UM Needs to Recruit Montana Better & Other Fun Facts about Where NFL Players Come From
Lots of conversations lately about recruiting and where the coaches come from and their backgrounds, plus talk of Urban de-emphasizing OH to a degree to go South. Durkin seems to be bringing a lot of GA flavor already - I like.
So decided to do some sleuthing and found a cool blog article I don't think has ever been posted. Some fun facts in it as follows:
ALL THE EXPECTED STATES PROVIDE THE MOST PLAYERS PER CAPITA EXCEPT FOR ONE INTERESTING EXCEPTION - MONTANA
State | # | Per Capita |
LA | 59 | 77K |
SC | 55 | 84K |
DC | 7 | 86K |
MS | 34 | 87K |
AL | 52 | 92K |
FL | 200 | 94K |
MT | 10 | 99K |
GA | 97 | 100K |
VA | 55 | 145K |
OH | 79 | 146K |
ONE HS IN FLORIDA HAS MORE NFL PLAYERS THAN 15 STATES CURRENTLY HAVE
1 - St Thomas Aquinas | |
Ft Lauderdale (10!) | |
T2 - Glades Central | |
Belle Garde, FL (5) | |
T2 - Glenville | |
Cleveland, OH (5) | |
T2 - Pahoke | |
Pahoke, FL (5) | |
14 schools with 4 each | |
43 schools with 3 each |
- Looking at a map of Florida, Pahoke and Belle Garde are essentially neighbors; must be some epic HS football down there.
DETROIT HAS AS MANY NFL PLAYERS AS THE MUCH BIGGER L.A. - AND NYC IS NOWHERE TO BE FOUND IN THE TOP 12?
City | # |
Miami | 25 |
Ft Laud | 16 |
Houston | 16 |
N. Orleans | 16 |
Jacksonville | 12 |
LA | 12 |
Detroit | 12 |
Cincy | 12 |
Cleveland | 12 |
Chicago | 11 |
Dallas | 10 |
Philly | 10 |
Pitt | 10 |
TOP 25 STATES IN TERMS OF NFL PLAYER PRODUCTION (NOT ADJUSTED FOR POPULATION)
*D.C. is a powerhouse in its own right considering its tiny size, but couldn't decide whether it should be rolled into Maryland or Virginia so kept it independent
State | # |
CA | 213 |
FL | 200 |
TX | 172 |
GA | 97 |
OH | 79 |
LA | 59 |
SC | 55 |
PA | 55 |
VA* | 55 |
NJ | 55 |
AL | 52 |
NC | 51 |
MI | 44 |
IL | 40 |
TN | 35 |
MS | 32 |
NY | 28 |
MD* | 25 |
MO | 24 |
WI | 22 |
WA | 21 |
AZ | 21 |
IN | 20 |
CO | 19 |
OK | 19 |
*DC | 5 |
- MS has more NFL players than NY - guess NY kids prefer basketball
January 14th, 2015 at 12:07 AM ^
January 14th, 2015 at 12:12 AM ^
It's a basketball culture there. Not to mention, where exactly do you play football? It's a much denser city than even Detroit. I really think that plays a role in pushing kids to basketball when they're very young (which in turn perpetuates the basketball culture).
January 14th, 2015 at 12:14 AM ^
January 14th, 2015 at 12:31 AM ^
That's true. Just by sheer number, not necessarily per capita. I wonder if another reason is the number of non-Americans (or at least Americans born outside of the US) who live in the city? This could skew numbers as well. Their population is huge, but probably less of the population is likely to be exposed to/play football than any other major urban center in the country. Just a guess.
January 14th, 2015 at 12:35 AM ^
Combination of factors: Lots of immigrants, no where to play except outer boros, outer boro schools don't have budgets for football and there is no major interest to provide funding. As someone who went to school in NYC, you just never even thought of playing organized football, more likely to play soccer, basketball, baseball, squash, tennis, or maybe hockey.
January 14th, 2015 at 8:48 AM ^
Football skills require a lot of training and development. Yes, having a larger pool of possible players increases the likelihood of finding a Denard Robinson but that's the crux - it is only the pool of possible players.
If raw numbers were the only critical factor then we should see most of our top sprinters come from the big cities in China and India - yet world wide sprints have been dominated largely by smaller nations that have sunk a lot of resources into identifying and training sprinters.
I don't know what is the exact alchemy but it will have to have a resonable size pool, a lot of local football support and a strong high school coaching system. We've seen clusters of top players before - remember when Unitas, Namath, Montana and other QBs all came out of western Pennsylvania?
In the era of the Internet and the 24/7 sports news cycle, every big school (e.g. in the top 50) recruits nationwide and the top 10 can expect to have a shot at any kid who is good anywhere. The last scouting trick left is identifying the good kid with great potential on a bad team.
January 14th, 2015 at 9:05 AM ^
It's not just basketball in NYC. I would venture to say that baseball is the most popular sport played/watched.
January 14th, 2015 at 12:15 AM ^
Um.. there's not really much room in NYC for football. Not to mention the Mecca of basketball is there too. Outside of NYC and its burbs, you got more cows than people.
January 14th, 2015 at 12:24 AM ^
January 14th, 2015 at 12:42 AM ^
According to cattlerange.com, the state of NY has 1,450,000 cows. Buffalo's population is 258,000. Syracuse's population is 150k and Rochester is 200k.
Unless all those cows are living in apartment buildings in NYC, I would say yes, there are more cows than people outside of NYC.
SO SCREW YOU MAN! lol.
January 14th, 2015 at 12:43 AM ^
Ironically, cattlerange.com is Bagheera's homepage. He switches between that site and oaklandraiders.com from week to week. It's cool.
January 14th, 2015 at 6:40 AM ^
Shots fired
.
January 14th, 2015 at 12:53 AM ^
January 14th, 2015 at 10:37 AM ^
Yeah, upstate New York has a lot of land, not much in the way of football talent. My high school alma mater plays in the same league as Onondaga (Mike Hart's alma mater) and has a football roster of about 23 kids. A few years ago an Australian exchange student, who had never played football before, became the starting quarterback (and kicker and linebacker) and was by far the best player on the team. Nope, not much talent in the area and dramatically declining enrollment across the state doesn't make for a strong talent pool.
And I pass more cows than cars on my hour long commute to work.
January 14th, 2015 at 2:48 PM ^
The Buffalo-Niagara Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area is a metropolitan area . . . with a population, as of the 2010 census, of 1,135,509 inhabitants.
January 14th, 2015 at 3:11 PM ^
January 14th, 2015 at 4:31 PM ^
This is why I love MGoBlog. Went from talking football to doing cow/human population density analysis.
Pure MGoBlog.
January 14th, 2015 at 10:13 AM ^
I think NY has much more of a basketball culture, and much of NYS produces a ton of hockey and lacrosse talent. Just not a big football area.
February 6th, 2016 at 12:04 PM ^
Most of the population in NYC is in the five boroughs which are tight and cramped with little infrastructure for football.
Not saying this is a reason but may be a factor over the years.
January 14th, 2015 at 12:08 AM ^
I swear man - do you sleep? Have a family? Or are you really, really research-oriented? You produce more content than Brian at this point.
January 14th, 2015 at 12:52 AM ^
January 14th, 2015 at 8:01 AM ^
January 14th, 2015 at 12:22 AM ^
I'm hitting that age where my porn career is really slowing down so I have more time to do posts. You know how that goes Carlos.
January 14th, 2015 at 4:08 AM ^
January 14th, 2015 at 4:34 AM ^
The freakin' Catalina wine mixer!
January 14th, 2015 at 3:43 PM ^
but this thread is already out to pasture.
I do appreciate the content though.
January 14th, 2015 at 8:50 AM ^
Shhhhhhh!
alum96 is Brian. It's his was of lurking among the commoners to keep his finger on the pulse of MGoBlog opinion.
He's trying to find out why there's more interest in Upton than UFRs.
January 14th, 2015 at 12:10 AM ^
I'm a bit surprised that South Carolina is that high. In terms of the southern states that outpunch their population in producing talent, I would have put Alabama, Georgia, and North Carolina above SC.
Damon Arnette, a cornerback visiting this weekend, is from St. Thomas Aquinas. They have been a powerhouse for a long time, and it looks like Durkin knows their coaching staff well.
January 14th, 2015 at 4:01 AM ^
January 14th, 2015 at 4:03 AM ^
January 14th, 2015 at 9:01 AM ^
January 14th, 2015 at 12:11 AM ^
January 14th, 2015 at 12:19 AM ^
And cities like Detroit, Philly and Chicago (also known as Chiraq) don't have ghettos?
LA doesn't have a Pro football team, which may skew the culture towards basketball more than anything.
January 14th, 2015 at 1:29 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
January 14th, 2015 at 12:14 AM ^
January 14th, 2015 at 12:15 AM ^
January 14th, 2015 at 12:39 AM ^
when we have Wolvipedia right here with us 24/7?
January 14th, 2015 at 12:45 AM ^
I would be fascinating to hear how coaches in that era recruited kids from places like Montana. There was no internet, no game tape, it wasn't easy to travel. How do you evaluate a kid from friggin Montana in 1930 or 1950. They take a train - sight unseen - cross country, to go to Michigan to tryout for a coach?
January 14th, 2015 at 1:01 AM ^
January 14th, 2015 at 2:01 AM ^
I suspect coaches had a network of colleagues across the country, even in places like Montana, that informed them if there were talented guys around. Crisler, Oosterbaan, Yost, etc. would have had contacts all over the place.
January 14th, 2015 at 11:25 AM ^
In the Big Ten, recruiting as we know it was against the rules until the late 1940s or early 1950s. Coaches were not allowed to initiate contact with a recruit--they had to wait for a player to contact them instead. They also were not allowed to have people contact recruits on their behalf, but of course that was pretty close to impossible to enforce.
A common tactic back then was for college coaches to get themselves invited to give a speech at a high school team's postseason banquet. That would make it possible for the coach to have a conversation with a player they are interested in, to give the kid the opportunity to express interest.
I'm guessing many of them, especially the ones from 1880-1910, went to Michigan simply because they didn't have any options for high quality but inexpensive higher education (combined with a good football team) anywhere near them.
January 14th, 2015 at 9:04 AM ^
January 14th, 2015 at 12:19 AM ^
January 14th, 2015 at 12:29 AM ^
This is very true. But as the poster higher on the page said, just from the sheer humanity there you'd think they'd have at least 15 NFL players. Largest city in the country.
I wonder how many HS football fields exist in NYC? 25? 10? Maybe it's just a sport most HSs don't offer within the actual city as there is no land. I am sure we have a lot of NY alums here who can educate us.
January 14th, 2015 at 1:27 AM ^