NFL Draft: Which states produced the most picks?
CLASS OF 2020 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | State | Position | Team
AP Images
The NFL Draft is interesting to recruiting fans for any number of reasons. One of those is to see which states – whether through high school or junior college – pump out the most draft picks. Here is a look at the top six, with a tie at No. 4.
RELATED: Breaking down the draft picks by position | First-round grades | Possible 2020 first-round picks
FLORIDA (30 picks)
Overview: The top six players drafted from Florida were all Power Five players, but only Brian Burns from Plantation American Heritage and Jawaan Taylor out of Cocoa played their college ball in the state. Defensive end Nick Bosa (Ohio State), linebacker Devin Bush (Michigan), cornerback DeAndre Baker (Georgia) and cornerback Trayvon Mullen (Clemson) all went elsewhere.
Another interesting fact that is particular to this state is that almost all of the 30 players selected went to Power Five schools. Other than just a handful – including UCF’s Trysten Hill and Toledo’s Diontae Johnson – everybody played at the highest level in college. Former No. 1 overall prospect Byron Cowart was picked in the fifth round, and former five-star tight end Isaac Nauta was a seventh-round selection.
Farrell’s take: While Nauta hails from Georgia, you can argue that he counts toward Florida because he played his senior season at IMG Academy. There is no surprise that the state of Florida produced the most players, but what is surprising is how many of them end up landing out of state. Miami, FSU and Florida need to do a better job of keeping players home.
TEXAS (26 picks)
AP Images
Overview: Prospects who played high school or junior college ball from the state of Texas were well-represented on draft night, the Texas Longhorns didn’t have an in-state high school player selected until the fifth round, when former Rowlett star Charles Omenihu was selected.
There was a lot of talent from the state, though. Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray going first to Arizona, makes it three years in a row that a prospect from the state of Texas went first overall. He follows Baker Mayfield and Myles Garrett. Defensive linemen Ed Oliver (Houston) and L.J. Collier were also first-round picks.
Like Florida, Texas saw some significant talent leave the state to play college football, as Murray finished at Oklahoma after transferring from Texas A&M. Greg Little picked Ole Miss over many other programs, and two-star receiver Hakeem Butler was overlooked by a lot of in-state programs - and many others.
Farrell’s take: Texas is one of the big three, so it’s no surprise it represented well, but Oklahoma did a much better job than Texas or Texas A&M when it comes to producing NFL talent. Texas is on the come-up and will do better in future years, and A&M will be fine under Jimbo Fisher as well.
CALIFORNIA (23 picks)
AP Images
