By Spencer McLaughlin of Locked on CFB for SuperWest Sports

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Recruiting is often referred to as the “lifeblood” of a school’s college football program.

For those that are either geographically isolated or lack a rich tradition with which to sell to recruits out on the trail, recruiting can be an area that is hard to keep up with.

Unfortunately, some schools in the Conference of Champions fall into this category and struggle to bring in the sorts of players that regularly roll through programs like USC and Oregon.

On this episode of Locked On Pac-12, I’m joined by John Garcia Jr., director of recruiting for Sports Illustrated, and we take a look at the toughest places to recruit in the Pac-12, due at least in part to the aforementioned reasons.

For schools like Washington State and Colorado, it’s much tougher to get the pieces to fall into place for a 10+ win season. It is possible, but recruiting difficulties are a major reason why they don’t happen very often.

As programs, Cal and Oregon State also find themselves in positions where their coaching staffs have to make the most out of generally inferior rosters.

Finally, we discuss the borderline disastrous situation in Tempe for the Arizona State Sun Devils and Herm Edwards.

After the NCAA launched an investigation into recruiting violations, Edwards has completely reloaded on assistant coaches and is searching for momentum on the recruiting trail—but lately, ASU has been coming up empty.

Luckily for the immediate future, Arizona State has had great success in the transfer portal, adding 14 players from other schools in 2022, while adding just nine incoming true freshmen.