Not sure about the weather aspect. “Top” recruits with visions of the NFL are going to have to get used to the cold at some point.
And actually Rodriguez got a lot of skilled offensive players. What he didn’t get (or spend time recruiting, evidently) was linemen and linebackers.
There has definitely been a shift away from the Big 10 this decade.
OSU still turns out a lot of NFL players, but the SEC, Big 12 and PAC 10 may be more appealing to young athletes, particularly those more prone to be defensive players.
Not sure about the weather aspect. “Top” recruits with visions of the NFL are going to have to get used to the cold at some point.
Boise St. doesn’t seem to have any problems, and Idaho is about as cold as it gets.
The problem is Michigan and Notre Dame are no longer the glamor schools they were in the past. In decades past, if you had offers from Michgan and say Mississippi St, the choice was easy—you went to Michigan. Today it’s sort of a toss up.
And there lies the real problem. Michgan and Notre Dame have to compete with many more schools for recruits, and they never developed a good recruiting program beyond “hey, we’re Notre Dame, what else do you need to know?”