Article a few days ago in USAToday Sports…

[UtahFanSir]

Why are most of the top Arizona HS football recruits leaving the state?

Utah has a similar issue so I thought this article might provide a few insights.

[gUrthBrooks]

Is this the normal thing to do for top athletes? To go out of state? Why complain if it’s what most top athletes do in any state?

Hell, I think USC will bitch if Utah lands a kid out of SoCal that they wanted.

But I would see California as the exception to keeping top athletes in state, and most other states, especially with smaller populations, having their top athletes go out of state.

[Central Coast Ute]

In this last class, the top kid in Cali went to Oregon. For that matter the top 4 kids in Florids went out of state.

[PlainsUte]

California is big enough a kid can “spread his wings” and still be in-state.  I don’t blame kids at all for going out of state to live in a different area as part of their college experience, particularly if they’ve lived in one place all their life.  It is what I did. Thus we can’t bag on coaches for losing the “top” HS recruit(s) in the state to out-of-state schools.

[Stone]

Completely agree. Many, many kids want to leave the nest and go away to school; they want the “college experience.” Totally understandable mindset. And, yes, California is big enough that kids can “go away to school” without leaving the state, or even the same metro area.

If you grow up in Riverside or San Bernardino County–where there are many top high school football recruits–you may be in the same basic metro area as LA, but you are still going away to school when you go to USC or UCLA (in part because the traffic makes those areas seem like a world away). If you are in the Central Valley of California (Fresno, Sacramento, etc.) you are most definitely going away to school when you attend any of the P5 California schools (these areas are hours away from those schools). The same is not true for a kid that attends Bingham High School and goes to the U of U. 

[EagleMountainUte]

I just don’t get the point of wringing our hands over the decisions of children. It is all an ugly affair in my opinion. 

[Anonymous]

Just look at many of the fans. They make demeaning comments on players’ and recruits’ twitter acccounts and go on DN and/or SLTrib comments and make personal comments. Many fans have never played high level sports and have little clue as to how much work and dedication are required.

In short, ugly people will be just that — ugly. Logic and reason are out the window.

[Trailgoat]

Agree…unfortunately psycho athlete parents are the worst part of it.