I’ve been saying it until I’m Maize and Blue in the face. Some football programs just have built in advantages that make it easier to recruit. The latest figures released by USA Today support that very claim, especially for a place like Ohio State.

As a reminder, the Buckeye program is routinely hauling in top five recruiting classes in football and are a literal NFL factory. It is tied for No. 1 in producing the most NFL first round draft picks. So, clearly, Ohio State has this recruiting thing down.

What may be surprising though is that the athletic department does not allocate as much money towards recruiting as others in the country. In fact, it doesn’t even spend as much as some surprising programs in the Big Ten.

According to data released by USA TODAY, in conjunction with  Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, has analyzed recruiting data and come up with some very surprising figures.

You would expect Ohio State to spend a lot of money on its football program, especially since it makes more than almost every program out there. However, it doesn’t appear it’s anywhere close to keeping up with the Jones’ of the SEC, and even some in-conference.

The Buckeye athletic program ranked just 24th nationally in recruiting expenditures. For the 2017-2018 year, Ohio State spent less than $1 Million on recruiting, far below most schools in the SEC. Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee all spent in excess of $2 Million for the year. It begs the question of what in the Tennessee Orange is going on down in Knoxville?

But it’s not just money spent down in sweet tea and grits country that has Ohio State beat. Get this, Minnesota spent more on football recruiting than the staff in Columbus over a six-year period. Yes, I said Minnesota.

It’s changing a little bit, but there’s still a divide currently. In fact, all told, here’s four schools that thew more money at selling the program to prospects than the Buckeyes just last year.

Michigan – $1,397,784
Penn State – $1,369,428
Nebraska – $1,250,674
Minnesota – $1,081,075

When you think about it though, it makes some sense. As good of a recruiter as Urban Meyer was, he didn’t have to work as hard to sell Ohio State. It’s the most prominent university in a state that has a lot of football talent. There’s a great tradition there, and the facilities are some of the best in the country.

It’s no wonder why Ohio State is one of the best jobs in the country. This is just another example of why.