Using the Rivals data, and multiplying the per-capita coefficients by the population sizes, here are the East Coast "raw scores," where you can compare one state's talent pool to that of others:

Florida - 34.9
Georgia - 17.1
North Carolina - 8.7
Virginia - 7.9
New Jersey - 5.5
Maryland - 5.5
South Carolina - 5.2
New York - 4.5
Washington, D.C. — 0.9

Thus, there are about 6 D-1 players from Florida for every 1 from New Jersey (34.9 ÷ 5.5 = 6.345). It's 3:1 for Georgia to NJ, more than 3:2 for NC to NJ, and Maryland has as much talent as New Jersey — but no one would claim that Maryland is "loaded."

New Jersey has talent, but not nearly as much as other states.

has been true for 150 years. And yet they've pretty much sucked that entire time.

The SEC region produces the most prep talent, but the reason they've been on top is because they've employed a strong contingent of coaches. No one was talking about how unbeatable these guys were when Zook and Shula were leading the charge at UF and Alabama.

The ACC's coverage area, as a footprint, would have to be considered as talent-rich as any other conference in the country. So if you can match that sort of draw with some football programs that are clicking on all cylinders, then the unrealized potential seems fairly obvious. But this entails finding as well as retaining some legitimately excellent coaches, and I'm not sure how many of those there are in the ACC right now. Some promising question marks but not a lot to hang their hat on just yet.