The college football world is full of great coaching, great tradition, customs, fan bases, rivalries and a whole lot more. High school players wake up on Saturdays to watch their favorite college teams and dream of playing college football. Saturdays in the fall are special, and no matter where your favorite school is playing and when, you're watching and also rooting for the rival school to lose.
There is a lot to make the sport, game and culture of college football very, very attractive to recruits. Every school, whether it be your favorite or most hated, has some type of alluring draw that seals the deal for players to sign to attend there. Destinations and reasons can range from a coach, NFL exposure, location, tradition and a wide range of other factors.
Here are the 50 most attractive destinations for college recruits.
SMU makes this list at No. 50 as they do boast some great football tradition. They're famous because they were the first team to get the NCAA Death Penalty, but let's not forget why they were getting investigated: because they were winning in the late 70s and early 80s.
The slush fund scandal was a black eye on college football, but what makes the Mustangs attractive now is they have a proven coach in June Jones, who runs a pass happy offense that puts up gaudy offensive stats.
Throw in the notion of the alumni seem committed to bringing back the glory days, and you have SMU as an attractive destination.
Pitt probably should not have let Dave Wannstedt go, but that is just my opinion. Yet the hiring of Todd Graham will bring some fresh blood and rejuvenation to the Panther program.
Pitt does have a rich football tradition, boasting Dan Marino and Tony Dorsett as alumni. The campus sits near the Steelers' facility, and there also is a main hated rival just over the state line in West Virginia.
Big things await the Panther program in the future, and as they move from a NFL type of program and more towards a spread offense and 3-3-5 college defense, Graham and his staff should have Pitt back in the national spotlight in time.
The Aztecs lost their star head coach, as mama called Brady Hoke home and he went running to Ann Arbor, which you really can't fault him for, as the chance to lead Big Blue is a prime time job in all of sports.
Yet SDSU still remains attractive due to their location: San Diego. What's better than getting a free college education, living near the beach, enjoying great weather year round and playing against solid competition in the Mountain West?
You are surrounded by a wealth of talent to come play with you, as Southern California has a ridiculous amount of depth in high school talent year after year, which SDSU recruits and signs.
College Station is home to Texas A&M, whose football program is led by Mike Sherman. The Aggies make the list for two reasons, the first being Sherman. He's a terrific coach who has been a NFL head coach and General Manager for the Packers and has won.
Sherman also has been mentored and learned from two of the best in the business of football in Ron Wolf and Mike Holmgren. He runs a pro style program, and this prepares you well for the NFL.
Second, the city is a great place to be for a college student. There is opportunity to go to school in a "college" setting, live your life and be surrounded by solid people who all love the Aggies.
North Carolina has not always been a solid football program, but the school does have some notable football alumni. Names like Lawrence Taylor, Julius Peppers and Hakeem Nicks are all solid names to toss around in recruiting as players who played on the grid iron in Chapel Hill.
Butch Davis is now there, and he has NFL ties, always recruits elite talent and has won wherever he's been (he did get the Browns in the playoffs once, so that counts), and pressure is not big to win national titles since the basketball team is the end all-be all at the school.
Plus the uniforms are cool, and there is even a color named after them; come on.
BYU is still one the most attractive destinations for recruits due to the school's football tradition and culture standards.
The flagship school for players of the Mormon faith, BYU endured a golden era in the 80s under former head coach Lavell Edwards. QB recruit after QB recruit went there, ranging from Steve Young to Ty Detmer.
Today, the program is led by Bronco Mendenhall and Jake Heaps, a young QB who has been dubbed the "chisen one" as the QB to lead the Cougars back into the glory days.
Tradition, QB play and a school built on honorable customs make BYU a prime destination in college football.
Tedford is regarded as one the best QB coaches in all of football, and it just happens he's the head coach at Cal. He has tutored some of the best QBs ever to throw the pigskin in the college ranks.
David Carr, Akili Smith, Kyle Boller, Trent Dilfer and Aaron Rodgers are all former pupils. He believes in signing a QB every year and really trains his QBs on the fundamentals on the position, and watching film with him is a priceless tool.
When Boller was flirting with college bust status, Tedford came up with an idea of a game similar to chess to help Boller understand the offense and make correct reads. After working with Tedford in this manner, Boller became a first round pick.
Boston is one of the flagship cities not just on the east, but in the U.S. The town is rich to some of the most famous historical occurrences in the U.S. and the world.
The Eagles are also a program of big time history and home to Doug Flutie, who orchestrated the greatest moment in college football history in the hail mary to beat Miami.
Matt Ryan made a name for himself in Beantown, and Frank Spazziani continues to lead a solid football program that is tough in a city known for toughness.
To live in Boston, a famous city and play football on scholarship? Seems like a good deal.
George O'Leary has done a remarkable job of first redeeming himself from the embarrassing situation at Notre Dame and building the UCF program into a team that beat Georgia in a bowl game.
O'Leary has attacked the recruiting trail hard and had the Golden Knights right in the thick of the recruiting race for Lamar Dawson until the very end. The program will only continue growing and has begun to upgrade their facilities.
Plus, Orlando is a great city, and it even has Disney World right down the road.
Sometimes recruits like playing in small college towns that focus on the school and where the school is the focal point of the town. Other times, recruits want to play in major cities with big locations in big markets.
If you're that type of recruit and you play QB or WR, then Houston should be a big time option for you. You can play in a big city in Houston and in an offense that pretty much has never even heard of running the ball.
The Cougars have had QBs throw a 4 and 5,000 yards and multiple receivers go over 1,000 yards in their offense on the regular. Why not head to Houston, a big city, and put up some serious numbers?
H-Town; think about it.
Westwood is home to UCLA, and sits on the west side of Los Angeles, which is prime to sunshine, breeze and many beaches. UCLA's campus is a gorgeous site to see and is right off the famous 405 freeway and just down the street from Beverly Hills in Los Angeles.
Recruits fall in love with the UCLA campus, evidenced by Tony Steward briefly, but very seriously, considering making a move out west before he chose Clemson.
This has to be an attractive destination for recruits: a great campus, UCLA's education, living in Los Angeles and playing in a big time market.
You ever watch a Cal game and see those fans sitting on top of the stadium where the trees are and wearing those goofy yellow and navy striped shirts? Well, the stadium is at a location called "Strawberry Canyon" and is rich in tradition.
Some fans even camp out in the trees that surround the stadium on Fridays before the games and tailgate all weekend long. The stadium sits on top of a steep hill that you gotta drive up, but once you do, you can see nearly all of Northern California from it.
Plus there's a great pizza place right down the road in the middle of town and the area is home to some gorgeous homes.
I grew to love North Jersey when I lived there working for the NFL, and the chance to head back would be a relished one. North Jersey is basically an extension of Manhattan, as NYC is just right across the bridge. The commute is easy and only takes 20 minutes tops. Only annoying thing are the pay tolls.
Anyhow, Piscataway is home to Rutgers, led by Greg Schiano. The support of the program by fan base around North Jersey is great, as even when I went to Giants and Jets games in the Meadowlands, it was not a shock to see a few red "R" flags flying in the parking lots.
Greg Schiano is a great coach, and Rutgers is the flagship school in the state ad region, which allows it so sign some good talent and tough players.
Plus New York is right across the way. Football and New York City? Come on.
Living in Las Vegas, you realize there is actually a city inside the world of hotels and casinos and night life. UNLV has a campus that sits literally across the street from the airport, which allows for easy travel in and out.
The Las Vegas high schools have a ton of raw talent that always looks to stay home first. When I worked with high school players in Vegas, I realized that getting a scholarship to UNLV was the most desirable thing because they could stay home, attend college for free and play football.
Las Vegas is one of the most notable cities in the country, Los Angeles is a just few hours away and so is Phoenix. The attractiveness of this destination is underrated.
Skip Holtz says he took the USF job because he firmly believes the program is a sleeping giant. Just a few years ago, the Bulls were ranked No.2 in the country.
A young program still, Holtz took over for Jim Leavitt, who left the program with the arrow pointing up. In the middle of one of the three biggest recruiting hotbed states in the country, USF is poised to take off.
They can recruit and sign some top talent in the state of Florida alone and are located in lovely Tampa. Home games are played at Raymond James Stadium.
Norman is home to Bob Stoops and his Oklahoma Sooner football program, with one of the flagship programs in all of college football.
Not much a big or flashy city, Norman really focuses on OU, which is its primary function. Stoops is almost to the status of mayor of the town and has the city fully behind him and the Sooner football team.
Norman is an attractive destination also because of the great Sooner football tradition from years past. The Sooners had a legendary coach in Bud Wilkinson and some of the top dynasties from the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s.
Stanford's campus is collectively known as "The Farm" around Northern California, and it is home to some of the most gorgeous homes you'll ever see. Palo Alto is right down the street, there is great weather and beaches are very close nearby.
Couple that with a free scholarship to play the gorgeous game of football and get a degree from Stanford University, and you are set for life. Tiger Woods, Jim Plunkett, John Elway are notable alumni, and even Andrew Luck passed up on being the top pick in the draft to come back.
It's just a special and unique but highly attractive destination in college football.
When you are asked to do the I, you're big time. This one of the most prestigious honors and traditions in all of college football, and the Buckeye faithful take it pretty seriously every home game.
The Horsehoe is a site to see in the fall on Saturdays and a special place to be. The Ohio State football program is one of the most storied in all of sports, and to partake in one of their traditions is a great honor.
100,000+ pack the Horsehoe for games and they all wait to see to the dotting of the I and who will get to do it every game.
Washington plays in Husky Stadium and it has that old stadium feel to it, where you watch games and see the track surface surrounding the field like stadiums in the old days.
The Stadium gets extremely loud and can confuse and annoy visiting teams. It fueled the Huskies' victory over USC in 2009, and they adapt the Seahawks' 12 man mantra.
Seeing the Huskies play live, running out with those gold helmets, the crowd going crazy in Seattle is one of the most attractive destinations in college football.
Clemson's Memorial Stadium is more commonly known as Death Valley, and the atmosphere is electric on Saturday nights for home games. It's common to see a sea of orange and purple, rants and chants, and Tiger paw print flags around the stadium.
The stadium packs over 80,000 rabid fans who are known to be loud and passionate for their Tigers. Score a touchdown here, and the place all but erupts in cheer and acclaim for the Tigers.
Score a touchdown here against South Carolina, and the place literally starts to shake from excitement.
Touch that rock and head on out on the field.
Autzen Stadium is one the most loudest places to play in college football bar none. Fans are rabid, passionate and ridiculously vocal.
The Ducks' mascot comes out on a motorcycle, smoke and all, and the place goes wild. There's a high paced, fast tempo offense, lots of touchdowns and lots of cheer.
Eugene, Oregon is a college town that prides itself on cheering for the Ducks and being the loudest stadium in the college football world.
If you're a visiting team, chances are you won't be able to hear yourself think.
The Big Red do it big on Saturdays in the fall. Cornhusker football is a way of life in the state, and the Red N on the helmet is as much a symbol for the school as it is for people that make up state's population.
There's great tailgating, and the fans are extremely knowledgeable of the team. They can sit and talk you about Tommy Frazier for a minute and then compare him to Taylor Martinez, then talk with you about how the Cornhuskers are doing in the recruiting phase of the program.
They come from all over the state to cheer on Nebraska and not just Omaha. If you want your fan base to be passionate and knowledgeable, then Nebraska is for you.
Penn State is not truly known as a sexy, recruiting juggernaut, but there is a good reason why the Nittany Lions are always competing for Big-Ten titles: good coaching and evaluation of talent.
JoePa and his assistants know what kind of players they want at the program: smart, tough, coachable and character guys. They go after players that fit the program and from good families that entrust their sons be looked after by Paterno.
The school is also a staple of college football history and has won its share of Rose Bowls, national titles and famous alumni.
You want to go to a program on the rise? You want to go get coached by some of the best in college football? Play and live in a big market?
Go to TCU. Period. This is one the best and most attractive destinations in college football, and that is not because people are still riding high off their Rose bowl win over Wisconsin.
Gary Patterson is one the best coaches in college football, runs a unique 3-3-5 defensive scheme and finds players that want to be Horned Frogs. He recruits toughness, speed, instincts and versatility to get players to come play in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.
Doesn't hurt that now they will be in a BCS conference either.
The Warriors are a lot like Houston, as they run a pass happy Run 'N' Shoot offense and can hang with anyone in the country offensively. Yet they're located in Hawaii...Hawaii.
What's better than heading over to the islands, getting an education, and scoring a few points? It's like vacation combined with football, with a little school too.
June Jones did prove that you can win at Hawaii, taking the Warriors to the Sugar Bowl in 2007, so winning at the program is possible and has been proven. Plus, the high school ranks have a wealth of talent to recruit from.
Mack Brown's office makes the list as if you've made it here, chances are you're part of Texas' football program, which is a prestigious honor and privilege.
Brown does a great job of making all those around him feel comfortable, which surely helps in recruiting. He's a people person with a cool grandpa feel to him that always knows what to say and how to say it.
His office sits in the area of out next slide...
Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium is the largest stadium in the State of Texas and also the Big 12. It seats over 100,000 people and is home to the Longhorns on fall Saturdays.
Texas plays on field turf and has a Godzillatron, which is reportedly the first HD jumbo screen of its kind. On campus, the football offices are inside plush settings with great architecture that consistently gets upgraded on call.
The weight room is large and spacious, there is an indoor facility for practices, and the football wings look amazing on that side of the building.
The Broncos have become one of the best college football programs in the game today and are known for their home field turf, which is a keen blue.
Legend has it that Boise State chose to go with blue turf to make it tougher on opponents who were watching film on them at home. They could blend in with the field and hide on film, disguising packages and player alignments.
Today, the blue turf has life of its own and is so famous that Chip Kelly painting his practice field blue to prepare Oregon to play Boise State.
They say it is one of the most historic entrances in all of college football, and the Vol fans say it is an honor and privilege to do it.
Running through the The Pride of The Southland's T formation onto the field in Neyland Stadium as a Volunteer football player is an envious privilege.
The Band sets up on the North side of the stadium, blasting the school fight song, opens up the T, and out come the Volunteers, with the Neyland Stadium crowd erupting in cheer and praise.
Gives you goosebumps.
Walking up and down Heritage Hall at USC is like walking down the Hall of Fame of college football. It gives you chills to see all the history, Heismans, retired numbers and greatness that has been at USC through the years.
It really is a must see and a tool to use in help selling recruits on the program. There's pictures of former and current USC players all around, Heisman Trophies in view, legendary coaches in action shots and everything else possible to remind you of the tradition and allure of USC.
It truly is a must see.
Athens is home to Georgia and the Bulldogs football program, and the tailgating around Sanford Stadium is crazy. Fans are passionate, and they all await the Dawg Walk.
The Redcoats lead the team through a packed gathering of Bulldog supporters encouraging and cheering them as they walk to Sanford Stadium preparing to play.
The tradition was lost, but when Mark Richt was named coach in 2001, he immediately revived and re-implemented it into Georgia game day tradition.
Saban's office is kind of creepy form what I've been told. He has an automatic door that opens and closes and sits behind a huge desk in a huge chair.
But its an attractive destination because for one, Saban is the top college football coach in the country in my opinion, and two, Alabama is an elite program.
Making it into Saban's office may or may not be a bad thing, but it is an attractive destination nevertheless.
Seeing a sea of orange and blue fans, rabid about their team in a humid climate in the late summer is annoying...if you're on the opposing team. If you're on the home team, then you're dong the Gator chomp right with the fans.
The people of Gainesville love their Gators, even more so than the nearby Jaguars. Seeing The Swamp come alive on Saturdays is a crazy site, as the stadium can get plenty loud from cheering and Gator dominance.
Florida fans know their team and their expectations are always high. Seeing the Gators play at The Swamp is one of the prime time things to see in all of college football.
Blacksburg is electric in the fall on Saturdays, true. But Blacksburg is just downright insane on Thursday night ESPN games. It's a tradition in itself and has ESPN always featuring the Hokies on Thursdays a few times a season.
The school takes pride in being the Thursday night featured game, and the fans pack in tight.
Then they wait...and wait...and wait until Metallica's "Enter Sandman" starts as they then start doing the Hokie Bounce. Imagine a whole stadium of Hokie supporters jumping up and down as Metallica blasts out the speakers all around the stadium.
Then, as the song starts to really revv up, Frank Beamer leads the VaTech Football team onto the field to screams and pretty much the entire student body welcoming their Hokie squad onto the field of play.
Gene Chizik always preaches about the Auburn program being a program based on family and family values. That is evidenced by the famous Tiger Walk.
Thousands of the supporters of Auburn football line Donahue Avenue to greet and cheer he team as the move from the Auburn sports complex over to prepare to play at Jordan-Haire stadium. Former coach Doug Barfield started and organized the walk in the 60s, and now it is a staple of Auburn home games.
War Eagle.
Orgeron is known as one the greatest recruiters ever to work in college football and has worked at USC, Miami, been the head coach at Ole Miss and the defensive line coach with the Saints.
He's a Cajun with a booming and loud voice that goes well with young recruits. Seeing him work the phones, tell stories and sell a kid on why coming to USC is best for him in his office is quite rare, as Orgeron likes to hit the trail himself.
Lane Kiffin told a story this past NSD on how he wanted to stop to get something to eat while he and Orgeron were out recruiting and Orgeron said "No, we have slim jims right here".
What a trooper.
Bryant-Denny Stadium is among the top facilities in both the south and the country, and Alabama routinely upgrades and invests in its sports complex in facilities. The Tide's facilities are flatout standouts.
Alabama has put in tens of millions of dollars into making its sports facilities among the tops in the country. Everything is state of the art, spacious, accessible and extremely clean. The football halls have a giant weight room, a cafeteria, film rooms, and the locker room is huge in itself.
The facilities in Tuscaloosa surely help sell recruits on becoming part of the Crimson Tide.
Right of College Street and Magnolia in Auburn, Alabama is a spot that rolls into Auburn University from downtown Auburn. It's a staple of the university and as much of the university as the Dean's office is.
It's called "Toomer's Corner" in honor of Sheldon Toomer who founded the Bank of Auburn. Toomer's Drugs is a store that has been there for over 130 years and a landmark not just of Auburn, but Alabama as well.
The corner is also host to two giant oak trees, which are always subject to toilet paper being tossed over them in tradition of great success for Auburn University.
The trees were fatally poisoned by a rival Alabama fan in February and likely will die within the next two years, which is one of the most awful moments and occurrences in college football history.
The Ducks facilities always get talked about by everyone and anyone that sees and visits Oregon. Even Terrelle Pryor was mesmerized by the Ducks' facilities and seriously considered heading to Oregon.
Phil Knight always pours money into the program, which takes advantage and routinely upgrades its look and campus design. The Football offices and complex is remarkable, the basketball gym is unique and Autzen Stadium will never get old.
Neither will the Ducks' football uniforms.
LSU's home field is also known as Death Valley like Clemson's too. The atmosphere on Saturday nights in Death Valley has been called on the very elite customs in all of college football.
They even bring out a real tiger...a real...freaking, tiger! Ray Drew and Tim Jernigan came back from their LSU visits beaming about the gameday atmosphere in Baton Rouge. Bear Bryant even went on record to say that Tiger Stadium is the worst place to play if you are a visiting team.
Teams have communication problems, the noise is over the top loud and the fans get after you until they see a Tiger victory.
The Big house was first built in 1927 for just over $900,000. Today, it sees and holds an upwards of 111,000 Michigan fans gearing to cheer Big Blue on.
Although the program fell on some rough times under Rich Rodriguez, Michigan remained and remains one of the flagship programs in all of college football. The Maize and Blue have passionate fans and alumni who all view coach Bo Schembechler as the godfather of Big Blue football.
The Big House has seen a lot of history over the years and repeated history, such as when Charles Woods posed for the Heisman in the same manner Desmond Howard did years before him.
The SEC championship is kind of routinely the mini-national championship game every year. History shows that if you win the SEC, you basically are ensured a spot in the national title game.
That is why you always hear SEC coaches with national title hopes saying "we need to win the conference first", because getting to SEC championship game is extremely tough as it is.
But once you win your division and are bound for Atlanta, the atmosphere is spectacular and a must see in all of college football.
Los Angeles is home to both USC and UCLA with the Trojans currently being the dominat team. There is no NFL team in the market, and if a recruit comes here and plays well, they immediately achieve rock star status.
Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart were the toast of the town along with the USC teams in the middle 2000s. Many knew this was in direct result from no pro team to share the spotlight with.
Also, Los Angeles is the second largest media market in the country, enjoys great weather, is a huge city and does like its football, believe it or not.
Notre Dame Stadium probably could host a bowl game if it really pushed for it, since so much history has been associated with Notre Dame and the stadium since the start of college football.
Walking on the field gives you a sense of accomplishment, tradition and also chills. No, not from the cold South Bend weather in the fall, but just being at Notre Dame and on the field where legends played.
The Irish are the staple tradition of college football, and their field is the classic field to play on.
Meeting with Tressel is just like meeting with Mack Brown, and Brown could have easily been at this slot. Yet since Tressel's team won a BCS bowl and Brown's didn't play in a bowl, game Tressel gets the nod.
Tressel is known as a coach who genuinely cares about the well being of his players and works with them to improve off the field as much as he does on the field.
If he were not a football coach, I think Tressel would have been a great Director of Player Development in the NFL, where he could help players stay out of trouble and do great things in their off the field endeavors.
The Los Angeles Menmorial Coliseum is old, it's kind of run down and it's very, very cool. It sits right off the 100 freeway in Los Angels and has been host to some of the top sports moments in history.
Its hosted a couple Olympiads, Super Bowls and historic Raider games. It has also hosted some of the very most exciting high school football games in California history.
Yet it is home to USC and its football team. The Coliseum lights up on Saturdays and sees Trojan fans in excess of 90,000 pack the stadium to see the Cardinal and Gold play.
Combine the history of the stadium itself along with the history of USC, and you've got a special setting.
Recruits fall in love with Miami's campus as they see the sunshine, palm trees, blue skies and great talent around them. Former offensive lineman Jaoqcin Gonzalez said he wasn't even thinking about Miami, but when he came to the campus for his visit and saw everything in person, he was sold.
The campus is small and the facilities need upgrading some, but it is still one the most attractive destinations in college football. South Beach, college education, football, big market, South Florida, Miami Vice...come on now.
Not to mention two of the greatest dynasties in college football history.
Again, with Notre Dame, you have to respect the tradition. Sure, much of it has come in year's past, and the Irish haven't won a big time bowl game; sure, you're right.
But Notre Dame is college football and you have to respect the history and greatness that has come from there locker rooms. Then there is the sign "Play like a champion today".
Tapping that before you head out, knowing some of the biggest names in all of college football history have done the same, as you put on the gold helmet has to be an attractive destination for a recruit.
The Rose is the "Grandaddy of 'em all" and is the largest BCS bowl game aside from the national title game. UCLA plays their home games there, and the stadium is historic in its own right.
The Dallas Cowboys won a Super Bowl in the 90s there, and it was also host to perhaps the greatest college football game in recent memory in the USC-Texas national championship game in 2006.
It has hosted two Olympiads and even two World Cup Finals. Opened in 1922, it currently seats nearly 93,000 people.
Where else do you want to end up at if you are a recruit? You end up here, and you've done something special at the school you ultimately chose to attend. This is the crowning achievement for any player that played college football.
Making it here means you are one the best to ever play and did very well for yourself and your university. Established in 1951, the CFB HOF is in South Bend, Indiana and is home 829 players and 178 coaches who are among the forever elite naes of college football.
This is has to be No.1 and most aspired place to be on the 50 most attractive destinations in college football.
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