what state has produced the most nfl players all time what state has produced the most nfl players all time

Bottom line:The dominance of Alabama under Nick Saban isnt limited to just the college game. It was enough to move . To learn more about our cartoon syndication services. Still, they dont have decades of winning traditions, which is why they fall a little lower on this list than many might expect. The Longhorns are no longer on top, and they are chasing Oklahoma for Big 12 supremacy in terms of NFL players produced. Meanwhile, the Magnolia State has plenty to celebrate when it comes to football or writers and entertainers, for that matter. And that Mississippi number doesnt count such NFL legends as Ray Guy, Robert Brazile and Gene Hickerson, who played their college ball in Mississippi after growing up in nearby states. 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). Florida State (275) 23. Stay up to date with what you want to know. Mississippi produces more NFL players per capita than any other state, and its not really that close. Historically, Texas, California, and Pennsylvania have been hotbeds for football talent. Walter Payton, from Columbia and Jackson State, is the NFLs second all-time leading rusher. But the program has produced some elite NFL stars. Nebraska, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Alabama round out the top five. Warner collected 71 of his 311 career college wins at Stanford and changed the game with the forward pass. With your help, we've gotten a lot done but we're not finished yet! We do not sell or share your information with anyone. It only seems as though Tom Brady has been playing long enough to have hung out with the Lizard King himself, and that Jim Morrison was talking about Brady and California QBs when he crooned, "The West is the best, get here and we'll do the rest." . The state also produced Richard Sherman, Tyron Smith, Bobby Wagner and several other stars. With all due respect to Fran Tarkenton and others drafted before 1980, the best players in Georgia history have come in the last 40 years. Bottom line:Pittsburgh has just six Top 25 finishes in the last 35 years and hasnt won more than 10 games since 1981. Perhaps a surprise to some, North Carolina takes the fourth spot. Any amount helps us keep producing quality journalism for Mississippi. The population of New York State is nearly 20 million, compared to Mississippis fewer than 3 million. One of the exciting things about going to college is that youll have the opportunity to direct the course of your own education. From 1960 to 1987, the franchise was located in St. Louis, and that westward move brought with it more players from the Southwest and Great Plains regions, as players from schools like Utah, Missouri and Nebraska starting appearing on the field more for the NFL franchise. The remaining seven states to crack the top 10 are Georgia, Ohio, Alabama, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, North Carolina and New Jersey. Here is a breakdown of the states where the most active NFL players were born Sign up for notifications from Insider! Which Schools Have the Most NFL Players? Ousmane Diallo, a data analyst for Rise at Seven, led a team of five that did the research and tallied the results. 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. No. 2 is Louisiana (one in 76,837) .. No. Action Network's list of the top 10 states with the most active NFL players is listed below: Texas- 211 California- 149 Florida- 149 North Carolina- 121 Alabama- 109 Pennsylvania- 106 Ohio- 104 Michigan- 103 Louisiana- 102 Georgia- 89 Advertise With Us For You Heres the breakdown: There are three colleges that have dominated Florida football for decades. Without Fitzpatrick's 146 starts, the canyon between Arizona and runner-up Ohio, at 57.6% for its 34 QBs, would be even wider. We support responsible gambling. That list doesnt even include Cam Newton, who is the NFLs all-time leader in rushing touchdowns for a quarterback. Even with Aikman, Oklahoma has fewer Hall of Famers than Morgan State, San Francisco and Jackson State, all schools with fewer than 100 NFL players. The Ohio State University has produced a total of 411 players since the 17th NFL season in 1936. 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. The captain of Oregon's all-time NFL team is Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Fouts, a third-round pick (No. That is reflected by the Gators having the fifth-most active players in the NFL despite being outside the top 10 in total players. 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. SEC schools continually churn out the most NFL talent. It's no surprise the schools that dominate on Saturdays see their alumni playing on Sundays. And there are currently no players that were born in the state of Vermont. Thats right, Mississippi, for its population, produces more pro football players than Texas, Florida, California and more than Louisiana and Alabama, as well. More NFL players (199) graduated from Texas than any. Any sources cited were Many may not think of the Tar Heel State as a football-dominant state, but they sure know how to produce top-talent. Yet the Panthers also have the third-most Pro Football Hall of Famers of any football program, pointing to the pull of Pittsburgh for top talent in Western Pennsylvania. Bottom line:1980 was a landmark year for the Georgia Bulldogs football program as they claimed their first national championship while riding the legs of Herschel Walker. Bledsoe, the No. The NFL is known world wide for having some of the best athletes in the world. But well take what we can get. Once we started looking through historic roster data for various NFL teams, we really didnt want to stop. All 11 of the school's conference championships have come under Spurrier and Meyer, who made Gainesville a pipeline to the NFL unlike previous coaches. 4 on the leagues all-time passing yardage list. BYU's Zach Wilson will be just the sixth Utah QB to play in the NFL, yet somehow he was runner-up in the state's Mr. Football award. Even though Florida has had over 385 former Gators suit up in the NFL, none of those players were ever drafted first overall out of UF. And giving them three is a bit generous since Troy Aikman started his career at OU, but finished it at UCLA. But the Texas total computes to only 8.5 players per 100,000, about one-third of what Mississippi has produced. Most games played:Sebastian Janikowski (284). 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. Notre Dame, USC, and Ohio State have produced 400 or more NFL players in history. 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. Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license. The rest of the country and other places around the world are home to 838 players. The Volunteers can thank three players for boosting up their number of Pro Bowl selections: Peyton Manning (14), Reggie White (13) and Jason Witten (11) account for nearly 30 percent of those nods. Of the 16 Tigers to make at least one All-Pro first team, 11 were offensive players including Hall of Famers Y.A. Ohio State is just one of three colleges to produce more than 400 NFL players. 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. U.S. News rank: 57 (tie), National Universities. If you share our stories on social media, please tag us in your posts using. The school has produced at least one player from every season of NFL football since the league resumed play in 2012. Their time will come. Here are the universities cultivating the talent: In Alabama, theres no denying which school is best at producing professional football players. Top editors give you the stories you want delivered right to your inbox each weekday. U.S. News rank: 18 (tie), National Universities. 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. 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. Can you name the seven states that have not produced an NFL quarterback? We do not target any individuals under the age of 21. We also identified the college football programs that sent the most players to the NFL within those states. Seven of the school's 11 national championships came in the first half of the 20th century, and none of those titles have come in the last 30 years. 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. In third place for most NFL players is California, which gets to claim two legendary players in Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers. Across NFL draft history, Notre Dame and USC have seen the most alums get drafted, according to drafthistory.com -- and they are also the most popular programs for the Eagles over time. Iowas defense-heavy mindset seemed to carry on to all of its NFL players as they come up on the short end of touchdowns scored in the NFL. Don Majkowski. 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. About 20 miles on I-75 separate the Georgia high school homes of two of the draft's top QB prospects. For the Cardinals, this means that Georgia Tech and Duke footballers last the longest with the franchise at nearly four seasons on average. 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. Chris Spencer (center for Tennessee Titans), Jamarca Sanford (defensive back for Minnesota Vikings) and Damien Lewis (offensive line for Seattle Seahawks) are all outstanding players from Mississippi. How 'bout them Hogs? So we set out to determine what state produces the most NFL players. 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 . These high schools have produced the most NFL players. 25. Bottom line: Smack dab in the middle of Pennsylvania, Penn State isnt far from Ohio, New York and New Jersey. - Notre Dame, USC, and Ohio State are the schools with the most NFL players in history and the only colleges who have produced 400+ NFL players. Jim Druckenmiller. Three of those Razorbackers became Hall of Famers: wide receiver Lance Alworth, defensive lineman Dan Hampton and free safety Steve Atwater. For the Cardinals, this evaluation showed us that there was a particularly strong connection to Notre Dame from the 1920s to the 1950s when the team was located in nearby Chicago. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. Alabama is ranked first in the country in terms of NFL players per capita, with one NFL player per 74,683 residents. In 2016, Favre became the ninth native Mississippian inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Oct 6, 2011, 8:10 AM Historically, Texas, California, and Pennsylvania have been hotbeds for football talent. California and Texas are still at the top of the list. had produced 63 NFL players, the most among the nation . And where does the 2021 NFL draft class of quarterbacks come from? Coach Urban Meyer preparing players for the NFL also was a huge attraction as many of those 65 players came under his tenure. You cant edit our stories, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style. In fact, those three states rank 1-2-3 all-time for states where NFL players were born. 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. California alone, at 225 active players, accounts for more than ten percent of NFL players. But one school often overlooked in this conversation is Arizona State. Will Texas cede its dominance, or will it hold strong as the top NFL-producing state? The GLIAC has the most active NFL players with 10, followed by the Mid-America conference with 9. We prefer Author Name, Mississippi Today in the byline. Bottom line: Stanford didn't invent football, but the school helped popularize it in the 1920s and '30s with Pop Warner, who coached the Cardinal from 1924 to 1932. We limited this data to schools who have had at least five players make the all-time roster to weed out one-off outlier players. We also took the combined data we had gathered and made a slightly different graphic for the entire history of the NFL. But the Ducks have had a lot of talent over the years. They often get those TV slots since their players will be playing in the NFL in a few years. Many of the schools on this list are poised to send another great class of rookies to the NFL next season. After starring at Snider High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Woodson stayed close to home and became an All-American for the Boilermakers. Troy Aikman, Jonathan Ogden and Jimmy Johnson all have rejected USC for Westwood and currently reside in the Hall of Fame. Alabama leads the way with 72 active NFL players as of the 2021-2022 season. Youd probably expect huge numbers from the likes of Texas, California and Pennsylvania, but when you take into account population, it completely changes the outlook, Diallo said. Mississippi averages 26.6 NFL players for every 100,000 citizens. But Knoxville, with its close location to the Gulf Coast, the Eastern Seaboard and the Midwest, is still adept at attracting top college prospects. Always has. Here is an in-depth look at the top five states. Most touchdowns in NFL: Lance Alworth (87), Most games played in NFL: Jason Peters (238). 2023 www.clarionledger.com. Their list of 10 Hall of Famers is sure to grow in the near future as Larry Fitzgerald, Darrelle Revis and Aaron Donald likely will receive their gold jackets one day. Here's a breakdown of the 10 states with the most NFL players: It's always fun to see which states generate the most NFL talent. With the 2020 season officially underway, CBS unveiled an incredible graphic that shows which states produce the most NFL players. You can only publish select stories individually not as a collection. That's why they call scouting an inexact science. The state of Mississippi has placed the most players in the NFL capita, according to a by Sidelines. Try selecting a different location. Help keep the momentum going by rejoining our member community today. Brett Favre, from Kiln and Southern Miss, is No. The Buckeye never have had a Pro Bowl quarterback, never had a QB start all 16 games in an NFL season and never even had one throw for 3,000 yards in a season. The most notable star to come from the Sunshine State is Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson. 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. Weve looked at the top states for producing NFL players, but how about the most successful schools within those states? St. Ignatius (Ohio) is in the only ZIP code with four NFL quarterbacks, though the most well-known name from that group is Luck -- and it's not the Luck you think it is. 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. But the Texas total computes to only 8.5 players per 100,000, about one-third of what Mississippi has produced. You'll find there's a QB1 state -- the one with the highest percentage of starts per game played -- and one that has produced the most backups. Finally, we broke out every player by position and school to find which schools have produced the most players at specific positions for every NFL team. Will Furrer. Our site uses cookies to personalize content, to provide social media features/ads and to analyze site traffic. We also looked at career length to find which colleges players have the longest average careers on different NFL teams. Rich Exner, data analysis editor for cleveland.com, writes about numbers on a variety of topics. A graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi with a bachelors in journalism, Rick has worked for the Monroe (La.) Or should. Though it might surprise some fans, the state of Florida actually has the most current NFL players. 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). Top 10 States that have produced the greatest NFL quarterbacks Graphic by Ryan Escobar 1. However, 13 Wolverines have reached 1,000 NFL rushing yards with the latest being the greatest, Tom Brady. 2 Alabama, SEC Women's Basketball Tournament action suspended due to weather delay, 2 SEC players named to late-season watch list for Oscar Robertson Player of the Year Trophy, Overrated? Ohio State's Justin Fields was a five-star recruit at Harrison High. But even the most diehard of Notre Dame fans would admit that their best days are well behind them. There were at least eight Power 5 starting quarterbacks in college football last season from Arizona, but just two Arizonans started in the NFL last season (Kyle Allen and Ryan Fitzpatrick). Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. The Sooners have only three Hall of Famers. Subscribe to get the latest insight from Mel Kiper Jr., Todd McShay and all of our experts heading into the NFL draft, plus thousands of your favorite sporting events. 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. Heres a breakdown of every states active NFL players. 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). Woodson has a Super Bowl ring, 71 career interceptions, 11 Pro Bowls and six All-Pro honors. Please reload the page and try again. 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. From John Brodie and Jim Plunkett to John Elway and Andrew Luck, there's a reason Stanford has a reputation as Quarterback U. Eventually, we had gathered data on every player to ever appear on an active NFL roster, including their position, who they played for, how long they played in the league and of course which college they attended. The state of California has produced the most players in today's NFL. In the 1950s, 69 Spartans were drafted into the NFL, compared to just 59 from 2000 to 2019. 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. So we didnt. 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. 3 is Georgia (one in 78,761). For a better experience, please consider using a modern browser such as Chrome, Firefox, or Edge. Trevor Lawrence, of Cartersville High, and Justin Fields, of Harrison High, became the top two recruits in the nation in 2018. 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. Florida ranked third with 149. To republish online, simply click the button, copy the html code and paste into your Content Management System (CMS). Arkansas (274) 24. Action Network makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the information given or the outcome of any game or event. The sheer size of California and the number of universities within it has propelled the state to #2 on the list. In the last six years . 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. Bottom line:No list about football would be complete without the state of Texas, and the Longhorn State lands its first of two proficient programs. Bottom line:Most people think of Michigan State as a basketball school, but the Spartans are one of the best football programs in the nation in producing elite receivers. 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. Most touchdowns in NFL: Mike Alstott (71), Most games played in NFL: Drew Brees (287).