We can spend plenty of time — in fact, let’s! — on the correlation between the NFL and recruiting. It matters, for sure, but how much should it matter? I don’t know the answer, but my opinion is it shouldn’t matter as much as it seems to matter in the wake of last weekend’s seven rounds.

But this is not why we’re here this morning.

The Big 12 looks bad. There are some grim forecasts and there are some calls to action, and most everything and everyone suggests the league is in a bad spot. I don’t disagree. Fourteen picks is weak, and you could make an argument that the way the teams have played is tied to the way the league performs in the draft. I don’t know how far I’m willing to carry that water, because building Big 12 and NFL rosters are very different things, but, sure, if you don’t have the best professional prospects, how can you have the best college talent?

There’s something to that. Something. Just don’t use the Big 12’s 14 picks and the AAC’s 15 as a way to tilt the competitive scale. The AAC is not better than the Big 12.

Beyond that, I think we can accept certain realities, like the SEC is better, but we should also consider something else that seems kind of important. The SEC and the ACC — not the AAC — are situated better. Compared to the Big 12, so, too, is the Big Ten. I then wonder when and how the Big 12 is supposed to get to a good spot that will satisfy critics and supporters alone. I even think, if we’re making this about the NFL draft and NCAA personnel, which is to say about recruiting, there are built-in impediments.

The Big 12 is caught place where it’s being victimized by a cycle — coaching changes, conference realignment, the state of Texas is wide open, the University of Texas is not King — and by stasis. We can understand the impact of the cycle. The Big 12 has seen a lot of change, and though the totality would make it hard to adapt and advance, the league has nevertheless been slow to adapt and advance.

There’s no such cure for the stasis. There are things the Big 12 just cannot change, and they are tied tightly to recruiting, which matters when you choose to present recruiting as the indicator to draft success. A map and some numbers explain this pretty easily, and though it sees to me that it’s right there in front of us, it’s not a popular discussion. Yet it’s nevertheless important to consider explanations, as opposed to excuses, for what’s happening and why.

The Big 12 can’t turn its bases into more fertile recruiting areas or change the way college programs rely on their states, borders and populations of each. The National Federation of State High School Associations counted up all the schools playing 11-on-11 high school football in 2015. Texas and California led the nation with 1,064 schools. The Big 12’s other four states — Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas and West Virginia — totaled 879.

Georgia and Florida combined for 956. Those two states fill rosters in the SEC, which has had the most draft picks for 11 years running, and the ACC. Those two states produced the most NFL draft picks this year. California and Texas were third and fourth, if you’re curious why the number of high school teams matters or why WVU is trying so hard to enhance its image in Georgia.

When you rank states by the number of high school football programs, six of the Big 12’s 10 schools reside within the bottom 30 borders. One state and four schools can be found in the top 20. The SEC claims 11 states as opposed to the Big 12’s five, and the same ranking says seven states and nine programs are found between the Big 12’s best (Texas) and second-best (Iowa) states. And yes, that means Iowa has more high school football than Oklahoma.