Long-term success is very hard to predict because so much of a recruits decision is based on coaches, current success, and championship possibilities. Rank your SEC schools best built for long term success factoring in location, recruiting competition, academics, campus, tradition and all other things that aren't prone to drastic change anytime soon.

My opinion:
1)LSU - No major in-state competition for recruits, more NFL players per capita than any other state, large following in east Texas, great stadium, huge fan base, decent tradition.

2)Georgia - Great talent level in state, above average academics, great campus, great city, biggest program in its state, good tradition, can grab recruits from state of Florida.

3)Florida - Location, Location, Location. Currently the state of Florida is stacked every year, even if they get out recruited by FSU some years and if out of state teams can get players from the state, UF will still be left with more than enough good athletes. Also, big stadium, multiple NCs.

4)Alabama - Above average talent in the state of Alabama, and they will always be big brother (sorry auburn). Great campus, huge stadium, ridiculously passionate fan base, great tradition. However, they have to be able to recruit Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, or Texas to have very high level success.

5)Texas A&M - High ranking also has alot to do with location, Texas has ridiculous number of good athletes every year. However they have to compete with UT every year and even LSU now. Very hard to really project A&M without seeing them in the SEC but one year.

6)South Carolina - Small state, but has produced a lot of talent lately. Has to compete with ACC schools and SEC east schools for the big time recruits. No tradition at all

7)Auburn - Really nice campus, and a huge following within the state. A lot of tradition, but nothing like Bama's. Has to compete with SEC east and West schools for recruits, but Alabama has above average talent

8)UT - nice campus, biggest stadium in the SEC, great tradition of winning, huge fan base. However, there aren't enough big time recruits in the state for them to not need to go out of state and compete with other big time schools around them.

9)Vandy - Nashville is a great city, academics unrivaled in the SEC. However, in state recruits choose UT over them and even UT needs to go out of state. Small stadium, no tradition.

10)Ole Miss - in state recruits will choose them over MSU but the recruits are limited and the top level in-state guys often choose other schools, completely surrounded by SEC schools. Good base in Memphis, Decent tradition, passionate fans, but they will always have a bad stigma to African American football players especially with the presence of the rebel flag. I can't remember the title of the book but there was a book written about Ole Miss recruiting when Orgeron was there and the book talks about how much of a struggle it was to get rid of that bad stigma. Its often a question from African American recruits parents.

11)Arkansas - Not nearly enough recruits in state to be able to stay in state. High level in state recruits leave the state.

12)Kentucky - not enough in state talent, average tradition, always a basketball school first

13)Missouri - no in state talent, competes with Big 12 schools for less than SEC talent. No tradition. Good academics...?

14)MSU - little brother to Ole Miss, not enough in state talent, can't compete recruiting with OM AU UA LSU. Small stadium, average academics, no tradition. Biggest jumbo screen...?

Hard to predict A&M and Mizzou. Just my rankings. Thoughts?

This post was edited on 6/11/13 at 1:33 pm