I'm sure they aren't going anywhere but yeah didn't SEP have a RB that left them for Dowling a few yrs ago I forget his name. SEP Ankeny Urbandale Waukee all those burbs used to lose a stud or 2 to the recruiting of Dowling. But maybe some of these kids aren't doing that anymore. There's just more talent I think too. Let's not sell central Iowa short. There's a boat load of D1 talent being churned out. Case in point ISU is getting some now mostly because Iowa can't take em all
I don't think the Catholic schools are as strong as they used to be or able to recruit like they used to. The $$$$ of attending is outrageous anymore so the mere numbers of students is declining at many. Where are they going....................many students are opting to attend the public burb schools. I realize that when they recruit a player, they most likely help with much of the $$$$, but my point is that those schools just don't seem to be on a pedestal like they used to be. Many of these public schools are now able to keep the talent and be quite competitive with quality athletes and depth.
Families that can afford to are always going to flock to live on the outside/burbs of a city and those areas become quite affluent. SEP, Waukee, Ankeny and Liberty High in North Liberty all benefit from this. The families that live in those areas are the families that can often afford to have their children play on youth club/travel/AAU teams and afford to pay for many lessons for various sports. This is why those teams have such an advantage. Also, add into that the quality depth on teams because of that. These teams often have 2 deep players that would start on many other HS teams in the state. When you can bring a 2 or 3 deep player in and not have that much of a fall off, it's such an advantage. Your players can play balls to the walls with that depth and the coach doesn't have to worry about the team getting exhausted. Plug and play, plug and play.
Another huge advantage now that I think about it is the quality of the coaching for these teams. These areas often have ex athletes, many who have played in college, live in these areas/burbs. I grew up in a small town. In a smaller town you would have your teacher/coach who's been there for 30 years coaching along with some random guys to help coordinate and help in practices. In the burb areas, you have these ex collegiate athletes who live and are assistant coaches. The depths of these quality coaches is a huge benefit and the kids get so much instruction. They prepare like college teams. They run their practices like college teams. They run their schemes like college teams. The depth of quality coaching at these schools can't be overlooked. Sometimes there is more of a connection with the athletes and the assistant coaches because they spend more time with their position coaches than the head coach, even in HS at these schools. At many other schools, the connection is with the head coach and the other coaches are just there to help and monitor drills or keep things going.