It’s not much of a shock, but the state of Alabama is the dominant home state for the majority of the players on Alabama’s 105 man roster. As the game of college football changes, and recruiting becomes more and more national, there is a desire for some coaches to take out of state talent ahead of the kid from his own backyard.
It’s more impressive to convince a young man from out of state to come to Alabama than to cherry pick local talent that grew up rooting for the Tide. Being able to recruit outside of your own state - even outside of a 200 mile radius - is somehow an indication of recruiting prowess.
There is a flip side to that idea though. One of the many things that Coach Saban has talked about is the need for the players to have pride in the school and the state that they represent. Certainly Alabama has been blessed with some out of state players in the past that have adopted Alabama as their home state and played with that pride. Two of the Tide’s greatest of the last 25 years, Shaun Alexander (KY) & Derrick Thomas (FL) immediately come to mind.
But I don’t see it as much of a leap to say that it is more likely that a kid from Alabama will take pride in representing Alabama. It is also not much of a leap in recruiting philosophy to say that you absolutely have to lock down your home state if you expect to win the recruiting battle, especially in a state with more than one BCS conference school.
That’s not to say that you should only recruit in state. Guys like Alexander & Thomas are necessary to building a great program, and the Tide currently has scholarship players from 11 different states.
But Alabama is the dominant representative on the roster.
When looking at the breakdown below, there will actually be 106 players represented, as scholarship Wide Receiver Will Oakley is not a part of the 105 man roster due to injury, but is absolutely still a part of the team.
Alabama - 60 total players, 44 on scholarship
California - 1 player who is on scholarship
Flordia - 11 players, 9 on scholarship
Georgia - 7 players, 6 on scholarship - 2 did go through Hargrave Military Academy in VA en route to Bama
Kentucky - 1 player who is on scholarship
Louisiana - 2 players, both on scholarship
Michigan - 1 player who is on scholarship
Mississippi - 7 players, all on scholarship
South Carolina - 1 player who is a walk-on
Tennessee - 8 players, 7 on scholarship
Texas - 4 players, all on scholarship
West Virginia - 1 player who is on scholarship
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