I split the country into five regions and found where the top 100 247Sports Composite recruits in each of the past five recruiting classes are from. Then I looked at which region each player went to for college.

It's no secret the best high school football players are in the South. And even though there's a surplus of talent, most of it stays right at home. A whopping 91 percent of Southern stars stay within their region for college, with 66 percent going to SEC schools.

While the West Coast isn't quite as loaded, it also keeps a ton of its top-100 blue chips nearby for college. Eighty percent from the West go to western schools, likely due to geography. While players in other regions have many options semi-close to home, the Pac-12 is so isolated it has a big advantage over other conferences for schools in its region.

But players don't always stay in their native regions. The SEC has done a good job pulling stars from the Midwest, East Coast and Southwest, the latter partly due to the addition of Texas A&M. Notre Dame gets a substantial number of players from every region, in many cases beating out entire conferences, thanks to its national brand.

Region Number of top-100 recruits Percent of top 100 South 226 45% West 86 17% Southwest 70 14% Midwest 62 12% East Coast 55 11% Canada 1



Percentages don't all add up to 100, due to rounding.

As for conferences themselves, the SEC took more than twice as many top-100 recruits as any other conference, with the Pac-12 making up a little ground.

Conference Number of top-100 recruits Percent of top 100 SEC 198 40% Pac-12 90 18% ACC 79 16% Big Ten 67 13% Big 12 43 9% Notre Dame 21 4% American 1 Mountain West 1

The South has more elite players, so the SEC should get more of them. But players in different regions have different tendencies. Some stay home, but others choose to leave for better opportunities elsewhere.

Region % Stay % Leave South 91% 9% West 80% 20% Midwest 77% 23% Southwest 60% 40% East Coast 35% 65%

While the South's SEC and ACC teams have a distinct advantage, the region's also able to keep recruits at home at a higher percentage. Western teams also keep elite recruits at home.

Midwestern teams have generally been able to keep other top programs out, while the Southwest is heavily recruited by the entire country. The East Coast -- home to mostly middling teams in the ACC and Big Ten -- has only kept elite recruits home 35 percent of the time.

Where top recruits from each region go

East Coast

Conference Percent of top-100 recruits ACC 33% Big Ten 29% SEC 16% Notre Dame 9% Pac-12 9% Big 12 4%

Midwest

Conference Percent of top-100 recruits Big Ten 61% SEC 23% Notre Dame 8% Big 12 5% ACC 2% Pac-12 2%

South

Conference Percent of top-100 recruits SEC 66% ACC 26% Pac-12 4% Big Ten 2% Notre Dame 2% Big 12 1%

Southwest

Conference Percent of top-100 recruits Big 12 47% SEC 29% Pac-12 10% Big Ten 9% ACC 3% Mountain West 1% Notre Dame 1%

West

Conference Percent of top-100 recruits Pac-12 80% SEC 7% Notre Dame 6% Big 12 3% Big Ten 2% American 1%

Where the best players in each state go

There are some surprises. Of Arizona's 10 top-100 recruits, none went to an Arizona school, while all 10 elite recruits in Mississippi went to a school in-state. As likely expected, Texas, USC, Alabama and Florida State dominated their in-state counterparts over the last five years.

The takeaway? Geography matters a lot in recruiting, but if you know where to go, you can steal some players who might be looking to play far away from home.