College Football Recruiting: 6 Sleeping Giant Powerhouse Recruiting Schools

With recruiting, we have the normal juggernauts that are the Alabamas, USCs, Florida States, LSUs, Texas, Ohio States, Michigans and Notre Dames among others.

They gobble up prospects year after year, are always inside the top 10 and get the most talent. For this read, I want to give you six schools that I think are sleeping giants that could soon join the powerhouse recruiting schools.

Come inside and see who could be next in line to dominate the trail.

5 & 6: This Mississippi Schools

The State of Mississippi is a talent-rich state that has a lot of good prospects all through it. Last year we saw players like Quay Evans, Channing Ward and Nick James among others that were among the top tier prospects nationally.

This year, Antonio Conner is an elite recruit that from the state. Ole Miss has a new coach in Hugh Freeze and Dan Mullen has turned MSU into a respectable program in just a few short years.

If both men can win a few games and continue working the state, they could start to gobble up some major Mississippian talent.

4. North Carolina

Butch Davis was on his way to making UNC a daunting recruiting opponent for rival schools, but then he got fired because of the alleged academic and agent scandal.

However, if Larry Fedora can translate his enthusiasm into wins then I think his charisma, the facilities at Chapel Hill and playing in a BCS conference can tap into the elite talent around the Carolina region and Atlantic region.

Then you won't see North Carolina natives like D.J. Humphries and Keith Marshall head to Florida and Georgia, respectively. 

3. Maryland

Randy Edsall did a smart thing in hiring Mike Locksley as his offensive coordinator. Locksley is a staunch recruiter and knows the Atlantic Region maybe better than he knows his own wife.

Locksley played a huge role in landing 5-star WR/ATH Stefon Diggs, who is from Maryland. 

With Maryland being surrounding by solid prospects all around the Mid-Atlantic region, Locksley will be the point man in luring good talent to College Park. Maryland has a chance to evolve into a regional power on the trail.

2. TCU

Come one now, TCU. You are stationed in Texas, won the Rose Bowl just a few seasons ago and now are officially in the Big 12, a BCS conference.

You have to grow into a recruiting powerhouse. 

TCU is now an official sleeping giant recruiting powerhouse as they can boast earlier playing time for prospects than Texas, the same BCS conference ties and a small, close-knit campus. Plus they're just a stroll away from Dallas.

Those are factors that will surely get a Texas high school football player to think twice about giving the Horned Frogs a look. 

1. UCLA

Your campus is right by the beach, in Los Angeles, you play your home games in the Rose Bowl, boast an impressive UC education and you can offer a prospect earlier potential playing time than your rival USC can since the latter school is uber-talented.

Sleeping. Giant.

I've never understood why UCLA has not been better than they have been the past several seasons. Their facilitates are nice, the football program has a solid history of winning and the Bruins are a visible program.

Jim Mora could be the man to tap into this hiding gold mine.