If one were to take a drive through the scenic byways of Mississippi, it would not be surprising to run into a small town once every 10-15 miles. What would be surprising is running into something one might consider a “metro” area.

With a population of just under 3 million people, the Magnolia State has a lot of “country” kids that play good football, so much so that if one were to consider what part of Mississippi produced the most football players, you’d have to give a general “the back roads” answer.

In the last five years, you’ve had five-star players from towns like Macon, Miss. (south of Starkville, which is, by the way, not much more than a hamlet itself when Mississippi State is not in session), Waynesboro (West of Laurel, near the Alabama state line), Houston, Miss. (not to be confused with the “other” Houston, it’s a town of about 3,600 souls south of Tupelo and northwest of Starkville) and Aberdeen (east of Houston).

Put together, these little places combine to outproduce the bigger cities, like Jackson and the counties in Mississippi that are part of the Memphis area. So if you’re going to find football players in this state, be ready to drive through the cotton fields and the farms of the sleepy rural towns of one of the nation’s great football player-producing states.

Here’s how the numbers stack up:

Note: sorted by per capita production (the “Rural” category was left for last):

METRO AREA SIZE PER CAPITA 5 STARS 4 STARS
Hattiesburg 145,000 1/47,000 0 2
Meridian* 107,000 1/53,500 0 2
Jackson 540,000 1/77,142 0 7
Memphis suburbs* (Mid-South) 601,000 1/85,857 1 6
Gulfport/Biloxi 240,000 1/240,000 0 1
Pascagoula 156,000 0 0 0
Rural 1,200,000 1/70,500 4 14
  • * Meridian is defined as a micropolitan area but has a population similar to many metro areas
  • * The Memphis suburbs extend beyond the traditional Memphis metro area through areas like Panola County and Oxford, part of the “Mid-South” region.

Three things to know

  1. It’s a draw … almost: In the last five years, the state has produced 37 players rated four-stars or better and the two in-state SEC powers have basically split them. Ole Miss has landed 16, including three of the five five-star recruits the state has produced in this stretch. Mississippi State is only two behind with 14, including the other two five-stars. The two state schools have done a good job fending off neighboring powers like Alabama (three four-star recruits) and LSU (two four-stars).
  2. Pound-for-pound … pretty good!: Mississippi holds its own with the best in per-capita player production with one player getting a four-star or better rating in the past five years for every 78,000 residents. That’s better than Alabama (1/85,000) and Florida (1/124,000) but behind Louisiana (1/62,000). The issue, of course, is that Mississippi is a considerably less populated state that the others mentioned.
  3. Where’s Jackson?: If there’s a disappointing aspect to Mississippi recruiting, it’s a relative absence of top prospects from metro Jackson. It’s just under half the size of New Orleans with similar demographics, but where the Crescent City has produced 33 blue chip prospects in the last five years, Jackson has only managed to produce seven. If the biggest city in the state can ever get its player production to mirror the rate of New Orleans, that would be a boon for both of the state’s SEC programs.

Program to know

Although it was knocked out in the first round of last year’s Class 6A playoffs, South Panola of Batesville, Miss., has been both a consistent winner and a consistent producer of players. The most notable player recently is safety Tony Conner, a 2013 five-star  prospect who has become a cornerstone of the Ole Miss “Landsharks” defense.