Last week your humble Pac-12 Blog broke down the 2015 Pac-12 recruiting class and where those players came from. But those kinds of numbers always prompt more questions like: OK, this is one class, what about the last two classes? The last three? What about every class that each Pac-12 coach has signed?
Well, your humble Pac-12 Blog is back. And it's back with those answers (with signees by state).
ARIZONA WILDCATS:
Rich Rodriguez, four classes -- 98 signees, 11 ESPN 300 members
California: 41
Arizona: 16
Texas: 9
Florida: 7
Louisiana: 5
Colorado: 3
Two signees: Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia
One signee: Canada, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Nevada, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Washington
ARIZONA STATE SUN DEVILS:
Todd Graham, four classes -- 100 signees, seven ESPN 300 members
California: 46
Arizona: 17
Florida: 7
Louisiana: 6
Three signees: Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas
Two signees: Nevada, Washington, Washington D.C.
One signee: Canada, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Kansas, New York, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah
CALIFORNIA BEARS:
Sonny Dykes, three classes -- 71 signees, four ESPN 300 members
California: 49
Texas: 6
Three signees: Arizona, Washington
Two signees: Hawaii, Mississippi, Oregon
One signee: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana
COLORADO BUFFALOES:
Mike MacIntyre, three classes -- 66 signees, no ESPN 300 members
California: 33
Colorado: 14
Texas: 8
Arizona: 3
Two signees: Hawaii, Utah
One signee: Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Washington
OREGON DUCKS:
Mark Helfrich, three classes -- 63 signees, 17 ESPN 300 members
California: 26
Oregon: 5
Four signees: Arizona, Texas, Washington
Three signees: Florida, Georgia, Hawaii
Two signees: Louisiana, Nevada
One signee: Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Tennessee
OREGON STATE BEAVERS:
Gary Andersen, one class -- 22 signees, no ESPN 300 members
Utah: 6
Four signees: California, Florida
Two signees: Oregon, Texas
One signee: American Samoa, Arizona, Hawaii, Louisiana
STANFORD CARDINAL:
David Shaw, five classes -- 95 signees, 26 ESPN 300 members
California: 25
Georgia: 7
Six signees: Arizona, Florida, Texas
Five signees: Utah, Washington
Four signees: Louisiana
Three signees: North Carolina
Two signees: Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, Virginia
One signee: Hawaii, Indiana, Idaho, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Washington D.C.
UCLA BRUINS:
Jim Mora, four classes -- 92 signees, 31 ESPN 300 members
California: 55
Texas: 10
Arizona: 5
Three signees: Florida, Georgia, Hawaii
Two signees: Delaware
One signee: Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Louisiana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, Washington
USC TROJANS:
Steve Sarkisian, two classes -- 43 signees, 25 ESPN 300 members
California: 32
Texas: 3
Two signees: Florida, Utah
One signee: Georgia, Idaho, Nevada, Oklahoma
UTAH UTES:
Kyle Whittingham, five classes* -- 108 signees, 0 ESPN 300 members
California: 40
Utah: 29
Texas: 15
Florida: 8
Louisiana: 6
Nevada: 3
Two signees: Arizona, Hawaii
One signee: Maryland, New Jersey, New York
*This is only counting Whittingham's classes that he recruited into the Pac-12 conference (so, starting with the 2011 signing class since the Utes made it official on June 22, 2010).
WASHINGTON HUSKIES:
Chris Petersen, two classes -- 49 signees, 4 ESPN 300 members
California: 28
Washington: 14
Idaho: 2
One signee: Maryland, Montana, Oregon, Texas, Wyoming
WASHINGTON STATE COUGARS:
Mike Leach, four classes -- 102 signees, one ESPN 300 members
California: 57
Washington: 14
American Samoa: 7
Three signees: Arizona, Florida, Hawaii, Texas
Two signees: Alabama, Georgia
One signee: Colorado, Delaware, Louisiana, Maryland, Montana, Oregon, Oklahoma, Utah
NOTES/OBSERVATIONS:
There are 20 states from which no current Pac-12 South coach has ever signed a player, and 18 from which no current North coaches have never signed a player. Of those states, 11 are overlapping, meaning that no player from the following states has been signed to a current Pac-12 coach during his tenure as head coach -- Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
It's not surprising that no players has been signed from Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska or North Dakota because those are the four least-populated states in the U.S. What is surprising is that only three players have been signed from the state of Alabama -- two to Mike Leach and one to Sonny Dykes.
Long story short: If you're a high school prospect and you want to play in the Pac-12, it doesn't hurt to live in California, Florida or Texas (if you live outside of "Pac-12 territory"). If you're a high school prospect and you live in Wisconsin or West Virginia -- even though some of these coaches have been head coaches in those states, your chances don't look good at all.
Eleven of the 12 programs have signed the most players from the state of California during current coaches' tenures. The only coach who hasn't is Oregon State coach Gary Andersen, but California is tied for second-most on his list.
North coaches have signed -- on average -- three classes per coach while the South coaches have signed -- on average -- four per. While it's really only a difference of one class, it is a difference of 20-30 student athletes per coach, so really the possibility of 120-180 different home states.
In the South the most recruited states outside of California and home states -- as a whole -- are Florida and Texas. Again, this might not be surprising considering how talent-rich both of those states are, but the only Pac-12 South coach who has ever coached in one of those states is Todd Graham (Rice).
In the North, it's a bit more of a mash-up. The states of Arizona and Washington are big for Cal and Oregon. Florida is big for Oregon State and Stanford. Chris Petersen really hasn't had to reach out of California or Washington, much like his in-state foe, Mike Leach. However, Leach also likes to go to American Samoa, where he has signed seven players.
USC has had the most success with the top recruits. Fifty-eight percent of Sarkisian's recruits are ESPN 300 members. After him, the next most "successful" recruiting coaches are Mora (33.7 percent), Shaw (31.6 percent) and Helfrich (27 percent).
Signing top recruits certainly gives teams a boost on the field as evidenced by the teams above and the successes they've had under each coach. But look at Utah. Whittingham hasn't signed a single ESPN 300 player and yet his team was in the hunt for the South title last season. It's the same with Rich Rodriguez: Even though just 7 percent of his players have been ESPN 300 members, he has still had major success on the field for the Wildcats.