Saw this the other day and thought it was a very well done piece by Sports Illustrated's Andy Staples, who undoubtedly had plenty of help putting stuff together.

Of special interest to Auburn recruiting fans and general map aficionados like myself was this: a map of the Tigers' recruits from 2004-08 on display thanks to the power of our future overlords, Google.

The general theme of the story is that schools recruit close to home more than anything else, hence Gene Chizik's statement earlier this month that Alabama will be a priority. This is true of almost any school, except, of the maps I've looked at, Southern California and Notre Dame, which have a more national scope to their targets.

BUT, take a look at Auburn's targets this year, many of which are from Texas, a state Auburn hasn't gone near in the last four years (according to the map, 2005 DT Brian West is the only Texas recruit). Obviously, the Tigers coaches are using their connections from their time in those areas to get through to some of these kids, something I wouldn't imagine would continue for too long in the future considering the importance of competing with Alabama on the homefront.

Again, this is nothing groundbreaking, just an interesting visual way to present Auburn's recruiting focus the last five years.