Why the Future Looks Bright for Football in the Sunshine State

Having grown up in the Sunshine State, Eric Poms, Chief Executive Officer of the Capital One Orange Bowl, is used to being surrounded by good football.

From Bobby Bowden at Florida State to Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer at Florida and the Miami dynasty of the 1980s and early 1990s, the big three have all been marquee programs in the sport.

But what's going on now in the state is largely unprecedented, as the other major schools are looking to make their mark as well. With Charlie Strong the new head coach at South Florida, Butch Davis at Florida International and Lane Kiffin at Florida Atlantic, there's a different kind of buzz vibrating throughout the state.

"You can feel it," Poms said. "You can sense the excitement and the energy that's come with these hires."

That's on top of Jimbo Fisher at FSU, Jim McElwain's taking Florida to the SEC Championship Game in both of his first two seasons, Mark Richt's return to his alma mater at Miami and Scott Frost at UCF.

Each of the seven Bowl Subdivision head coaches in the state has won a national championship as a player or assistant coach. Fisher is the only one to do so as a head coach (2013), but they've all had a lot of success.

"It's reflective of the passion that college football has in the state and the draw this state has with all of football, whether it's youth, high school, college or the professional ranks," Poms said. "So it doesn't surprise me that the universities that participate at the FBS level are investing in high-quality coaches to take their programs to the heights of their respective conferences and the national landscape."

Although the traditional powers Florida, Florida State and Miami obviously have a lot going for them, combining to go 28-11 last season, the other schools do as well.

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For example, total enrollment at South Florida is 49,591. It's approximately 55,000 at FIU and 64,318 at UCF. With all three in major television markets, the potential exists for them to someday join Power Five conferences.

Plus, Florida is a state that seemingly can't get enough of the sport. It boasts three National Football League franchises and frequently hosts the Super Bowl, and this past season there were nine bowl games played within its borders, plus the national championship game.

According to USA Football, Florida had more players on NFL rosters during opening weekend for the 2016 season than any other state with 202, beating out California (192) and Texas (187). Miami led the list of most popular hometown with 27 players, and St. Thomas Aquinas topped all high schools with nine.

"It's crazy, there's no doubt about it," Fisher said during a press conference at the Orange Bowl, where Florida State pulled off a remarkable 33-32 victory over Michigan. "Florida has always kind of been that way just because of the number of players. You can't sign them all, and people have connections out of the state so much, so it makes it a very challenging state to recruit."

While it'll be fun to watch the coaches go head-to-head on the field, as a number of them have each other on the schedule, it's in recruiting where college football could see a significant change in the landscape.

According to Scout.com's rankings, only six of the state's top 25 players are slated to stay in-state this year. Four are committed to Florida State (CB Stanford Samuels III, DE Joshua Kaindoh, WR D.J. Matthews and RB Zaquandre White), with one each headed to Florida (DE Zachary Carter) and Miami (OT Navaughn Donaldson).

One could make the case that Alabama and Ohio State recruited better there than the home schools this past year.

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Alabama landed the top two prospects (OT Alex Leatherwood and LB Dylan Moses), two more in the top 10 (LB VanDarius Cowan and WR Jerry Jeudy), plus another in the top 25 (S Daniel Wright)—and it's still in the running for two more (DE Jarez Parks and ATH Christopher Henderson).

Ohio State has landed four of the state's top 25 players (CBs Shaun Wade and Marcus Williamson, WR Trevon Grimes and S Isaiah Pryor). Other schools plucking top players out of the Sunshine State are Texas A&M, Michigan, Notre Dame, Louisville and LSU.

But that's nothing new.

Last year only two of the two 10 prospects stayed close to home, and the year before just four.

Even when the local teams had better showings, football fans in the Sunshine State could still wonder "What if?" For example, in 2011, what if safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, wide receiver Sammy Watkins and quarterback Teddy Bridgewater had all decided to go to one in-state school instead of Alabama, Clemson and Louisville, respectively?

Shutting down the exodus as much as possible will be a top priority for all the coaches, but it won't be easy. Meyer still has strong ties there, and even though Alabama lost assistant coach Mario Cristobal, the former head coach at FIU who just became the co-offensive coordinator at Oregon, Nick Saban will continue to draw top-end talent.

Saban's known for it, even going back to when he was the head coach at Michigan State (1995-99). Former wide receiver Herb Haygood, who was recruited out of Sarasota, said one most often heard joke in the Spartans locker room was about how Saban loved his Florida guys.

That team included wide receiver Gari Scott and running back Sedrick Irvin. At LSU you're talking about wide receiver Dwayne Bowe, linebacker Ali Highsmith and cornerback Travis Daniels. One of Alabama's Heisman Trophy winners, Derrick Henry, was from the Sunshine State, as were fellow running back Trent Richardson and prolific wide receiver Amari Cooper.

"He's always looking for an edge," said Haygood, now the wide receivers coach at Eastern Michigan, about Saban's prolific recruiting.

"I think it just works out that way," Saban said. "There are a lot of good players in Florida."

Consequently, the stay-at-home push has already begun. It's why Strong said, "Florida is a state where football is king," Davis declared, "I love this opportunity—why not us?" and Kiffin called the talent base "a very attractive part of the job" during their introductory press conferences.

Strong already has a good track record from his days as a high-profile assistant coach at Florida (2003-09). Davis led Miami to a No. 2 finish in 2000 and recruited South Florida very well for the Hurricanes. As for Kiffin, one never knows what he's going to do except make headlines.

The combination will make football in the state very interesting moving forward and potentially bring it to a whole new level.

"There's certainly a lot to build with," Poms said.

"It is a special time."

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

Christopher Walsh is a national college football columnist for Bleacher Report. Follow Christopher on Twitter: @WritingWalsh.