Present day HS football

A lot has been bantered about over the current state of HS football. Definitely not like it was back in the day as the recreational nature of the sport has for the most part been overtaken by the competitiveness. For some, it's lost its purity, for others it's evolving into a far more sophisticated sport than before.

Rather than use this thread as yet another finger pointing exercise at who "cheats" better, let's focus on the underlying fundamentals, or "incentives" as Tom Sowell would call them, that have caused the changes. Feel free to start another thread if you feel the need to hijack thread one into that rabbit hole with memes and the ubiquitous finger pointing.

Here's a few thoughts to chew on.

Technology has been a big part of the advancement. Sideline video now makes for a huge advantage over those who don't have it. Hudl makes breaking down film so much easier than the past when EVERYONE would have to sit thru an entire game film breakdown on Saturday morning. Social media now allows kids to market themselves to colleges that would otherwise not have seen them. This is mostly true for the FCS and lower level schools in other parts of the country that don't have the recruiting budgets.

College education costs have skyrocketed making athletic scholarships perhaps the only way a kid can get to college without having to take on crippling debt. It's provided a much bigger incentive for players to get training at an earlier age for parents who could barely afford paying the family rent, let alone sending their kids to college.