The two biggest states in America are also the two biggest producers of NFL talent. A recent study on which states have the most former high school football players in the NFL revealed, unsurprisingly, that California and Texas are the best producers of talent, with Florida close behind.
The most impressive showing is by Louisiana, which ranked 25th in total population but has the sixth-most high school players in the NFL. The Pelican State has the highest per-capita rate of NFL players (1 in 65,720) followed by Mississippi (1 in 76,883). By comparison, California's rate is 1 in 175,163.
There's an obvious correlation between high total populations and high NFL player totals. Seven of the top 10 biggest states also are in the top 10 of the list above. Somewhat surprisingly, New York is the biggest exception. The third-most populous state isn't represented well in the NFL, failing to appear in the top 15 of talent production. A lot of that is due to the fact that 40 percent of residents live in New York City, an area not known to produce football stars. But it's a big state and it's surprising that there isn't enough high school talent to compete with, say, New Jersey.
Populations of each state:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_population
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
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My brother sent me this article.... I'll let trey_the father of balance tell you which state is the Pelican State.... I thought the per-capita rate of NFL players was interesting... Clearly we know a lot goes into making it to the NFL.. These are just raw numbers... nevertheless, it's interesting...
ReplyDeleteTo play football and develop talent you need people, resources (land to play), and emphasis.... i think emphasis is most important and where the south kinda leaves the rest of the country. in the south (and louisiana in particular) we strongly emphasize football as very important (whether it be to develop a strong young man or a ticket out)... in other places where land is restricted say NY or huge urban areas this emphasis often transfers to basketball. in the ghettos of brazil the emphasis is soccer and so on....
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