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There are several reasons:

1)Lack of quality competition. Even if a kid has D-1 talent, how often does he get to compete with other D-1 talent.

2)Mountain kids have a reputation for getting home sick. How many kids that do go away to college quickly return home?

3)Speed, Speed, Speed. Mountain kids have a reputation for being slow.

4) Lack of exposure. Mountain kids get very little state wide exposure from the media. Mountain kids have to pay to attend camps (rather than being free invitees). Most either can not afford to attend or think the camps are not worth the cost.

5)Poor job by the mountain coaches regarding college placement. Most coaches spend very little time making/sending videos or phone calls to college coaches. It takes a lot of time to do this job properly. I would guess almost full time outside the season. Very few mountain coaches have the time, contacts, confidence, persistance or experience to perform this job properly. It takes a real sales job. Doors are going to be slammed in your face and you are going to be blown off. It is against the mountain personality to agitate people or to be turned down without embarrassment.

I think a lot of quality mountain players are missed, but until reason #5 no longer exists the problem will remain.

I agree with everything you said and want to add -

No coach is going to stick their neck to a college coach for a kid to not work hard enough and come back home.

Kids that are good enough are usually babied by the coach and school and do not know what it is like to work hard in practice or the classroom. For a college athlete it is a job. Too many kids do not realize that.