Is the state of Mississippi THAT far behind Alabama in terms of overall talent?

[Token Bammer]

Again, go back and look at early classes. Saban slowly transitioned that. The entire early run was done with Alabama players, then once he had that national title he could scale that down and go get whoever he wanted. I thought it was a mistake at the time but he's been able to maintain it. He's one of the few that really can IMO.

2007: 14
2008: 18
2009: 10
2010: 9
2011: 7
2012: 7
2013: 7
2014: 6
2015: 7
2016: 6
2017: 8

Can't really look at 2007 much because he had very little time to recruit. Lucky for Alabama and Saban, the 2008 class was loaded in state and he was able to clean up both in state and in our region. Plus, he was able to go up to Michigan and sign an underrated Mark Ingram away from Michigan State. The 2008 class was unreal and many played immediately. Ironic as it is, the 2008 class really started with a five star talent from Mobile named BJ Scott. Once BJ committed (was truly the first big in state talent to fall that year) everyone in state started jumping on Alabama. BJ was a great recruiter and was very influential with the other kids. BJ never panned out at Alabama, but if he were to commit elsewhere the 2008 class never would have been what it was and the Saban/Alabama train would have been a lot slower to get rolling. One recruit really turned the Tide, so to speak. He committed very early in the cycle and that helped as well.