The Wall Street Journal today ran a graphic showing by state the rise or fall since 2006 in high-school football participation. Participation is up in every SEC state except Missouri and South Carolina, which saw slight declines. Just three states outside the SEC footprint--Utah, New Mexico, and Oklahoma--saw increases. Every other state saw declining participation. Participation dropped by over 20% in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa; and by more than 10% in Minnesota, Nebraska, Illinois, Ohio, and Maryland. For whatever it's worth, participation in Vermont is down more than 50%.
These statistics obviously have relevance to the health of football programs generally. But they also highlight the recruiting challenges confronting all college programs outside the Southeast and Texas. SEC schools, most Big XII schools, and some ACC schools have growing crops of recruits in their backyards. The B1G and most of the Pac-12, by contrast, see their local recruiting crops shrinking.
It's obviously not impossible for Michigan to recruit well in this environment. But the changing high-school football participation rates make it just that much more difficult.
These statistics obviously have relevance to the health of football programs generally. But they also highlight the recruiting challenges confronting all college programs outside the Southeast and Texas. SEC schools, most Big XII schools, and some ACC schools have growing crops of recruits in their backyards. The B1G and most of the Pac-12, by contrast, see their local recruiting crops shrinking.
It's obviously not impossible for Michigan to recruit well in this environment. But the changing high-school football participation rates make it just that much more difficult.
