What states and metro areas produce the most college football players? Some of the answers may surprise you.
 By MATT BAKER
World Sports Writer
When Oklahoma State and Ole Miss met in the Cotton Bowl Classic, coaches gushed about the perks of playing in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area — one of the most fertile recruiting hot spots in the country.
And with good reason.
One in every 20 players on NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) rosters last season came from the DFW Metroplex, a Tulsa World analysis shows. About one in seven FBS players came from Texas, including almost half of the Big 12.
But the Lone Star State has plenty of competition.
The World looked at every state and the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the country and how many FBS players each produced compared to its population. Per capita, Texas didn't crack the top five, while Oklahoma and Tulsa fare well.
As for No. 1, some FBS coaches should be saying "aloha" to a scorching hot spot in the Pacific.
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1. |
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Dallas-Fort Worth |
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Los Angeles |
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Miami |
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Atlanta |
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Houston |
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Chicago |
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Washington, D.C. |
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New York |
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Riverside, Calif. |
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Detroit |
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1. |
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Honolulu |
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New Orleans |
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Birmingham, Ala. |
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Dallas-Fort Worth |
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Miami |
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Jacksonville, Fla. |
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Youngstown, Ohio |
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Baton Rouge, La. |
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Atlanta |
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Lakeland, Fla. |
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Texas |
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California |
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Florida |
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Ohio |
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Georgia |
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Louisiana |
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Pennsylvania |
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North Carolina |
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Alabama |
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Illinois |
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1. |
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Hawaii |
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Louisiana |
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Florida |
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Alabama |
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Georgia |
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Texas |
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Ohio |
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Mississippi |
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Nebraska |
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Washington, D.C. |
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 Tulsa World sports writer Matt Baker analyzed the rosters of all 120 NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision programs. He took the hometowns listed for all 12,853 players and organized them by state and metropolitan area, using U.S. Census boundaries. The Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area ranked first with 649 players, and Texas produced the most players of any state (1,714). For the city analysis, the World only considered the top 100 largest metropolitan areas by overall population. The roster analysis included walk-on players.
Baker and World database editor Gavin Off then divided the number of players in each state/metro area by the population of males age 15-19, according to the U.S. Census' 2008 estimates. That provided the number of FBS football players for every 1,000 boys of high school age. Per capita, Honolulu ranked first, producing 4.6 players per every 1,000 boys in that age group. Hawaii was the most successful state, producing 3.8 players per every 1,000 boys age 15-19
Contact Matt Baker: (918) 581-8358 • matt.baker@tulsaworld.com
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