Here is how each state ranks in regards to their HS talent being selected in the 2011 NFL Draft.

(Current Big East Football States in bold along with upcoming TCU's TX)

CA (42)
FL (36)
TX (29)
GA (19)
NC (10)
OH (10)
AL (7)
PA (7)
VA (7)
SC (6)
AZ (6)
MS (5)
WA (5)
LA (4
MO (4)
TN (4)
AR (3)
IL (3)
IN (3)
KS (3)
MI (3)
NE (3)
NJ (3)
NV (3)
OR (3)
CT (2)
DC (2)
IA (2)
MA (2)
MD (2)
NY (2)
UT (2)
WI (2)
AK (1)
CO (1)
HI (1)
KY (1)
MN (1)
MT (1)
OK (1)
WY (1)
1 player also from British Columbia

NOTE: Obviously not all of these players will make the final NFL rosters just like some free agents WILL end up on some final NFL rosters this fall.

2 from CT looks pretty impressive comparing to many others. It is not easy to get drafted. I believe less than 10% of college players do. It is a big accomplishment for those kids just being drafted.

i think we need to pick up two texas schools for the conference....

or a NC one

Not a good year for NJ talent I'm afraid.

(05-01-2011 11:26 AM)Cubanbull Wrote:  or a NC one

Bingo. When it comes to recruiting, I feel getting into NC is more important than adding another Florida school. BE been recruiting FL for decades. NC not so much. NC is a growing state and will continue to put more and more players into the league. It would be great to see that those kids serve a 3-4 year pit stop at a BE school.

(05-01-2011 11:51 AM)brista21 Wrote:  Not a good year for NJ talent I'm afraid.

PA and NJ been declining in numbers for about 10-15 years now. I'm afraid that its going to continue to decline in the future as well.

I don't think the New England area is as bad as everyone thinks. If Ct and Mass was 1 state, you'd have 4 NFL players.

If all of New England was one state, it would still be one of the smaller states...

(05-01-2011 12:23 PM)bitcruncher Wrote:  If all of New England was one state, it would still be one of the smaller states...

Possibly, but Conn and Mass combined is on par with LA, Missouri, and Tennessee. Put them all together and they might've had 5. While that isn't on CA, Texas, and Florida levels. The point is, its really not that bad comparing it with the rest of the nation.

Connecticut has a larger population than many states. It's mostly an urban state, which is something very few states can say...

(05-01-2011 12:34 PM)bitcruncher Wrote:  Connecticut has a larger population than many states. It's mostly an urban state, which is something very few states can say...

True that, but from the outside looking in, most people would assume that its not a football hotbed per say. Maybe the football is getting better up there, or was consistently overlooked.

I think there might be a little truth to the claims that texas recruits are artificially ranked higher than other states. Florida and Cali both seem to do a good job putting recruits in the pros but texas does less than you'd think given that they have the most recruits of any state (on par with Florida most years). Cali, they seem to do a great job getting people to the pro's, maybe it's the type of offenses many of their successful programs run? (USC/Stanford?)

(05-01-2011 01:10 PM)UCF08 Wrote:  I think there might be a little truth to the claims that texas recruits are artificially ranked higher than other states. Florida and Cali both seem to do a good job putting recruits in the pros but texas does less than you'd think given that they have the most recruits of any state (on par with Florida most years). Cali, they seem to do a great job getting people to the pro's, maybe it's the type of offenses many of their successful programs run? (USC/Stanford?)

Maybe we need to look at a 5 year trend to figure that out. Just maybe this was a down year for Texas recruits.

And I'm not sure that it matters what kind of offense teams run anymore. Great players are going to find their way into the NFL. Florida been running spread for sometime now and 2 of its linemen found its way onto the Steelers. The only position I really think a spread hurts is QB.

(05-01-2011 01:16 PM)animus Wrote:  

(05-01-2011 01:10 PM)UCF08 Wrote:  I think there might be a little truth to the claims that texas recruits are artificially ranked higher than other states. Florida and Cali both seem to do a good job putting recruits in the pros but texas does less than you'd think given that they have the most recruits of any state (on par with Florida most years). Cali, they seem to do a great job getting people to the pro's, maybe it's the type of offenses many of their successful programs run? (USC/Stanford?)

Maybe we need to look at a 5 year trend to figure that out. Just maybe this was a down year for Texas recruits.

And I'm not sure that it matters what kind of offense teams run anymore. Great players are going to find their way into the NFL. Florida been running spread for sometime now and 2 of its linemen found its way onto the Steelers. The only position I really think a spread hurts is QB.

I think it can also hurt their chances of recruiting WR's, TE's and RB's, RB's as the spread values undersized speedsters to the bigger runningbacks in the pro's. I would also think a lot of the WR's are recruited for speed/elusiveness as opposed to their catching ability seeing as how many screen type plays then run.

And I agree about the 5 year trend, it was just something I've heard before and their dropoff from the number one spot seems pretty high.

(05-01-2011 11:26 AM)Cubanbull Wrote:  or a NC one

Come on down. I know of one school that would love to even the playing field with the ACC. There surprisingly is a lot of untouched talent down in NC. I personally attribute it to the high number of military bases particularly in the eastern half of the state. Those are generally very good genes for FB players. That and all the farmers/country boys. Growing up working on a farm in the summer makes a huge difference.

(05-01-2011 01:10 PM)UCF08 Wrote:  I think there might be a little truth to the claims that texas recruits are artificially ranked higher than other states. Florida and Cali both seem to do a good job putting recruits in the pros but texas does less than you'd think given that they have the most recruits of any state (on par with Florida most years). Cali, they seem to do a great job getting people to the pro's, maybe it's the type of offenses many of their successful programs run? (USC/Stanford?)

Florida and California have a ton of highly rated recruits as well, it is not like rivals and scout only rate Texas guys highly. I think a thing you will notice with the Texas recruiting numbers is that there are a lot of 3 and 2 star kids. Texas has always filled a lot of rosters with depth and typically has not had as much superstar talent at top as Florida, and to a lesser extent California.

(05-01-2011 12:02 PM)animus Wrote:  

(05-01-2011 11:51 AM)brista21 Wrote:  Not a good year for NJ talent I'm afraid.

PA and NJ been declining in numbers for about 10-15 years now. I'm afraid that its going to continue to decline in the future as well.

I don't think the New England area is as bad as everyone thinks. If Ct and Mass was 1 state, you'd have 4 NFL players.

VA Tech started recruiting North Carolina hard as soon as they joined the ACC. ECU is also close enough to Tidewater Virginia to get some recruits from that area.

Interesting. If you look at this in terms of number of NFL draft picks per million residents (using the 2010 census numbers), it looks like this:

DC 3.32
GA 1.96
FL 1.91
WY 1.77
MS 1.69
NE 1.64
AL 1.46
AK 1.41
SC 1.30
TX 1.15
CA 1.13
NV 1.11
KS 1.05
NC 1.05
AR 1.03
MT 1.01
AZ 0.94
LA 0.88
VA 0.87
OH 0.87
OR 0.78
WA 0.74
HI 0.74
UT 0.72
MO 0.67
IA 0.66
TN 0.63
CT 0.56
PA 0.55
IN 0.46
WI 0.35
MD 0.35
NJ 0.34
MA 0.31
MI 0.30
OK 0.27
IL 0.23
KY 0.23
CO 0.20
MN 0.19
NY 0.10

What I find interesting about this is that the density of good players is pretty strongly skewed in the southeast in general. Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama and South Carolina are 5 of the top 9 states in this regard. I also find it interesting since there's been a long debate about whether Florida, Texas or California is better at churning out football players. The per capita numbers argue strongly in favor of Florida...

USFFan

This is just for one year, which does not lend itself to statistical analysis...

(05-01-2011 12:37 PM)animus Wrote:  

(05-01-2011 12:34 PM)bitcruncher Wrote:  Connecticut has a larger population than many states. It's mostly an urban state, which is something very few states can say...

True that, but from the outside looking in, most people would assume that its not a football hotbed per say. Maybe the football is getting better up there, or was consistently overlooked.

It's slowly getting better over time. It seems like every years the number of kids we send to BCS programs increases. Last year we had 8 I believe.