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There are thousands of NFL players, but a handful of states are responsible for producing a majority of the athletes that we see take the field on Sundays. Sports betting guide WSN.com recently gathered some data to chart where players across the league grew up.
Predictably, California, Texas, and Florida produced the most players.
California produced 3,056 players, with Texas (2,613), Florida (1,751) and Ohio (1,542) following behind.
Here is the full top 10:
| State | Players | |
| 1 | California | 3,056 |
| 2 | Texas | 2,613 |
| 3 | Florida | 1,751 |
| 4 | Ohio | 1,542 |
| 5 | Pennsylvania | 1,440 |
| 6 | Illinois | 1,051 |
| 7 | Georgia | 986 |
| 8 | Louisiana | 857 |
| 9 | New York | 752 |
| 10 | New Jersey | 740 |
The colleges that produce the most NFL players are Notre Dame (591), USC (526), and Ohio State (494).
“Notre Dame is a great school, but because of the conference they play in leaves them little room for losses during the season. Young high school players are impressed with having the opportunity to compete for national championships year in and year out. The mystic of the glory years of Norte Dame, football is behind them and if they were in a better conference it would no doubt push them back to national prominence,” former Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson said.
“Academic ability and character have always been huge factors in determining if a player has what it takes to make the cut in the NFL. Pro football is a real detail game and if a player can’t keep up in the classroom it might be hard for him to handle the sometime complex learning of an NFL playbook.”
You can check out a complete breakdown and map here.
