How's DII recruiting in the Carolinas/Virginia area? Is it impacted by the general dominance of the ACC at all? I know it's down a division, but I thought there might be some trickle down effect or something.

I've been at Mars Hill, NC for 46 seasons and made either the NT or PIT in 44 of them.  I've also won 2 national titles at Bowie St. in Maryland.   I've not noticed a correlation with the ACC

if anything, you'll benefit from the juicy dropdowns/pulldowns in that region

I'm in my second go around at Winston-Salem St.  All told I've spent around 15 seasons there.  I've managed quite a few ranked classes with players ranging in the overall rankings between 150-200.  Most ACC teams are going to be going after players so high on the food chain you should rarely see them on DII players.  The only time they might stoop down to DII level would be to get a really high potential player to redshirt.