You hear it all the time: quarterback is the most important position in sports, let alone football, and so the success of any football team in the modern era hinges so much on finding the right guy to lead an offense on the field. Entire coaching staffs are lauded and dismantled based on finding the right guy to slot in at QB1 (looking at you, Gene Chizik and the 2010 Auburn staff).
Recruiting is an incredibly difficult aspect of the college game and the strategies at each school differ based on the staff. Your initial recruiting footprint is typically about a 200 mile circle from your campus — 200 because a recruit could conceivably drive to your campus in about three hours, get there by mid-morning, stay through the day, then arrive home at around 9 or 10 — so a lot of focus goes into recruiting the “local guys” since it’s the easiest (and cheapest) way to get recruits.