Since the landscape is changing; we should look at how the current football staff needs to adjust its recruiting focus. The DC/Baltimore metro area as well as the New Jersey/New York areas are recruiting grounds that have historically been strong for PSU; but now that MD and Rutgers are joining the B10, we need to look at how we can pillage this area for recruits as well. I don't want to get into a discussion between which are the best states for football recruiting; but will provide that a prep school in NJ is just as good/better as one of the best ranked schools in Florida or Texas (which has been proven on the field by Don Bosco Prep - NJ both this and last year). Additionally, it has been proven that a MD private/prep school is just as good as a NJ prep school (see Don Bosco Prep - NJ vs Gilman - MD 2012). None of these teams blew the other team out, to my recollection; so I am of the opinion that talent levels of top high schools from many regions around the country are about the same. Thus, we should not continue with a Florida-centric recruiting bias. That being said, Purdue needs to start recruiting the top schools in these regions; which unlike Indiana and Florida, tend to be private Catholic or prep schools. I am born and raised in MD, have played against some of these schools, so I can attest that these schools are consistently top schools in the region, playing at a high level, as opposed to a Public 4A school that might be good for a couple years here and there, but lack the consistency of say, an Indy school like Ben Davis.



So, here are the top 5 Maryland Private Schools per USA Today's local rankings: 1. Good Council / 2. Gilman / 3. DeMatha / 4. Calvert Hall / 5. St. Paul's / and 15. Mt St. Joseph; of these the top three are always top programs, and I added 15. Mt St. Joseph as they seem to be having a bad year, but are usually in that top 5 discussion. I also mentioned that Don Bosco Prep of NJ is one of NJs top programs, but I am not familiar enough with the NJ high school landscape to know who are top-5 contenders in that region year in and year out. Coach Hope, etc all, please take note, start talking to the coaches at these programs, and do the homework on the NJ schools!!!