Hoarding in-state talent, or “closing down the borders,” often is cited as the top recruiting objective of every major program.

Sometimes it’s overvalued or unrealistic. But it’s nonetheless bandied about as a crucial first step in establishing a strong, sustainable program and keeping local fans happy.

All states are not created equal. The prep talent in Kentucky doesn’t compare to the prep talent in Texas or Florida. And Arkansas is the only major program in that state, whereas Auburn must share a state with Alabama (and is within a reasonable drive of programs like Georgia, Tennessee and Florida).

Still, history shows us that the local kids usually are the ones that are the easiest sells. If your program is going strong, typically you are going to sign a majority of the top nearby talent.

Out of curiosity, we decided to find out how well each of the SEC coaches have done at keeping top in-state talent.

METHODOLOGY

To do so, we looked at the top 10 in-state players based on the 247Sports composite rankings, which combine all four major recruiting services.

We looked at how many top 10 in-state players each SEC head coach has signed during the course of his current tenure. In other words, Bret Bielema has signed 23 of the 40 qualifying players since he became coach at Arkansas — good enough for 57.5 percent.

As we mentioned, not all situations are created equal. So we decided to share the results via several different tiers. We believe the coaches in each tier are more or less equal, regardless of their average percentage.

Keep in mind these ratings only deal with in-state recruiting. Many coaches, like Alabama’s Nick Saban and Ole Miss’ Hugh Freeze, are among the best in the country at pulling top talent from other states.

THE GOLD STANDARD

Les Miles, LSU — 65.8%

No other coach can match the Mad Hatter in this respect. Part of this is that LSU is in the sweet spot. There are no other major in-state programs (advantage vs. every SEC West school but Arkansas), but there’s enough good to great talent (advantage over Arkansas).

Still, we have to give Miles a large tip of the cap. He signed nine of Louisiana’s top 10 players in 2016 — despite what amounted to a failed coup attempt on his job just months before National Signing Day, and seeing his defensive coordinator jump ship to a division rival for the second consecutive year.

CLOSING OFF THE BORDER

Bret Bielema, Arkansas — 57.5%
Nick Saban, Alabama — 53%
Dan Mullen, Mississippi State — 42.5%
Butch Jones, Tennessee — 40%
Gus Malzahn, Auburn — 32.5%

There’s lots to unpack here, but let’s start in the state of Alabama. Saban and Malzahn sign eight or nine of the state’s top 10 recruits, on average. They’ve mostly managed to keep every other program from poaching talent from the state.

Saban’s number is impressive — he’s collected at least five of the top 10 players in the state in all but three years since he arrived in Tuscaloosa prior to signing day in 2007. But Malzahn’s number also is impressive, considering he’s had to recruit against the Tide. Malzahn and Auburn signed four and then five of the top 10 in 2014 and 2015, respectively.

Bret Bielema has done a great job of keeping most of the top talent in Arkansas at home, including eight of the top 10 in 2015. So has Butch Jones at Tennessee, with a best year of eight for the class of 2014. Neither state has the best talent in the country in terms of prep players, but that’s balanced by the fact that there isn’t any intimidating in-state competition (no offense, Vandy).

Freeze has stolen the recruiting spotlight in the state of Mississippi, and for good reason. Looking at the big picture, he’s done a better job of securing talent than Mullen, taking into account the last four years. But for this article, we’re looking strictly at in-state talent. By that measure, Mullen has done a better job than Freeze.

Even since Freeze arrived in 2012, Mullen has signed 21 players ranked in the top 10 in the state of Mississippi for their respective classes. Freeze and the Rebels have signed 17 such players in the same time frame.

GETTING THE JOB DONE

Mark Stoops, Kentucky — 35%
Hugh Freeze, Ole Miss — 34%
Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M — 18%

We touched on the state of Mississippi already, so let’s put a bow on Freeze. He has pulled his share of top prospects out of the state of Mississippi. But where he’s really made his mark is by recruiting regionally. Shea Patterson (Bradenton, Fla.), Gregory Little (Allen, Texas), Robert Nkemdiche (Loganville, Ga.), Laremy Tunsil (Lake City, Fla.) and Laquon Treadwell (Crete, Ill.) are just a few high-profile examples.

Mark Stoops pulls a solid percentage of his state’s top players. But he gets the majority of his roster from neighboring Ohio, which to be frank, holds a lot more prep talent than Kentucky. The key for Stoops is picking off a much higher percentage of the top 5 players within Kentucky — and he’s done just that, including four of the top 5 in 2014 and 2016.

As for Sumlin, Texas is one of the most competitive recruiting grounds in the United States, with an argument for being THE most competitive. He nearly signed a pair of the state’s top 10 players for a fifth consecutive year and would’ve done so if the Aggies had held on to offensive tackle Gregory Little. Still, LSU, Ole Miss and Alabama have signed more or less as many top 10 Texas players in the last three years, so it’s hard to rate Sumlin any higher than this.

ON A DIFFERENT SCALE

Derek Mason, Vanderbilt — 13.3%

Through three seasons, Mason has signed four total players that rated in the top 10 in the state of Tennessee. Surprisingly, Mason has recruited almost as well as James Franklin did, though Franklin accelerated in his third cycle with an abnormal 2013 class, which rated No. 26 in the country. Vanderbilt is always going to need to identify players that are off the radar of programs like Tennessee and Georgia, and then develop them once they get to campus. Mason has done well at that on the defensive side and failed miserably thus far on the offensive side. We’ll know a lot more after the 2016 season.

INCOMPLETE

Barry Odom, Missouri — 3 in 2016
Jim McElwain, Florida — 2 in 2016, 2 in 2015
Kirby Smart, Georgia — 2 in 2016
Will Muschamp, South Carolina — 2 in 2016

McElwain is another coach in a wildly competitive recruiting state that usually produces a handful of five-star players each year. But Gators fans would like to see him grab an extra player or two from the state’s pool of top talent. McElwain signed four such players the last two years. Florida State secured six in that same time frame, while Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, LSU, Ohio State and Ole Miss all have taken their own piece of the action.

Odom is in position to do well in the state of Missouri going forward. For reference, Gary Pinkel’s average was 44.3% during his tenure at Mizzou, so he’ll be expected to sign a handful of the state’s top players, more or less, each year. He got just three in his initial class, but reportedly has made inroads and already has a top 10 commitment for 2017.

Georgia is another state infested with competition. Smart will never sign 50 percent of the top in-state talent in this locale like he was able to help Nick Saban do at Alabama. If he can just fend off Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, Florida and others on a regular basis, and make outsiders have to scratch, claw and beg just to pick off one player here and there, it’ll be a win. After all, Smart will also be raiding places like Alabama and Florida himself.