Georgia has become the clear No. 4 state behind Texas, Florida and California when it comes to producing football players for major college programs.
Ten years ago, 6.1% of all players on college football FBS rosters hailed from Georgia, according to NCAA data, just a touch more than Ohio (5.9). That rose to 7.2% of FBS players from Georgia in 2013. Ohio was still at 5.9%.
Last year, 8.2% of FBS players listed Georgia as their home state, creeping closer to California (10.5 at No. 3 and pulling away from fifth-place Ohio (5.1%).
The high-end talent also is on the rise. Using 247 Sports’ composite rankings of recruits, the number of blue-chip recruits (rated four- or five-star) from Georgia per year from 2002-09 was 17.3. From 2010-2020, Georgia is averaging 30.8 blue chips per year, an increase of 78%.
By comparison, California, with almost four times the population of Georgia, produced an average of 30.25 blue-chip players per year from 2002-2009. That rose to 40 per year from 2010-20, an increase of 32.3%.
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