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Will negative SEC perception in bowl season impact recruiting?
By Drew Laing
Published:
You’ve heard about it and probably seen it by now.
The SEC struggled in the bowl season.
Pac-12, ACC, Big 10 and Big 12 fans rejoiced throughout December and early January at the sight of the SEC West — long considered the toughest division in college football — finish just 2-5 in their bowl games with both wins coming from the division’s two lowest ranked teams.
The SEC East went a perfect 5-0, but a 7-5 conference record in bowl games is enough for many to cry overrated.
While the SEC fights this negative perception, this apparent decline of the almighty SEC, teams are still out on the road recruiting. With one month until National Signing Day, it’s coming down to the most important moments of these players’ recruitments as various schools ramp up their pursuits of the top players in the country.
But still, even with a poor bowl performance, it’s unlikely that it will have any negative impact on recruiting.
The SEC brand is simply too great at this point to have a few weeks of bowl games begin to reverse all of the work that has been done.
Just look at this season. Until the final week of the regular season, there was a possibility two SEC teams could have reached the inaugural College Football Playoff. At one point this year, four of the top six spots were occupied by SEC teams.
Considering some of those positions were occupied by teams like Auburn and Texas A&M, it’s safe to say they were overrated, but that’s not the point. Recruits see that SEC teams are constantly near the top of the rankings throughout the season, meaning the best chance you have at winning a national championship is at a top SEC school.
Plus, the NFL takes notice of the SEC more than any other conference. For the past eight drafts, the SEC has had the most selections of any conference in college football and has 241 total selections during that stretch. The next conference? The ACC, who has only 169 selections.
As recruiting stands now, the SEC is in a fabulous position. The conference has 10 of the top 23 overall recruiting classes for 2015, according to 247sports, including five of the top 10 classes.
And it stands to get even better once National Signing Day rolls around.
In 247sports’ 2015 player rankings, 13 of the nation’s top 50 prospects are still undecided on where they will play college football. Nine of those players are strongly or only considering SEC schools. If the conference hit on all nine of those recruits, it would give the SEC 29 players out of the top 50, a staggering number.
Recruits haven’t showed any less interest in the SEC since the bowl season, either. If anything, more recruits are looking at the SEC with programs like Tennessee and Arkansas on the rebound and a prestigious program like Florida receiving the recruiting bump after hiring Jim McElwain as its head coach.
Sure, top programs like Florida State, Ohio State and others will poach top recruits here and there, but the majority of the nation’s top talent is still very much attracted to playing in the SEC. The exposure and opportunity to play in the NFL has built too strong of a brand in the SEC to let a struggling bowl season have any major impact on the future of the conference.
Drew Laing will be providing analysis and insight on Florida, Georgia, Missouri and South Carolina.
