No surprise: Texas, Florida, California producing most FBS talent

Christopher Smith | 9 years ago

The bedrock of college football always has been recruiting.

If that wasn’t the case, no way SMU boosters would’ve dolled out mortgage payments to players in the mid-1980s, right? And the NCAA wouldn’t be so anal about impermissible benefits that it sanctioned a once-homeless Baylor football player for accepting free housing.

It makes sense, then, that geography is a not-so-subtle advantage (or disadvantage) in major college football.

ESPN released a list of the top states by FBS talent between 2006 and 2014. It’s not a surprise five of the SEC teams reside in states that made the Top 10.

MOST FBS SIGNEES BY STATE, 2006-14

State	FBS Prospects
1. Texas	1,779
2. Florida	1,444
3. California	1,112
4. Georgia	903
5. Ohio	593
6. North Carolina	401
7. Pennsylvania	372
8. Virginia	365
9. Alabama	357
10. Illinois	311

Christopher Smith

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.

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