A big plus to larger, highly ranked Universities is alumni connections. If you do well, alumni will look to help their own before they take others. The key is networking, keep a good gpa and get involved. I would go to University of Michigan. Although if you want to go to their grad school you should go somewhere else. They don't take as many of their own into their graduate programs.
As far as wanting to work in the south, doing good at U of M will give you a good chance of getting a job anywhere
