accurate as of the publish date. Bottom line:Illinois never won a national championship, but the Illini had two of the most iconic players in NFL history. These rankings are based on rosters published by Stats LLC on Monday afternoon, three days before the start of the season. That is about 9% of the current active players in the league. Brett Favre, from Kiln and Southern Miss, is No. Despite having the most players all-time, the Fighting Irish ranked eigth in active players for the 2022 NFL season. Alabama is ranked first in the country in terms of NFL players per capita, with one NFL player per 74,683 residents. Alabama rounds out the top 5 with 109 active NFL players. Any amount helps us keep producing quality journalism for Mississippi. 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. The state of Mississippi has placed the most players in the NFL capita, according to a by Sidelines. Heres how the rest of the list shakes out: The college football landscape is already taking shape for the 2022-23 season. Mississippi averages 26.6 NFL players for every 100,000 citizens. 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. 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. Notre Dames lack of recent success bears out in the number of active players the Irish have in the NFL. Some regions of the country, though, have become well known for regularly producing NFL-caliber talent. DISCLAIMER: This site is 100% for entertainment purposes only and does not involve real money betting. . The University of Alabama has produced the most pro athletes out of college, though, with 82. 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 Sooners have only three Hall of Famers. The captain of Oregon's all-time NFL team is Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Fouts, a third-round pick (No. 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. CLEVELAND, Ohio - Half the players on NFL rosters are from just seven states, with Ohio being among the top producers of pro football talent. They often get those TV slots since their players will be playing in the NFL in a few years. But Florida State is rising up the ranks, and of its four Hall of Famers, three have been enshrined in Canton this decade. 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. California - 460.6 Aaron Rodgers, Pleasant Valley (Chico) - 104.1 Tom Brady, Serra (San Mateo) - 96.4 Carson Palmer, Santa Margarita (Rancho Santa Margarita) - 88.1 Jeff Garcia, Gilroy - 87.5 Alex Smith, Helix (La Mesa) - 84.5 2. Current NFL players: 37. Only five players in the program's history have been selected first . After starring at Snider High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Woodson stayed close to home and became an All-American for the Boilermakers. 2 following the 1962 season. That Mississippi led all other states, said Diallo, was the part we found super interesting.. 20 college football teams we aren't sold on in 2023, SEC Basketball Power Rankings: Mizzou shocks Tennessee, Alabama downs Auburn and more, SEC Basketball Power Rankings: Alabama stays unbeaten in SEC play, Tennessee outlasts Auburn and more, SEC Basketball Power Rankings: A new top team emerges, Alabama loses in blowout fashion, Mizzou lights it up again. 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. We share information about your use of this site with our social media, advertising and analytics teams who may combine it with other information that youve provided to them. Ousmane Diallo, a data analyst for Rise at Seven, led a team of five that did the research and tallied the results. 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. And some make NFL players. 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. With your help, we've gotten a lot done but we're not finished yet! Don Majkowski. 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). Eleven ZIP codes have produced three NFL QBs, and 60 can boast two. Which state produces most NFL players per capita? It's an SEC state. Which Schools Have the Most NFL Players? Notre Dame and USC were actually tied for the most draft selections ever entering the 2021 draft with 511. 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. 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). Note: All figures are NFL stats for players. Graphic: The 10 U.S. States With The Most Current NFL Players What state produces the most NFL players header image. In Georgia, one NFL player is played for every 81,409 people, while in Florida, one is played for every 91,847 people. While that number seems impressive, its a low number for this list and ranks just 81st in terms of all college football programs. We also looked at the three college teams who had the most players join each professional team in every decade. In terms of 2018 rosters, however, it comes as no surprise that Alabama, the premier program in college football over the last decade, leads the way with 53 players, enough for an entire official NFL roster, suiting up during the most recent season. And of those, 11 come from high schools located within 30 miles of Atlanta. To republish online, simply click the button, copy the html code and paste into your Content Management System (CMS). It also doesnt count, for instance, a player such as Peyton Manning whose roots are firmly in Mississippi soil and who spent much of his childhood in the Magnolia State. The Ohio State University has produced a total of 411 players since the 17th NFL season in 1936. Many of the schools on this list are poised to send another great class of rookies to the NFL next season. Oct 6, 2011, 8:10 AM Historically, Texas, California, and Pennsylvania have been hotbeds for football talent. 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. Top editors give you the stories you want delivered right to your inbox each weekday. Only Purdue (676), Oregon (687) and Arkansas (706) have fewer NFL touchdowns. It was enough to move . 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. 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. Switzer was a center, linebacker, and captain of the 1959 team that won the Southwest Conference and Gator Bowl. 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. 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. We're dedicated to keeping Mississippians informed with our thorough reporting. If you share our stories on social media, please tag us in your posts using. That is 48 more than the team with the next most Pro Bowl selections. If you feel like you're losing control over your gambling experience, call 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ, PA, WV), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-888- 532-3500(Virginia) 1-800-522-4700 (NV, TN), 1-800-522-4700 (CO, TN), 1-855-2CALLGA (IL), 1-800-270-7117 (MI). 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. We also identified the college football programs that sent the most players to the NFL within those states. 13 Texas A&M at Kyle Field, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. The Sunshine State comes in at #3 with 149 total players in the NFL. Our site uses cookies to personalize content, to provide social media features/ads and to analyze site traffic. Second is California with 187, followed by Texas (160), Georgia (97), Ohio (80), Pennsylvania (66) and Louisiana (63). The Longhorns are no longer on top, and they are chasing Oklahoma for Big 12 supremacy in terms of NFL players produced. Only 44 wide receivers in NFL history have reached 10,000 receiving yards, and three of them came from MSU Andre Rison, Muhsin Muhammad and Derrick Mason. While everything may be bigger in Texas, the Aggies come up small in terms of Pro Football Hall of Famers. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (each updated 1/26/2023). In third place for most NFL players is California, which gets to claim two legendary players in Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers. His work as a syndicated columnist and celebrated sports writer has appeared in numerous magazines, periodicals and newspapers. 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." Colleges That Produce the Most NFL Players | Stadium Talk