In a typical year, Memphis Central football coach Al Cate says anywhere from eight to ten SEC coaches visit his practices, in search of the next college star.

This year, that number dropped to two.

The reason? Fear.

With high school recruiting scandals surfacing at two of Memphis' inner-city schools, leaving at the very least Alabama and Kentucky under serious NCAA investigations, many college football recruiters wanted very little to do with the area this past recruiting season.

And who could blame them? With the NCAA and even the FBI already sniffing around the city for troubles of the past, it made little sense to go into Memphis and risk the chance of getting in trouble.

	“	It has given every coach and every player in this city a black eye -- big time. It's become a spot to be avoided like the plague. ”
		— Memphis East football coach Wayne Randall

This was a city in which there were plenty of rumors regarding illegal recruiting before the latest scandals broke out in the local paper.

Now, $200,000 and a pair of SUVs for one college football player later, a nasty reputation -- right or wrong -- has been established: Memphis high school coaches are slimy, crooked men who all have their hands out looking for deals.

Those removed from the investigation are stung by such insinuations.

"It has given every coach and every player in this city a black eye -- big time," said Wayne Randall, head coach at Memphis' East High. "It's become a spot to be avoided like the plague."

That isn't hyperbole. Alabama, a traditionally strong recruiter in Memphis, was public about its decision to avoid the city this year, at least until the investigations were complete.

Kentucky, which is under investigation for the recruitment of players from Melrose High, said it would no longer pursue players from that school or consider Melrose coaches for vacancies in Lexington.

Those were the only two schools that were public about their decisions, but the effects trickled elsewhere as well. Just look at the numbers. On National Signing Day, just three Memphis seniors signed to play football at SEC schools. Last year that number was nine, with seven of the signees headed for Kentucky or Alabama.

Currently, there are 16 Memphis-grown players on SEC rosters. That number was 17 until Albert Means, the player at the center of the Alabama investigation, withdrew from the Crimson Tide two weeks ago.

"It's hard to gauge exactly how much of an effect it had, but I think that Alabama and Kentucky making those statements definitely hurt us," said Wayne Weedon, athletics director for Memphis' public schools. "What if there were kids that may have had ties with Alabama and grew up wanting to go there? For schools to make blanket statements like that for isolated instances, yes it hurt us."

Just ask Cate, who says that two of his seniors, Heath Wilson and Courtney Todd, had the ability and grades to play in the SEC, but instead are headed to Murray State and Arkansas State, respectively.

	“	A couple weeks ago, they were pretty discouraged about all this. People should know that these allegations have hurt a lot more kids than people realize. But we've tried to move on. ”
		— Memphis Central football coach Al Cate

Wilson was first-team All-State linebacker, the MVP in Region 7-5A and in Cate's eyes, "the best defensive player I've had in 30 years of coaching."

Todd was a three-year starter at quarterback and safety, recording 100 tackles as a senior, while racking up over 700 yards of total offense. He earned All-Metro honors. But neither is headed to the SEC.

"They were both SEC caliber kids, no question," Cate said. "A couple weeks ago, they were pretty discouraged about all this. People should know that these allegations have hurt a lot more kids than people realize. But we've tried to move on."

Tennessee was one of the two schools (Ole Miss was the other) that visited Memphis Central this past year. Woody McCorvey, the Vols' running backs coach who is in charge of recruiting Memphis, said Tennessee didn't think twice about recruiting in the area and won't do so in the future, either.

McCorvey said a big reason Tennessee didn't sign any players from the area was academics. Memphis has a poor track record when it comes to academically qualifying its athletic talent for college.

"I've been over there recruiting two years now and I've never had any problems with any of the coaches," McCorvey said. "I went over there this spring and it came down that we didn't offer anybody in that area. Not that there weren't kids that could play in our program, but looking at things when it came down to academics, it didn't fit."

If there is anyone whose had the birds-eye view of the state of high school football recruiting in Memphis its Rip Scherer. Every year, the former Memphis coach would battle the big boys of the SEC for the kids in his own backyard.

This year, new Memphis coach Tommy West reaped the rewards of Alabama, Kentucky and others staying away. The Tigers signed 20 high school seniors, including four from Melrose High -- the school Kentucky avoided -- who are among the top recruits in the state.

ESPN.com recruiting analyst Tom Lemming ranks Melrose free safety Derron Johnson, one of those four recruits, the 15th-best defensive back in the country. And defensive lineman Dierre Carter, who earned first-team All-State honors, said last fall that all Kentucky had to do was offer and he would become a Wildcat.

Instead, he's a Tiger. And don't think Scherer hasn't noticed the sudden change of luck in Memphis' recruiting ways.

"I don't want to take anything away from Tommy West because that staff did a great job recruiting, but I think he is the beneficiary of great timing," Scherer said. "The typically strong schools backed out and others were pretty leery. These are kids who their senior year, we couldn't even get their phone number or have access to them."

Scherer, who coached at Memphis for five years, said he always had an inkling that something crooked was going on in the area high school but never could get enough details to turn somebody in.

"For years, people always said that I needed to build a fence around Memphis, keep the local kids home," Scherer said. "Now that this has all come out, somebody wrote in that paper, 'I don't think Rip wasn't quite aware of the high cost of fencing in this city.'

"I guess not."

Wayne Drehs is a staff writer at ESPN.com.