(07-05-2017 05:45 PM)MUther Wrote:  

(07-05-2017 05:33 PM)ODU_NYG Wrote:  

(07-04-2017 06:29 PM)Volkmar Wrote:  

(07-04-2017 10:40 AM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  For whatever it's worth, if you are a starter in high school, you can likely play D3. The costs of attending a D3 school are usually not worth extending the playing time but most can play. We had guys on my HS team who barely lettered that ended up playing D3 football.

The chart from the original link shows that only 8% of all high school football starters play any kind of college football though; that's D1, D2, D3, NAIA, and NJCAA combined. So I'm not following what you base your analysis on. If it really is based on just your one school, I think you need to look a little further.

I understand that some guys who play multiple sports in high school almost always end up choosing just one sport in college, so there may be some overlap with HS football players who might play baseball, basketball, or something else in college instead. But even if we work under the assumption that every HS football starter will actually choose football for college, rather than another sport, I can't see the number jumping from 8% to anything more than maybe 40-45%.

Maybe you graduated from a regional football powerhouse where a much higher percentage than normal go on to play college football at various levels, as we have a few of those in Texas to be sure (national powerhouses even). But nationally, I can't see it going above 45% given the low 8% figure provided on the link, and I think 45% is probably even a pretty liberal estimate.

He was saying that if you are a starter in HS you "can likely play" at the D3 level. Doesn't mean it turns out that way. One of my best friends from HS was a decent FB player on the OL (2 year starter; 2nd team all district). Not a D1 player by any means, but got offers from small schools to play, but he wasn't interested. Wanted to go to college and have fun instead.

Exactly. The statistics show only those who chose to go play at the lower levels. It doesn't take into account those that were good enough or recruited that simply chose to go to their favorite college, instead, and not play after high school. I would consider that the largest overall percentage of post-high school athletes. Those that just chose to give up sports after high school for whatever reason.

In my defense, though I didn't state it in my comment, I actually took that into account also, which is why I used what I felt was the fairly liberal estimate of 40-45% from the stated 8% number. It's a pretty big jump from 8% to 40-45% after all. And we also have to remember that the 8% number also includes NAIA and NJCAA football, as well as "Other". If those are removed, the starting point we're dealing with for D3 or above falls from 8% of HS football players to only 6.2%. At any rate, it's pretty much just conjecture on anyone's part as to what percent actually could play D3, and so there's bound to be disagreement.

It also changes greatly depending on what state you're talking about, and especially what size school you're talking about. You'll certainly have a much higher percentage of football players at a large high school (e.g. 2,400+ enrollment) who would be good enough to play D3 than you would from a smaller school (600 enrollment or less) where many of the players probably wouldn't even make it onto a varsity squad if they attended a school much larger.