Does Auburn's In-State Recruiting Dominance Over Alabama Matter For The Long-Term?

There are many different ways that college football programs like Auburn and Alabama can go about how they recruit.

Recruiting their state is a prime reason both programs typically do well on the gridiron. Well, that's changing for the Crimson Tide and not the Tigers. Alabama has three of the 20 commitments hailing from inside the state of Alabama borders.

Meanwhile, Auburn has 11 of its 22 commitments coming from Alabama prep football programs, including all-around talent Eric Winters from Enterprise (Ala.) High School in the video above.

There are reasons the two programs recruit differently. Starting with Bama, here are the breakdowns.

Alabama has prospects from nine different states, six of those prospects coming from California. That's as unusual as a person will see for a traditional SEC powerhouse.

Then again, the new Bama coaching staff has several individuals with West Coast ties to recruits. It's an unusual mix but it's working well as the Crimson Tide have the #2 class by 247. Is it sustainable year after year?

Kalen DeBoer knows states like Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, and Nevada well because of coaching the Washington Huskies. It makes sense, at least for the time being, that he and his staff hit the high schools and states they already have built-in relationships with.

Over time, it is expected that Bama will hit the Alabama prep scene harder. If he does not, many of the proud and prominent Alabama prep programs will likely have coaches who are not as easily swayed to get their players up to Tuscaloosa for camps and unofficial visits.

There are already grumblings from prep coaches about how Bama neglects to give the proper attention to the in-state coaches and prospects. There's even concern about communication with Bama from coaches inside the state of Alabama since Nick Saban left.

One source told Auburn Daily, "(High school) coaches don't even know who to call (at Alabama)." After years of Saban being extremely accommodating to prep coaches with open communication lines, this is a massive change. So what's next?

It depends on if DeBoer and his staff pivot toward in-state recruiting and do so quickly. The Bama staff could still build relationships during the coming recruiting cycles. Winning also matters. Do not discount the importance of DeBoer and his staff reaching the College Football Playoff.

If the Tide makes a 2024 Playoff run, it could extend the grace period. If not, Auburn could have a huge opportunity to win even more battles during the coming years as well. Do not tell that to Locked On Bama host Luke Robinson , however, as he's apparently not concerned about Auburn dominating in-state recruiting:

Auburn has eight of the top 10 in-state recruits committed, per 247. That is certainly the definition of dominance. It's also something Hugh Freeze wants to continue and discusses often during his press conferences. By the way, Bama has zero top-10 Alabama prep recruits committed. Truly strange.

Freeze wants to focus on Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Then, find a few more elite players from around the country. The base is still close to home and especially the in-state recruits. Now back to how Bama is recruiting.

Does it matter if the Tide go all over the United States as long as there's talent coming into the football program? There are different theories.

Bear Bryant used to discuss how in-state players would give their all for the Tide. He preferred in-state recruits when the talent was comparable between two prospects. So what if Bama struggles this year and next to get things rolling? How would that impact Bama's recruiting efforts and the program overall?

This is still Alabama, after all. It has a massive national appeal to recruits. Saban even recruited more and more nationally. Then again, that's Saban. He's arguably the greatest college football coach of all time. He often cherry-picked in-state recruits and mixed in prospects from other SEC states like Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas to have elite recruiting classes. His Alabama program should be considered a recruiting outlier. DeBoer is in a different sitaution.

One could argue that Alabama signing more out-of-state recruits would lead to more players being inclined to hit the Transfer Portal if things don't go their way with playing time because they are not loyal to Bama. Then there's the concern about tilting the recruiting efforts toward the Alabama prep prospects that Auburn already focuses on. How would that go?

It's an incredibly complicated set of questions that are just starting to take shape and the key players are unique as well. For instance, there's no doubting DeBoer's coaching acumen and he has a talented coaching staff overall.

Still, if the Crimson Tide does not win early and often, it will be interesting to see how they continue to accumulate high-level talent and where it comes from. Many questions still need to be answered and it will be fun to see how it unfolds.