Nothing we did not know... some of the fans won't believe it, but it is true.

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Despite the gameday experience, the SWAC still faces other unique challenges in recruiting. The biggest could be the difficulty recruiting at a historically black college or university. Gregory Ruffin, a former recruiting coordinator at Jackson State, remembers it being difficult to do because the available talent pool was limited.


“We (were) recruiting kids that are Division-II football players, because your best black kids and best white kids go to big schools,” said Ruffin, who now coaches at Paine College in Georgia. “Your second-best black kid goes to a junior college or FCS school. Your second-best white kid goes to the Samfords and Jacksonville States. We never got to tap into the other side of it.”



Jackson State featured two standout white players last season, quarterback Clayton Moore and safety Cameron Loeffler, but the Tigers had a predominantly black roster. MVSU recruited players of all races while Morgan was there, but he admitted “we didn’t come into contact with a whole lot of white players.” Hopson said it “wasn’t impossible but wasn’t easy” to recruit white players to an HBCU.


Another issue for the SWAC is that it doesn’t participate in the FCS playoff system. The conference’s emphasis on the Bayou Classic, which annually pits Southern against Grambling State, prevents it from being in the playoffs. That further limits TV exposure and the lack of a postseason hurts in recruiting.


“Why would I go there when I’m playing in the so-called ‘SWAC Bowl?’” said Ruffin, who coached at Jackson State for six seasons under recently fired coach Rick Comegy. “West Alabama has beaten us on kids. West Georgia has beaten us for kids. They’ve beaten us because we can’t play for a national championship. You’ll only get kids that have SWAC ties because of it.”

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pb...=2014301190041