A National Perspective On Cornerback Recruiting - Part I

A look at the importance of talented cornerbacks, and where they come from.

Many believe Notre Dame needs to begin landing elite cornerbacks to consistently compete for a chance to make the college football playoffs. Is that true?

There are many ways to evaluate cornerback recruiting. Some people go by high school rankings, some go by college football pass efficiency defense, some research the NFL Draft. For Part I of this article, the NFL Draft and high school rankings will be utilized.

The NFL Draft And Cornerbacks

The 2017 NFL Draft produced the following cornerbacks:

First Round (No. 11), Marshawn Lattimore, Ohio State - New Orleans Saints
First Round (No. 16), Marlon Humphrey, Alabama - Baltimore Ravens
First Round (No. 18), Adoree’ Jackson, USC - Tennessee Titans
First Round (No. 24), Gareon Conley, Ohio State - Oakland Raiders
First Round (No. 27), Tre’Davious White, LSU - Buffalo Bills

Second Round (No. 33), Kevin King, Washington - Green Bay Packers
Second Round (No. 43), Sidney Jones, Washington - Philadelphia Eagles
Second Round (No. 46), Quincy Wilson, Florida - Indianapolis Colts
Second Round (No. 53), Jalen Tabor, Florida - Detroit Lions
Second Round (No. 60) Chidobe Awuzie, Colorado - Dallas Cowboys

The 2016 College Football Playoff

Why would this list be important? Just as an example, the 2016 College Football playoff included Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and Washington. From the first two rounds of the 2017 NFL Draft, 10 cornerbacks drafted. Five of those 10 (50.0%), played in the College Football Playoffs a few months prior. All four schools produced cornerbacks drafted in the first two rounds.

Of the other five, their teams finished the season ranked No. 3, No. 13, No. 14 and No. 17 in the final AP rankings.

Yes, cornerback talent and performance matters.

That’s an astounding percentage. Of course cornerback play does not solely dictate championship-level play; this list does prove cornerbacks can be an integral part of a college football team’s success. So, which states did these 10 players live before going to their respective college choices?

Which States Elite Cornerbacks Come From

Alabama (1) - Humphrey attended Hoover High School just outside Birmingham (Ala.). Since the mid-1990s, Hoover is one of Dixie’s best high school football programs. He was the creme de la creme of cornerback recruits from the southeastern region of the country (no. 11 overall from composite rankings).

California (4) - Awuzie only earned four offers from Power Five programs before becoming a big-time player for the Buffaloes; Colorado, Utah, Washington State and Wisconsin. As for rankings, Awuzie was the lowest rated from this entire list (No. 1548 overall from the 247Sports composite rankings). He attended San Jose (Calif.) Oak Grove, another program that continually produces college football players.

Jackson was a national recruit (No. 7 overall from composite rankings) at Gardena (Calif.) Junipero Serra before selecting USC.

Jones was not highly rated (No. 1107 overall from composite rankings), and listed as an athlete instead of a cornerback. He played for West Covina (Calif.) High School before playing for Washington.

King played for one of northern California’s top programs before heading to Seattle to play for the Huskies. The Oakland (Calif.) Bishop O’Dowd product earned mostly West Coast recruiting interest and his ranking reflected as much (No. 571 from composite rankings).

Ohio (2) - Both of Ohio State’s draft picks came from inside Buckeye state borders. Conley attended Massillon (Ohio) Washington, one of the entire country’s most historical high school football programs. He proved to be one of the nation’s premiere cornerback recruits as well (No. 153 from national composite rankings), although Rivals ranked him as a 3-star recruit.

Lattimore attended Cleveland (Ohio) Glenville, and he was a prominent prospect (No. 55 from national composite rankings).

Florida (1) - Wilson attended Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) University School, one of Florida’s top talent-producing programs. He garnered several offers but was not considered a top recruit (No. 369 from composite rankings) due to 247Sports ranking him as a 3-star prospect.

Louisiana (1) - White played for Shreveport (La.) Green Oaks, and was a heavily recruited cornerback (No. 46 from composite rankings). He was one of LSU’s top performers regardless of position during the past decade, and that’s saying something.

Washington, D.C. (1) - Tabor was yet another highly coveted cornerback recruit (no. 15 from composite rankings), and he was a great player for the Gators after playing for Washington, D.C. (Friendship Academy).

Researching the High School programs

From the above list of 10 NFL cornerbacks drafted, four played at private high schools, and seven played in what are considered to be warm-weather states. There’s also something else to consider here.

Tradition and location matter. Most of the elite recruits do not take a flier on a so-called up and coming program. Does anyone really believe Awuzie selects Colorado if USC, Ohio State and Alabama also offered him a scholarship? Just something to think about.

Further, of the seven elite recruits that also ended up being drafted, six of them stayed within their home state to play college football. The only one that did not, Tabor, decided to leave the Washington, D.C. area and go play for Florida.

To summarize, elite cornerbacks are difficult to lure away from their home states. This does not mean it cannot happen, as this list proves to be a small sample size. With that, it’s most likely best to consider it hard for northern programs to find truly elite cornerbacks close to home.

In the next installment, a closer look at how Notre Dame usually found success, as well as what it can do to steal a few of the elite warm weather cornerback recruits.