NCAA map ranks states by how many football players become DI recruits

Here’s an interesting graphic from the NCAA:

The NCAA’s definition of a “recruited” player is fairly broad:

“Any solicitation of prospective student-athletes or their parents by an institutional staff member or by a representative of the institution’s athletics interests for the purpose of securing a prospective student-athlete’s enrollment and ultimate participation in the institution’s intercollegiate athletics program.”

Players are often “recruited” without being offered scholarships, and sometimes without even the chance of being offered scholarships. That’s an important distinction, but some of these numbers are interesting anyway. This graphic covers Division I schools, which means both the Football Bowl and Championship Subdivisions.

In 2015-16, FBS and FCS teams recruited about one in 10 Floridian high school players, the NCAA says. The Sunshine State is a good ways ahead of everybody else, with Georgia (8.6 percent), Louisiana (8.1 percent), and Washington, D.C. (7.2 percent) all fairly close.

Seventy percent of the country’s four- and five-star recruits over the last five years have been clustered in 10 states. Texas, Florida, and California produce more of those star recruits than any other states by a wide margin, with Georgia next. Here’s a more comprehensive collection of maps that show where college players come from.

Per capita in the total population, D.C. has the most four- and five-star recruits. But that’s misleading, since D.C.’s just one small city. Louisiana, with 1.58 blue-chip recruits per 100,000 residents over the last five years, stacks up best in that metric.

What the NCAA is counting here is more specific: college recruits out of a total pool of high school players. Florida’s dominance in this stat has something to do with geography. Florida has 11 Division I programs (seven in FBS, four in FCS), tied with Louisiana, New York, Pennsylvania, and California for the third-most of any state. Texas has 20 DI programs, way more than anybody else, and North Carolina’s second with 14.

Texas is four times as big as Florida by land area, and California’s more than twice as big. It’s a lot easier for the teams in Florida to move around and recruit prospects. Pennsylvania and New York’s DI teams are mostly FCS, with smaller recruiting operations. The same’s true, to a lesser extent, of Louisiana and North Carolina. Florida is the most ideal state to get the most players possible recruited.

Still, this is a nice feather in the Sunshine State’s cap. If you’re a high school football player with DI dreams, there’s no better place to live.