Unconquered

Good question. I wouldn't say it's recruiting b/c the big 3 has some good recruiters. I think they just want to go out of state like blanks right out of our own backyard.

How did 3 of the top 5 recruits in Alabama go to Florida state?

Clemson stuck up a relationship with Sammy Watkins early in his high-school career, and that stuck with him all the way to the end.

Tony Steward - Smh; any other year the kid would have been a Nole.

John Theus - They took his scrub brother the year before. Sometimes you have to buy the cow to get the milk.

Nelson Agholor - See the same reason for Sammy Watkins. The Kiffin's had been on Agholor longer than anyone else, and had a great relationship with him and his family.

Leonard Williams - I am interested on how he settled on Southern Cal over Florida and Auburn. He would have been a Nole if it wasn't for Dante Fowler Jr though.

Mike Bellamy - Could care less, kid is a dead-beat, and already in the dog house.

Dee Hart - Nobody really wanted him in Florida. He's a 5'8 scat-back.

Ha-Sean Clinton Dix - Bama/Saban = DB guru, good fit for him, not that far from home, but far enough for him to be his own man.

Idk, tell me. It might help us answer the initial question.

I'll tell you this, what FSU did in Alabama is rare.

With having said that, 8 5-stars leaving the state over a 2 year period is alarming. It wasn't like this 10th years ago.

Personally, I think the reason is a lack of elite teams in state. FSU hasn't beenvelite since 2000 and Miami hasn't been elite since 2003.

some kids just want to go somewhere away from home, somewhere new, I can't fault them for that

Things have changed. The Internet makes the world more open, and the old promises can no longer be faked. It's easier for kids to see that going to Alabama, LSU, UGA, isn't that big of a deal. You aren't that far from home and they might be good fits for an individual.

It goes the other way too. A lot of our class is from out of state. With all the recruiting services and accessible information it's easier for coaches to go after guys who aren't close but are better fits for the program. We got our TE from Cali. In the old days I think we take Taylor, simply because we don't know enough about Christo to get on him early enough.

That's another good point. Kids from Louisiana, Alabama, and Georgia grow up in a place where there is a primary team. Almost everyone loves that team. They grow up following that team and everyone in their family follows that team. There's never any question, they grow up seeing themselves on that team, and their entire family wants them on that team.

That's rarely the case in Florida. Even if the kid grows up an FSU fan, everyone has a parent, uncle, best friend, girlfriend, etc who likes UF or UM. With the big 3 all historically rotating domination, few kids are raised from birth with an overwhelming allegiance.

Alabama said the same thing about us this year (Winston,Casher, Shanks, etc). I'm sure they are not worried because they have a really nice class. We should be feeling the same way...you win some...you lose some.