Bottom line:Illinois never won a national championship, but the Illini had two of the most iconic players in NFL history. 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. Alabama - 319 What College Has The Most NFL Players - 2019 Alabama - 53 LSU - 51 Ohio State - 46 USC - 44 Miami - 43 Florida - 43 Florida is another NFL-producing machine. Remember, were talking about per capita here. That's reflective of Arizona's NFL history, which includes longtime backup Mike Pagel. While some schools are known for producing CEOs or millionaires, these 10 colleges have the most NFL players on active rosters, according to NCAA data. However, Nebraska hasnt finished in the top 10 in the final AP poll since the 2001 season, and its once-abundant NFL pipeline has all but dried up. Of that 82, 74 are playing in the NFL after spending time at Nick Saban's powerhouse football program. 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. 2 is Louisiana (one in 76,837) .. No. The one thing lacking from The Ohio States NFL resume is a great, or even good, or even above-average, quarterback. City of Miami, State of Florida, Saint Thomas Aquinas High School Produce Most NFL Players Which state has most NFL players per capita? Despite that, Washington has attracted many of the top players in the nation and its reach goes beyond its Seattle campus. 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. Rounding out the top five are USC (479), Ohio State (426), Penn State (359), and Nebraska (346). Bottom line: While six states on this list landed multiple programs in the top 25, only one city accomplished the feat, and thats Los Angeles. Always has. After all, our hometown Arizona Cardinals have the first overall pick! Heres how the rest of the list shakes out: The college football landscape is already taking shape for the 2022-23 season. Mississippi produces more NFL players per capita than any other state, and its not really that close. Dick Butkus and Ray Nitschke dominated in the 1960s and '70s, and the Fighting Illinis success also is in yesteryear. The rest of the country and other places around the world are home to 838 players. Its one of the most exciting times of the year for football fans around the country. From there, we ranked which state currently has produced the most NFL 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. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. Vinny Testaverde. With 56 players, Alabama's roster in 2019 is the largest. How 'bout them Hogs? It was enough to move . 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. While Brady (and his seven rings) is the headliner, the Golden State's dominance is more than just the Golden Boy, a sixth-round pick who graduated from Serra High School in 1995. No. by Rick Cleveland, Mississippi Today November 1, 2021, This and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
. 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. Any web site our stories appear on must include a contact for your organization. Coach Urban Meyer preparing players for the NFL also was a huge attraction as many of those 65 players came under his tenure. Meanwhile, the Magnolia State has plenty to celebrate when it comes to football or writers and entertainers, for that matter. But the Texas total computes to only 8.5 players per 100,000, about one-third of what Mississippi has produced. Bottom line: Purdue is one of the oldest college football programs. Eleven ZIP codes have produced three NFL QBs, and 60 can boast two. Time will tell! Rick Cleveland, a native of Hattiesburg and resident of Jackson, has been Mississippi Todays sports columnist since 2016. We do not target any individuals under the age of 21. 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). The captain of Oregon's all-time NFL team is Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Fouts, a third-round pick (No. Madison, Wisconsin, may not be the first location that many transfers think of when deciding where they want to finish their college careers, but it has proven to be a much-sought-after destination for some of the NFLs best players. Notably, however, LSU was the school most represented on the 2018 Cardinals roster. And there are currently no players that were born in the state of Vermont. We just dont have available stats on the authors and musicians. But the program has produced some elite NFL stars. It is reflected in the NFL as well. 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 overall picks and 6,532 TD passes. Arkansas (274) 24. In third place for most NFL players is California, which gets to claim two legendary players in Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers. These colleges have produced the most NFL players, and they have a track record of success on the gridiron. A cleveland.com review of opening week. But the Texas total computes to only 8.5 players per 100,000, about one-third of what Mississippi has produced. Only five players in the program's history have been selected first . Here is a breakdown of the states where the most active NFL players were born Sign up for notifications from Insider! Warner collected 71 of his 311 career college wins at Stanford and changed the game with the forward pass. 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. Iowa not only has the NFLs all-time interceptions leader in Paul Krause (81), but it also has the second all-time interceptions leader in Emlen Tunnell (79). So we didnt. U.S. News rank: 18 (tie), National Universities. Oliver Luck hailed from St. Ignatius, but the 44113 doesn't get credit for his son Andrew, who went to high school in Texas. No. Bottom line:Michigan has the second most all-time wins in college football history (behind Alabama), produced perhaps the greatest quarterback in NFL history (Tom Brady) and even had a future president play for them (Gerald Ford). 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. According to Pro Football Reference, Arizona has produced 19 NFL quarterbacks, eighth most in the country, but it has the lowest percentage of starts (55%) among states with at least 400 games played. 2 is Louisiana (one in 76,837) .. No. More:Mississippi State upends No. Help keep the momentum going by rejoining our member community today. Cam Newton attended Florida for two years, then transferred to Auburn, so when he was taken first overall in the 2011 NFL draft, Auburn got the credit for the selection. But that is debatable. Walter Payton, from Columbia and Jackson State, is the NFLs second all-time leading rusher. Mississippi averages 26.6 NFL players for every 100,000 citizens. He has covered the SEC since 2016. Bottom line:The dominance of Alabama under Nick Saban isnt limited to just the college game. As one of the oldest teams in the league, the Cardinals have one of the largest rosters of players all-time, clocking in at over 1,800! Woodson has a Super Bowl ring, 71 career interceptions, 11 Pro Bowls and six All-Pro honors. 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? We also took the combined data we had gathered and made a slightly different graphic for the entire history of the NFL. Our site uses cookies to personalize content, to provide social media features/ads and to analyze site traffic. The most NFL players have come from Saint Thomas Aquinas High School in Miami, Florida, and the state of Florida. There have been 149 players in NFL history to rush for 5,000 yards in a career, but none of them have donned the maize and blue. Which ZIP code has produced the most NFL quarterbacks? and Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett, who rated as the top prospect from the Lone Star State for the 2014 national recruiting cycle before signing with Texas A&M. Check out the full list of 721 quarterbacks divided by state here. Among states that have produced at least 15 NFL quarterbacks, Washington has the highest average draft position at 71.3 for its 16 QBs selected in the NFL draft (not counting the supplemental draft). following organizations: Whoops! We're dedicated to keeping Mississippians informed with our thorough reporting. The most prolific quarterback state of the 2010s is Florida with nine, including Lamar Jackson and Teddy Bridgewater. We are particularly interested in which colleges have been the most successful at sending players to the pros. Weve looked at the top states for producing NFL players, but how about the most successful schools within those states? YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. But the Texas total computes to only 8.5 players per 100,000, about one-third of what Mississippi has produced. These colleges have produced the most NFL players, and they have a track record of success on the gridiron. 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). 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. 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 . Clemson's Trevor Lawrence went 52-2 as a starter at Cartersville High, winning two state titles. California ranked second among all U.S. states with 151 players drafted. You cant edit our stories, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style. 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. Looking at the current NFL landscape, Action Network was able to identify several hot spots where top talent came from. In fact, since Saban became coach in 2007, the Crimson Tide have more first-round picks (39) than losses (27). Heres the full chart that Feldman shared on Twitter below: The District of Columbia, with one NFL player for every 54,702 residents, has the most NFL players per capita. Others create politicians. U.S. News rank: 57 (tie), National Universities. The remaining seven states to crack the top 10 are Georgia, Ohio, Alabama, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, North Carolina and New Jersey. Mississippi averages 26.6 NFL players for every 100,000 citizens. 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. Since 1936, 788 NFL players have come from Mississippi. 1 in health, wealth and education? 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. 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. Since 1936, when the NFL began to keep accurate roster records, Mississippi has produced 788 NFL players. as well as other partner offers and accept our. 13 Texas A&M at Kyle Field, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. But even the most diehard of Notre Dame fans would admit that their best days are well behind them. This website does not fully support Internet Explorer. is known world wide for having some of the best athletes in the world. In the last six years . 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. Florida State (275) 23. Without Fitzpatrick's 146 starts, the canyon between Arizona and runner-up Ohio, at 57.6% for its 34 QBs, would be even wider. 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 school has just one first-round NFL pick since the 2011 season with Prince Amukamara going 19th overall in that years draft.