By continuing to navigate this site you are consenting to the collection of information via our use of cookies. Texas is a football crazy state where towns live and die by their local teams at every level. Our site uses cookies to personalize content, to provide social media features/ads and to analyze site traffic. Yale Lary is the only Hall of Famer in school history, and that one HOF selection is the fewest of any school on this list. Bottom line: The California Golden Bears have been playing football since 1916. . Florida is another NFL-producing machine. Thats right, Mississippi, for its population, produces more pro football players than Texas, Florida, California and more than Louisiana and Alabama, as well. Will Texas cede its dominance, or will it hold strong as the top NFL-producing state? Bottom line: Smack dab in the middle of Pennsylvania, Penn State isnt far from Ohio, New York and New Jersey. The combination of our local NFL squad picking at the top of the draft, an accomplished alum serving in a major leadership role for a different team, and our general interest in seeing college students start their careers after school really got our team thinking about what it means for these student-athletes who are preparing to drop the student part of that moniker. Active NFL players from Texas include Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes; Buffalo Bills linebacker Von Miller; Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans; Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford; Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray; San Francisco 49ers offensive tackle Trent Williams. Many may not think of the Tar Heel State as a football-dominant state, but they sure know how to produce top-talent. Will Furrer. Fortunately for the Sooners, Adrian Peterson is sure to increase that number five years after he retires. Before making life miserable for NFL defenses, they were doing the same to opponents in college. The school actually has more Heisman winners (2) than Pro Football Hall of Famers (1), though Von Miller or even Shane Lechler may one day even things up. The dominance of Florida, Florida State and Miami has dwindled slightly over the years, but they are still producing NFL players at a high rate. To learn more about our cartoon syndication services. No. a proud member of the That is 48 more than the team with the next most Pro Bowl selections. Some colleges excel at producing Fortune 500 CEOs. Some regions of the country, though, have become well known for regularly producing NFL-caliber talent. The sheer size of California and the number of universities within it has propelled the state to #2 on the list. Bottom line:UT is home to four Hall of Famers, although one of them, Tom Landry, is enshrined in Canton due to his work as a coach rather than a player. While ranking 22nd in all-time NFL players, Auburn ranks 23rd in active players after ranking eighth in 2019, pointing to their recent struggles. In fact, those three states rank 1-2-3 all-time for states where NFL players were born. So we didnt. The school has just one first-round NFL pick since the 2011 season with Prince Amukamara going 19th overall in that years draft. Among states with SEC schools, the per capita numbers are: Mississippi (first, 26.6), Louisiana (fourth, 21.2), Alabama (fifth, 17), Arkansas (12th, 13.4), Tennessee (13th, 13.3), South Carolina (14th, 11.5), Kentucky (16th, 9.9), Texas (23rd, 8.5), Florida (34th, 6), Georgia (35th, 6) andMissouri (38th, 5.3). Every April, a new crop of young men try to make the leap from college to the pros where they will try to carve out a career for themselves in the NFL. The city of Miami has more NFL players than any other city, and these players just arent your run-of-the-mill second and third-stringers. Don Majkowski. Pennsylvania - 443.4 While the Razorbacks are no longer the class of the tough SEC, they have won 14 conference championships in program history and brought home a national championship to Fayetteville in 1964. Another amazing fact: Jackson State, alone, has produced four Hall of Famers, three of them native Mississippians. News Star World, Jackson Daily News and Clarion Ledger. had produced 63 NFL players, the most among the nation . Cardale Jones. (You can find them here.). There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. If youre not able to add the byline, please include a line at the top of the story that reads: This story was originally published by Mississippi Today and include our website, You cannot republish our editorial cartoons, photographs, illustrations or graphics without specific permission (contact our managing editor. The rest of the country and other places around the world are home to 838 players. Weve ranked the best NFL-talent producing universities in Texas, California, Florida, North Carolina, and Alabama. Its one of the most exciting times of the year for football fans around the country. We also looked at career length to find which colleges players have the longest average careers on different NFL teams. Beyond that local rooting interest, there is at least one Grand Canyon graduate that has a major impact on the fortunes of an NFL franchise, even if most of his work takes place away from the field. Arkansas football also produced Jerry Jones, Hall of Fame owner of the Dallas Cowboys, and Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer, two Super Bowl-winning coaches in Dallas. The state of Mississippi has placed the most players in the NFL capita, according to a by Sidelines. The state also produced Richard Sherman, Tyron Smith, Bobby Wagner and several other stars. Most touchdowns in NFL: James Lofton (76), Most games played in NFL: John Elway (234). Colleges That Have Produced the Most NFL Players Alabama's Crimson Tide has 58 former student-athletes in the NFL, producing more pro players recently than other colleges. Try selecting a different location. The Sooners have only three Hall of Famers. While USC comes up second on this list (for now), the Trojans rank first with a staggering 239 Pro Bowl selections. Louisiana QBs have nine Super Bowl wins in 14 starts. Out of all colleges, Notre Dame has produced 521 players selected in the NFL draft. All rights reserved. BALTIMORE, MD - SEPTEMBER 09: Quarterback Lamar Jackson #8 of the Baltimore Ravens rushes against the Buffalo Bills during the second half at M&T Bank Stadium on September 9, 2018 in Baltimore, Maryland. Nor does that number reflect on native Mississippians who should be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame such as Charlie Conerly, Kent Hull and Jimmie Giles. Mississippi State upends No. In terms of players by decade, the NFL relied heavily on schools from the Midwest such as Notre Dame and Minnesota in the early days, before shifting their focus out west to USC in the 70s and 80s before settling into a varied approach that has seen schools from the Midwest, California, and the Southeast regularly headlining NFL rosters over the last 30 years. Meanwhile, the Magnolia State has plenty to celebrate when it comes to football or writers and entertainers, for that matter. The United States of quarterbacks will add more members to the club April 29-May 1 with the NFL draft (on ESPN/ESPN App) and maybe someday make some QB-starved states proud (we're looking at you, Utah and Minnesota). With 14 cities producing at least four players on Kickoff Weekend rosters, Texas surpassed Florida to lead the league in home states. A total of 721 quarterbacks have debuted and played at least one game in the NFL during the Super Bowl era (since 1966), and the Bayou State outperformed expectations the most in a study by ESPN and Pro Football Reference. Florida ranked third with 149. Once we started looking through historic roster data for various NFL teams, we really didnt want to stop. You cant edit our stories, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style. Kiper's two-round mock draft: Top-five trade, record QB haul, Kiper's favorite draft prospects at every position, Biggest question marks for draft's top quarterbacks. Rounding out the top five are USC (479), Ohio State (426), Penn State (359), and Nebraska (346). Yet Texas leads the U.S. in Super Bowl wins above expectation. Here are the universities cultivating the talent: In Alabama, theres no denying which school is best at producing professional football players. California ranked second among all U.S. states with 151 players drafted. North Carolina Perhaps a surprise to some, North Carolina takes the fourth spot. Be sure to visit the Action Networks NCAAF Odds page each week to the lay of the land for betting lines. 13 Texas A&M at Kyle Field, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. Which state has the highest average draft position for quarterbacks? The second-most populous state, Texas also leads the country in a key formula component -- Division I football programs -- with 21, seven more than any other state. Washington is 10th overall in our rankings thanks in large part to Drew Bledsoe, Chris Chandler, Mark Rypien and Jon Kitna, whose careers have the highest approximate values among the state's 22 QBs. Twenty-eight states have fewer.The Cuyahoga natives, with the listed place of birth, are: Rankings could vary slightly because the birth places for 14 players were not immediately available, and rosters can change daily. None are bigger than Drew Brees, who threw for 80,358 yards in his NFL career, more yards than any other quarterback in NFL history. Editorial cartoons and photo essays are not included under the Creative Commons license and therefore do not have the "Republish This Story" button option. From John Brodie and Jim Plunkett to John Elway and Andrew Luck, there's a reason Stanford has a reputation as Quarterback U. That is about 9% of the current active players in the league. Alabama - 319 What College Has The Most NFL Players - 2019 Alabama - 53 LSU - 51 Ohio State - 46 USC - 44 Miami - 43 Florida - 43 In fact, those three states rank 1-2-3 all-time for states where NFL. Bottom line:While many of the aforementioned schools have had recent success but not decades of winning, the exact opposite can be said for Nebraska. This makes up 2.79% of the NFL. Which ZIP code has produced the most NFL quarterbacks? Louisiana is the state with the best ratio (one NFL player per 76,837 people), followed by Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida and South Carolina. SEC schools continually churn out the most NFL talent. Arkansas (274) 24. The universities to follow Alabama were Ohio State, Florida, Louisiana State and Michigan, all courtesy of its football programs. Johnson was on that same Arkansas team in 1964 and played defensive end during his college days. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. The most notable star to come from the Sunshine State is Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson. Louisiana, with 25 NFL QBs, including Terry Bradshaw, Peyton Manning and Eli Manning, is No. But Florida State is rising up the ranks, and of its four Hall of Famers, three have been enshrined in Canton this decade. We're dedicated to keeping Mississippians informed with our thorough reporting. These colleges have produced the most NFL players, and they have a track record of success on the gridiron. These high schools have produced the most NFL players. The GLIAC has the most active NFL players with 10, followed by the Mid-America conference with 9. A cleveland.com review of opening week. Nebraska (21.3 per 100,000), Oklahoma (also 21.3), and Louisiana (21.2) were the three states closest to Mississippi in NFL players per capita. About 20 miles on I-75 separate the Georgia high school homes of two of the draft's top QB prospects. Here is a breakdown of the states where the most active NFL players were born Sign up for notifications from Insider! Vinny Testaverde. Thats a no-brainer. 2 following the 1962 season. In terms of schools that have produced the most NFL players all-time, Notre Dame just edged out USC for the top spot, with Ohio State joining those historic programs as the only ones to send more than 400 players to the NFL. Coming in at second for most NFL players on Week 1 rosters is Texas. Newman had Peyton and Eli Manning, and Westlake's Drew Brees and Nick Foles also led world champions. Bledsoe, the No. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. Notre Dame and USC were actually tied for the most draft selections ever entering the 2021 draft with 511. All four of those states are among the top 10 in producing NFL players, so Penn State is in an ideal location to land top talent. Bottom line:Flordia had recent success under Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer, but doesnt have decades of dominance under its belt and didnt become an elite program until the 1990s. Bottom line:Another one of the schools without a national title, the Hawkeyes are a perfect nickname for Iowa because their best two players seemingly had hawk eyes. That would be Grand Canyon University Athletics Hall of Fame member and Antelopes basketball legend Kevin Warren, who has been an executive for multiple NFL teams stretching back to the 1990s. Ohio has 71 players in the league followed by Alabama with 61, Virginia with 58 (and that so many played at prep school in that state helps) and North . Mississippi averages 26.6 NFL players for every 100,000 citizens. Just because we dont have a college team of our own here at Grand Canyon University doesnt mean that we arent caught up in the excitement and talent infusion the draft brings. 4 on the leagues all-time passing yardage list. Heres the top five schools for sending players to the pros: There are five schools who that dominate when it comes to producing NFL talent in California. They often get those TV slots since their players will be playing in the NFL in a few years. Any school would be proud if their NFL alumni base started and ended with those names -- but at Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia, that's just five of the quarterbacks who attended the boarding school before playing in the NFL. The population of New York State is nearly 20 million, compared to Mississippis fewer than 3 million. For the Cardinals, this means that Georgia Tech and Duke footballers last the longest with the franchise at nearly four seasons on average. Then he starred for the Steelers, Ravens, 49ers and Raiders in the NFL. Brett Favre, from Kiln and Southern Miss, is No. Heck, it doesnt even finish in the top two in its own division thanks to the two participants of "The Game" beating them out. LSU - 325 10. Texas used to be the dominant team in the state, but the rise of other programs like Texas A&M and TCU in recent years has taken some wind out of its sails. 25. Thanks to a slew of legendary coaches and a tradition . Westlake (Austin, Texas) High and Isidore Newman (New Orleans) School represent the only two ZIP codes in the country to produce multiple Super Bowl-winning starting quarterbacks. But Texas surpassed the Golden State in the 2000s with 25 quarterbacks (to California's 22), and they are tied with eight in the 2010s. Bottom line:Illinois never won a national championship, but the Illini had two of the most iconic players in NFL history. Some colleges excel at producing Fortune 500 CEOs. We believe that an informed Mississippi is a better Mississippi. Its highest touchdown scorer, Elroy Hirsch, found the end zone just 66 times. Bottom line:Pittsburgh has just six Top 25 finishes in the last 35 years and hasnt won more than 10 games since 1981. By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with Mississippi Today. Here's a breakdown of the 10 states with the most NFL. Evans . The state of California has produced the most players in today's NFL. After starring at Snider High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Woodson stayed close to home and became an All-American for the Boilermakers. 3 is Georgia (one in 78,761). These five state's account for close to 50% of. With your help, we've gotten a lot done but we're not finished yet! Three legendary Cal stars are quarterback Aaron Rodgers, tight end Tony Gonzalez and running back Marshawn Lynch. All six of the Nittany Lions' Pro Football Hall of Famers come from those states, including Franco Harris and Jack Ham, who were Penn State teammates and then teammates with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Despite that, Washington has attracted many of the top players in the nation and its reach goes beyond its Seattle campus. Read on to see the results. The answer may surprise you. We support responsible gambling. Rich Exner, data analysis editor for cleveland.com, writes about numbers on a variety of topics. North Carolina can claim 121 current NFL players in the league. Mississippi averages 26.6 NFL players for every 100,000 citizens. Can you name the seven states that have not produced an NFL quarterback? The research was done by Sidelines, a sports technology and digital media company, which also found that Texas has produced the most NFL players (2,515) of any state. Nearly 900 players came from the USC and UCLA campuses (separated by just 11 miles), but the majority of those are singing "Fight On.". The higher the AV, the greater the career he had. Hall of Famers Warren Moon and Hugh McElhenny came from Los Angeles, six-time Pro Bowl center Olin Kreutz came from Hawaii, and Marcus Peters was from Oakland. Rod Woodson already has a gold jacket and is the greatest Purdue football alum not named Brees. Despite putting 54 defensive backs in the NFL, including 14 first-rounders, no Bama corner has ever made a Pro Bowl. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. Coach Urban Meyer preparing players for the NFL also was a huge attraction as many of those 65 players came under his tenure. But even the most diehard of Notre Dame fans would admit that their best days are well behind them. His work as a syndicated columnist and celebrated sports writer has appeared in numerous magazines, periodicals and newspapers. It was enough to move . That makes them a bit of an outlier since every other school in the top seven is in a warm-weather location in either the South or Southern California. With the 2020 season officially underway, CBS unveiled an incredible graphic that shows which states produce the most NFL players. While Washington D.C., which isnt a state, has the best ratio of any place, it is followed by six states that feature SEC schools. following organizations: Whoops! And some make NFL players. But the program has produced some elite NFL stars. With Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields, Georgia will get a boost after the 2021 draft, climbing into the top five for the 2010s with six NFL quarterbacks. A cleveland.com review of opening week rosters found Florida leads with the way with 193 players, based on the place of birth of each player. Oliver Luck hailed from St. Ignatius, but the 44113 doesn't get credit for his son Andrew, who went to high school in Texas. The Ducks didn't win another "Granddaddy" until 2011, when Chip Kelly and his high-flying offense beat Wisconsin 45-38. Since these states end up producing such talented players, that's why college football programs like Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Miami, Ohio State and Penn State get their hands on top recruits. So we set out to determine what state produces the most NFL players. Now, Warner's name is synonymous with football in the United States, and Stanford has had a legacy of great passers who went on to shine in the NFL. In Georgia, one NFL player is played for every 81,409 people, while in Florida, one is played for every 91,847 people. Their time will come. U.S. News rank: 57 (tie), National Universities. Jones was a Razorback starter at offensive guard and co-captain when the team won the national title. The research was done by Sidelines, a sports technology and digital media company, which also found that Texas has produced the most NFL players (2,515) of any state. 1 in health, wealth and education? Bottom line:No program has more wins or a better win percentage since World War II than Oklahoma a testament to the great players who have come through Norman. The school has produced Pro Bowlers at every other position on the field, but theyve yet to send a receiver to the Pro Bowl or have a receiver post a 1,000-yard season. They both were middle linebackers and played for rival franchises in the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers, respectively. More than 25 percent of its 98 Pro Bowl selections came from just four defensive backs: Mike Haynes (9), Eric Allen (6), Louis Wright (5) and Darren Woodson (5). Nebraska,. Bottom line:Lots of schools have proclaimed themselves as "DB U" due to the prolific number of defensive backs they have sent to the NFL. It is reflected in the NFL as well. We center readers in everything we do, informingand engagingMississippians through reporting, podcasts, events and online communities. Only two of the 10 most populous cities in the United States have schools on this list with Phoenixs Arizona State and Los Angeles first entry with UCLA. That group includes former No. Nebraska - 346 6. Bottom line: Oregon won a Rose Bowl in their first season in 1916. Bottom line:Did you know that the Washington Huskies 40 game win streak from 1908 to 1914 is the second-longest in NCAA history? Those three states currently have 597 players in the NFL. No school has more active NFL players than Alabamas 77, and that doesnt even include its 10 players taken in the 2019 draft, which was the most of any school. Bottom line: Tennessee makes up for its lack of quantity (13th in all-time players and 19th in active players) with quality (fifth in Pro Bowl selections). A winning tradition brings recruits from all over the country, and Ohio States all-time winning percentage of .754 ranks first among Power 5 programs. Michigan - 346 7. Any web site our stories appear on must include a contact for your organization. Brees also won a Super Bowl (XLIV), was Super Bowl MVP, a 13-time Pro Bowler and a one-time All-Pro. And some make NFL players. Rick has been recognized 13 times as Mississippi Sports Writer of the Year, and is recipient of multiple awards and honors for his reporting and writing. Interestingly, the 1988 move to Phoenix marked an end to regionality having an outsize influence on roster decisions, with Michigan Wolverines playing for the Cardinals at a greater clip than any other school in both the 2000s and 2010s. But in recent years, the states that are football factories has shifted a little. Clemson's Trevor Lawrence went 52-2 as a starter at Cartersville High, winning two state titles. That's reflective of Arizona's NFL history, which includes longtime backup Mike Pagel. Any amount helps us keep producing quality journalism for Mississippi. By state, NFL training-camp rosters had 336 former Texas high school players, 293 from Florida, 285 from California and 232 from Georgia. California is more than just Tom Brady, and the great state of Texas hasn't been so great when it comes to producing NFL QBs, according to our formula, which counts a player's home state as the one in which he finished his high school career. Several prestigious Texas programs have contributed to the current NFL talent pool. accurate as of the publish date. Colorado . Only five players in the program's history have been selected first . But the Ducks have had a lot of talent over the years. Please reload the page and try again. Both J.J. Watt and Russell Wilson started their college careers elsewhere, then ended their playing days suiting up for the red and white of the Wisconsin Badgers. By clicking Sign up, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider USC - 479 3. Others create politicians. Despite all of that success in the defensive backfield, the Sun Devils never have won a national championship, making them just one of six teams on this list without a natty. Troy Aikman, Jonathan Ogden and Jimmy Johnson all have rejected USC for Westwood and currently reside in the Hall of Fame. Although the Magnolia State has boasted just 11 NFL quarterbacks during the Super Bowl era (tied for 12th among all states), almost all of them were QB1s. AV refers to approximate value and is PFRs attempt to quantify a players career value. A study conducted by Grand Canyon University found that Notre Dame has produced the most players in NFL history, with 495 of the league's 25,453 all-time players coming out of the school. Alabama is ranked first in the country in terms of NFL players per capita, with one NFL player per 74,683 residents. Bottom line:The U may not have the same prestige it had at the turn of the century, but there is no denying Miamis presence in the NFL. To explain what we did, we cant think of a better team to spotlight than the aforementioned Arizona Cardinals, owners of the top overall pick this weekend. The data was analyzed through the lenses of number of quarterbacks, Hall of Fame quarterbacks, Super Bowl wins and NFL approximate value (AV). That stat does deserve a caveat as Matthew Slater and Wally Henry were both Bruins receivers who made the Pro Bowl, but they did so at the positions of special teams and return specialist, respectively. CLEVELAND, Ohio - Half the players on NFL rosters are from just seven states, with Ohio being among the top producers of pro football talent. Time will tell! (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images). Alabama rounds out the top 5 with 109 active NFL players. All rights reserved (About Us). Keep this news free and accessible to all by becoming a member and giving a recurring donation of any amount today. Ousmane Diallo, a data analyst for Rise at Seven, led a team of five that did the research and tallied the results. With the 2021 NFL Draft now firmly in the rearview mirror, here's an updated look at the 25 schools with the most all-time NFL Draft picks. The University of Alabama has produced the most pro athletes out of college, though, with 82. The state of Mississippi has placed the most players in the NFL capita, according to a by Sidelines. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. Or should. We may be compensated for the links provided on this page. How 'bout them Cowboys? Of those 1,800+ players, the school that has produced the most Cardinals is Notre Dame, with an even 50, well ahead of LSU in second place. The Penn State Nittany Lions, who began play in 1889, are among the most storied programs in . And where does the 2021 NFL draft class of quarterbacks come from? That's the highest start percentage of any state with at least 400 games played. Despite ranking fifth among all programs in NFL players produced, Penn State doesnt even lead the Big Ten in that regard, or even rank second.