Analysis: VT Recruiting Footprint

Now that Coach Fuente's first full recruiting cycle is complete, I thought it would be interesting to look at where his recruits come from, and how that compares with the Beamer era. We all know that coach Beamer focused largely on Virginia, but what exactly did his recruiting footprint look like, and how might we expect that to change based on Fuente's first class?

Methodology: I looked at VT's recruiting classes since 1999, as listed on 247sports.com. I attributed the 2016 class to Beamer, with the exception of Jerod Evans, who was clearly coach Fuente's get. I then compared the Beamer historical data to Fuente's first class.

First, here's a look at VT's recruiting footprint, by state, under Beamer from 1999-2016:

Obviously, the Virginia focus is pretty clear. Other than that, the map shows a pretty good showing along the Atlantic seaboard from Florida to New Jersey. The surprise for me was the scattering of recruits throughout the country, including, of particular surprise to me, California.

And here's Fuente's result, 2017+Evans:

It's hard to draw conclusions from one year, but the main thing that's obvious is the focus on the Southeast as a whole, rather than primarily Virginia.

Next, I broke out VT's recruiting footprint by region. I regard the Mid-Altantic as: MD-DC-PA-NJ-NY, the Southeast as NC-SC-GA-FL-AL-MS-TN-KY-AR-LA. Midwest is: OH-MI-IN-WI-IL-MO-ND-SD-IA-NE-KS, Southwest is: OK-TX-NM-AZ. West being all other states west of the Mississippi. We have never landed a recruit from New England.

Here's the comparison:

Finally, here's a chart showing the year-by-year percentage of recruits by region:

There's a clear trend, starting in 2014, away from Virginia-centric to a more regional recruiting profile. Fuente seems to be continuing that trend.

Conclusion:Beamer's focus on Virginia is evident from the data, but there's also a clear trend toward more regional recruiting toward the end. Fuente's first year focus was clearly on the Southeast. I'd like to see him also have success in the Mid-atlantic, and move back into PA and OH in the future. Whether he can/will do that is an open question.

PS: I'm sorry if the graphics are large for you mobile users. I'm new here.