In this ACCSports.com series, we’re looking at every state within the ACC’s footprint and figuring out which programs own them in recruiting.
- Who Owns Florida In Recruiting?
- Who Owns Georgia In Recruiting?
- Who Owns South Carolina In Recruiting?
- Who Owns North Carolina in Recruiting?
- Who Owns Virginia In Recruiting?
- Who Owns Maryland In Recruiting?
The next state on the list is Pennsylvania, which entered the ACC footprint when the conference adopted Pittsburgh a summer ago. Pennsylvania has long been regarded as one of the top high school football states in the country, though the amount of elite prospects from it has tapered off some recently. The central Northeast location of Pennsylvania places it right in the middle of ACC, Big Ten and Big East country. Thus, there are dozens of programs fighting for the state’s best recruits.
To see which schools own Pennsylvania in recruiting, we scanned the last five recruiting classes (2010-2014). We looked at the top 30 prospects in each class (as ranked by Rivals) and where they decided to play their college ball. Here is what we found out.
Schools Who Signed The Most Top-30 Pennsylvania Recruits From 2010-2014
Pitt – 27
Penn State – 22
Maryland – 8
Rutgers – 8
West Virginia – 7
Boston College – 6
Michigan State – 6
Michigan – 5
Temple – 5
Ohio State – 4
Syracuse – 4
Virginia Tech – 4
Who Owns It: Pitt
Dominant ACC Team: Pitt
Percentage Of Top 30 That Went ACC: 23.3 percent
Percentage Of Top 30 That Went SEC: 4 percent
Percentage Of Top 30 That Went Big Ten: 34.7 percent
Percentage Of Top 30 That Stayed In-State: 36.7 percent
Biggest Out-Of-State Predator: Maryland and Rutgers
Biggest Haul Of Top 30 Recruits In One Class: 8 – Pitt in 2010 and 2013; Penn State in 2010