The Great High School Football State Debate: Who’s producing top players?

 

By Todd Holcomb | Monday, April 14, 2008, 11:53 AM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Where is the best high school football played? I’m talking states now, not North Georgia vs. South Georgia.

I’ve been thinking about that since last week, when there was a little back-and-forth on the blog with a fan from Texas, who felt that Georgia played decent football, but nothing that should be compared to what takes place in the Longhorn State. So I did a little research in an attempt to quantify this and came up with some lists.

 

States with the most SEC/ACC signees in February

(Florida has twice the population as Georgia; I hear that Florida has a couple of hundred more senior citizens)

Florida: 118

Georgia: 71

Alabama: 43

Virginia: 39

South Carolina: 32

North Carolina: 29

Louisiana: 23

Arkansas: 14

Maryland: 14

New Jersey: 11

California: 10

Pennsylvania: 10

Ohio: 9

Kentucky: 8

Mississippi: 7

 

 

The full article:

http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/prepsports/entries/2008/04/14/best_high_school_football_states.html

If the author is trying to discredit Texas, it's not really surprising that they don't lead the states for players signng with SEC / ACC teams. Might want to throw in the Big 12 to those totals and I'm guessing it would be dramatically different.

If you only use SEC/ACC signings then the study is skewed. Some of those states have very strong ties to other "big-time" conferences. (Big East, Big Ten, Pac Ten, etc...)

Shouldn't it be which state signs the most D1 prospects period. Then if you want to adjust according to state population you would get a better read. Of course the SEC and ACC are going to recruit these states harder, so the numbers will be high.

My stats teacher would have a field day with this thread.

Shouldn't it be which state signs the most D1 prospects period. Then if you want to adjust according to state population you would get a better read. Of course the SEC and ACC are going to recruit these states harder, so the numbers will be high.

 

I would say w/ Elite states it should be the most signees with a BCS school.

Stupid article and Biased numbers.

I agree it's not very scientific, and not a true representation of the state versus state comparison, but I still found it pretty interesting. Florida had 118 players go to the ACC and SEC only, that is very impressive.

 

If you look at it for what it is, I think it has some merit. It's not a all inclusive state match up, but these are numbers for just two conferences, two of the best/most competitive conferences.

Shouldn't it be which state signs the most D1 prospects period. .

Yes, it should.

Shouldn't it be which state signs the most D1 prospects period.

 

I will go out on a limb and say that the state with the most D1 schools are going to have the largest number of kids signed if for no other reason that if 2 kids have the same evaluation and schools can only take one they are going to go with the in state kid because his tuition and recruiting expense is going to be cheaper. Which explains why most walk-ons are in state kids and not out of state kids

If I were conducting the study I would make it which BCS schools did each state produce. I would also do a yearly breakdown of the past 3 years and then a 3 or 4 year total. I would veture to say that simply because states like Florida, California and Texas have the largest population in addition to the most D1 schools that those numbers would be pretty high for those states. Because those a fertile recruiting areas then the state schools in those states are going to be represented by state kids.

Biggest surprise to me is that Kentucky has one more than Mississippi!:eek:

I think all this shows is which conferences have pipelines to certain states.

It seems the consensus is that these numbers don't say much about which state produces the most major college football players. It says even less about which state produces the most quality high school football players. There are a lot of great high school players who don't go on to any D1 program, much less to the SEC or ACC. Participation in another sport, lack of D1 size/speed, proximity to a smaller school. I don't think you can quantify the question of where the best high school football is played by looking at D1 numbers. It is subjective. In my opinion, the states with the best high school football are, in order, Texas, Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania. That is based on the numbers participating, the infrastructure created to support football (read big stadiums and huge booster organizations), and the passion of their fans. Remember, I am generalizing for whole states. I am sure there is a town or an area of Maryland where the quality of football and the passion for same is just as great as it is in Midland Texas. But, overall I believe these are the four top states.