Recruiting was a consistent theme at CIAA Football Media Day on Thursday in Durham. From Virginia State coach Byron Thweatt talking about maintaining a base in Virginia to Johnson C. Smith’s Kermit Blount and WSSU’s Kienus Boulware (playfully) battling for Charlotte, it was the one thing coaches were remarkably candid about.
While the majority of the CIAA’s schools are in North Carolina and Virginia, much of its talent comes from the DC Metro Area, also known as The DMV (Washington DC, Maryland, Northern Virginia). Eight of the CIAA’s top 25 student-athletes hail from this area.
Seven members hail from the Commonwealth of Virginia, including six from the talent-rich Tidewater area that has been the heart of CIAA country since it was founded in 1912.
The state of North Carolina also produced six preseason all-conference players from the Coastal region as well as the Piedmont. A solid but surprising number given the fact that half of the conference calls the Tarheel State home.
South Carolina (2), Georgia, and Florida also produced all-conference level talent despite not having a foothold in those states.