6A schools on the west coast. These larger schools are more easily capable of hiring professional athletic training staff and strength and conditioning staff. Schools in the east/south have been far ahead of the curve in building athletes from before high school by way of training and nutrition.
You do see some smaller schools buck this trend. Most tend to be either from affluent locations or private schools with a disproportionate lean towards athletics. But in general, you don't see the resource and institutional support for these kinds of programs at a widespread level. I've seen it referenced by many coaches in this area how advanced these programs are from middle school all the way through high school. Even going back to the 90s.
In general, awareness of training/nutrition services caught on much faster in the south.
Couple of decent studies put out that don't necessarily relate to the regional differences but definitely touch on this subject:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28157403
Interesting to note, that statistically public schools have a greater access to these programs than private schools. Obviously not all private institutions are athletic focused. But interesting nonetheless to see that the public education system isn't behind in this respect as one might otherwise suspect.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4641544/
Lists some reasons that factor in why schools would resist implementing athletic trainers/nutritionists. Many of these factors (Lack of power, community interference and lack of awareness) are generally low hurdles for schools in the south. I'm confident much of that has to do with culture. Athletic departments tend to be more robust and supported in the community. Of course this is not universal and I have every reason to expect that budgetary concerns dominate the challenges for improving these kinds of programs everywhere (South included).
I also have a suspicion that climate plays a unique role in the South. The heat/humidity that is common there generally puts a premium on athletic trainers as heat related sports injuries are at a high risk there. Korey Stringer was a high profile heat stroke death (2001) at the professional level. And his case served as a clarion call for athletic programs to do a better job of preventing heat stroke. Particularly where these injuries were most acute. However there were plenty of deaths leading up to that (19 between 1995 and 2001 at the high school/college level).
So I think there isn't any one particular thing that provides a better environment for building athletes in the South. I think it's been increasingly this way over the last 20 years. The SEC/ACC have been merely the natural beneficiaries of better overall talent as a result, since most students tend to opt for schools fairly close for familial reasons.