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Florida, Georgia and Louisiana hosted the best high school football in the country in 2014, according to one data set.
Those three states produced more FBS signees per capita than anywhere else in the United States as part of the 2015 class. (That’s according to participation data provided by the National Federation of High School Sports and the reported number and hometown of signees from every FBS program.)
It’s no surprise that SEC-affiliated states by far produced more FBS players in the 2015 class than anywhere else. States with at least one SEC football team claim nine of the top 16 spots in the per-capita rankings.
Florida (1 in 104), Georgia (1 in 133) and Louisiana (1 in 152) produced talent at a big-time rate, while Texas sent a nation-best 459 players to schools on an FBS football scholarship.
North Dakota and Washington did not report data.
South Carolina (No. 16), Kentucky (No. 26) and Missouri (No. 30) were the only SEC states that finished outside the Top 15 in the ratio of high school football players to FBS signees.
Vermont, Alaska and Montana didn’t produce a single FBS football player in the 2015 class. With 1,332 high school football players in 2014, Vermont saw the fewest number of prep football players in the country.
A total of 2,946 players signed with FBS schools in the 2015 class, while 1,093,234 players from 14,263 high schools participated in 11-man football.
STATES RANKED BY PERCENTAGE OF FBS SIGNEES
| State | FBS Signees | Players | Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Florida | 389 | 40,606 | 1 in 104 |
| 2. Georgia | 248 | 32,979 | 1 in 133 |
| 3. Louisiana | 132 | 20,087 | 1 in 152 |
| 4. Hawaii | 22 | 4,258 | 1 in 194 |
| 5. Utah | 35 | 8,638 | 1 in 247 |
| 6. Alabama | 89 | 22,841 | 1 in 257 |
| 7. Mississippi | 83 | 22,300 | 1 in 269 |
| 8. Maryland/D.C. | 55 | 15,662 | 1 in 285 |
| 9. Ohio | 135 | 44,431 | 1 in 329 |
| 1o. Tennessee | 67 | 23,003 | 1 in 343 |
| 11. California | 289 | 103,474 | 1 in 358 |
| 12. Texas | 459 | 164,554 | 1 in 359 |
| 13. Virginia | 68 | 24,954 | 1 in 367 |
| 14. Arkansas | 29 | 10,977 | 1 in 379 |
| 15. Oklahoma | 37 | 14,615 | 1 in 395 |
| 16. South Carolina | 49 | 19,543 | 1 in 399 |
| 17. Pennsylvania | 64 | 26,100 | 1 in 408 |
| 18. New Jersey | 64 | 26,138 | 1 in 408 |
| 19. North Carolina | 83 | 36,273 | 1 in 437 |
| 20. Kansas | 30 | 13,959 | 1 in 465 |
| 21. Indiana | 43 | 21,760 | 1 in 506 |
| 22. Arizona | 39 | 20,019 | 1 in 513 |
| 23. Michigan | 77 | 39,963 | 1 in 519 |
| 24. Nevada | 12 | 6,580 | 1 in 548 |
| 25. Connecticut | 18 | 10,158 | 1 in 564 |
| 26. Kentucky | 23 | 13,788 | 1 in 599 |
| 27. Delaware | 5 | 3,019 | 1 in 604 |
| 28. Illinois | 74 | 47,068 | 1 in 636 |
| 29. Colorado | 20 | 15,357 | 1 in 768 |
| 30. Missouri | 29 | 23,257 | 1 in 802 |
| 31. Wyoming | 3 | 2,596 | 1 in 865 |
| 32. West Virginia | 7 | 6,198 | 1 in 885 |
| 33. Idaho | 8 | 7,141 | 1 in 892 |
| 34. Iowa | 21 | 18,846 | 1 in 897 |
| 35. Massachusetts | 18 | 20,113 | 1 in 1,117 |
| 36. New Mexico | 6 | 7,293 | 1 in 1,216 |
| 37. Wisconsin | 20 | 26,680 | 1 in 1,334 |
| 38. Oregon | 9 | 13,212 | 1 in 1,468 |
| 39. Nebraska | 6 | 9,984 | 1 in 1,664 |
| 40. New York | 21 | 35,552 | 1 in 1,693 |
| 41. South Dakota | 2 | 3,399 | 1 in 1,700 |
| 42. Minnesota | 13 | 23,582 | 1 in 1,814 |
| 43. Rhode Island | 1 | 3,069 | 1 in 3,069 |
| 44. New Hampshire | 1 | 3,547 | 1 in 3,547 |
| 45. Maine | 1 | 3,768 | 1 in 3,768 |
| 46. Vermont | 0 | 1,332 | — |
| 47. Alaska | 0 | 1,950 | — |
| 48. Montana | 0 | 4,376 | — |
An itinerant journalist, Christopher has moved between states 11 times in seven years. Formally an injury-prone Division I 800-meter specialist, he now wanders the Rockies in search of high peaks.
