Very few have owned the state of Florida quite like Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher. The seventh-year head coach is 17-1 against in-state opponents and has made recruiting his backyard a priority.
Fisher has gone toe-to-toe with Alabama's Nick Saban, Clemson's Dabo Swinney and Ohio State's Urban Meyer when it comes to finding and signing the best talent in South Florida, which is one of the nation's recruiting hotbeds.
As Fisher was laying a foundation in South Florida, other traditional powers like Michigan failed to make a mark. Under Brady Hoke, the Wolverines did not sign a single South Florida high school football player from 2011 to 2014.
Hoke was replaced by former Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh after the 2014 season, and things quickly changed. Harbaugh has made both the state of Florida and South Florida a priority. He's either attended or orchestrated camps in Florida to draw attention. In only two years, the Wolverines have signed six South Florida players.
Fisher and Harbaugh will battle each other tonight in the Capital One Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. And coaches and current players from both teams acknowledged this week that a win would pay major dividends in recruiting for either school.
That doesn't mean Michigan is going to start signing the bulk of their classes from the Sunshine State. But could they follow the lead of Clemson, Alabama and Ohio State and start picking off a few blue-chippers every year?
"You've gotta peck away at it," Rivals national recruiting analyst Mike Farrell said. "It's not something where you are going to come in and have success right away. The weather is working against you. Distance is working against you.
"Jim Harbaugh is the biggest name in college football based on his resume. They got some good players from Florida (the last two years)."
Prior to Harbaugh's arrival, the last time Michigan signed a South Floridian came when in 2010 when it signed Demar Dorsey and Richard Ash.
The drought ended when Michigan inked three-star Delray (Fla.) Atlantic defensive end Shelton Johnson on National Signing Day in 2015. Johnson was heavily linked with FSU during the recruiting process, but Michigan amplified its efforts to get Johnson in mid-January.
Getting Johnson was viewed as a big step at the time. He was the South Florida Sun Sentinel's Big School Defensive Player of the Year. Johnson broke out with 104 tackles and 25 sacks in his senior season.
"It was more so of what Michigan did. They had a guy who knew this area in [former defensive coordinator D.J.] Durkin, who recruited guys at Florida," said T.J. Jackson, who is Johnson's former high school coach. "I think what they did is got Shelton on campus and sold him on facilities and the opportunity to come in and do great things with Harbaugh."
With Johnson on board, the Wolverines returned to South Florida that summer and began their pursuit of four-star linebacker Devin Bush Jr. Soon, the Seminoles and Wolverines were locked in a battle for the son of former FSU great Devin Bush Sr.
Later that summer, the elder Bush was invited to speak at Harbaugh's camp in Ann Arbor while Bush Jr., was unofficially touring campus. Michigan also extended offers to Bush Jr.'s teammates, Devin Gil and Josh Metellus. Gil was previously a Miami pledge, while Metellus was committed to Georgia Southern.
All three players are freshmen on Michigan's roster.
Michigan currently has one 2017 commitment from South Florida in four-star offensive lineman Kai-Leon Herbert, who was high school teammates with current FSU players Brian Burns and Tarvarus McFadden.
"You got a lot of diversity and people from all over the country that live there. They've got ties everywhere," Fisher said of recruiting South Florida. "Some kids want to stay home. Other kids who live in cities like that, they don't mind being exposed to different ways of life.
"So leaving is not a big deal. But sometimes, going to see other parts of the country and seeing things is different."
