OT: Per Schefter, Detroit high schools have produced the third most current NFL players of any city
September 16th, 2022 at 4:26 PM ^
That's very impressive given Detroit proper has not been that populous a city the last couple decades.
A few other observations. Wow, Florida. I'm surprised there aren't more TX cities, though I am sure if you did this analysis by state TX would be very well represented. Surprised Los Angeles isn't on this list--it is a huge city and, unlike NYC, they play a decent amount of football there. Not surprised Chicago isn't on the list.
September 16th, 2022 at 6:37 PM ^
CPS football is awful.
The suburbs, however, are loaded.
September 16th, 2022 at 9:41 PM ^
I'm sorry what is CPS?
September 16th, 2022 at 9:45 PM ^
Chicago. Or Child Protective Services, but they haven't fielded a team in years.
September 17th, 2022 at 7:38 AM ^
Chicago public schools?
September 16th, 2022 at 4:26 PM ^
Interesting. But to be fair Ft Lauderdale is essentially Miami, and Bradenton is essentially Tampa. So that changes things a little. Still, that's a lot of talent from Detroit.
September 16th, 2022 at 4:54 PM ^
Plantation, FL, is right next to Fort Lauderdale. I-595 is the southern border of both with Ft. Lauderdale to the east and Plantation to the west.
September 16th, 2022 at 5:17 PM ^
It doesn't change the actual number of players from Florida in the NFL though, which is still shockingly high.
September 16th, 2022 at 4:31 PM ^
I was wondering how Bradenton (population 55,000) was this high on the list until I remembered that IMG Academy was located there.
Does Plantation (pop. 91,000) also have a big prep school?
September 16th, 2022 at 4:43 PM ^
I was just going to post that. This is a list of all NFL players born in Michigan by year:
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/friv/birthplaces.cgi?country=USA&state=MI
Here's a list of Michigan High Schools showing both the active and the total number of NFL players.
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/schools/high_schools.cgi?hs_state=MI
September 16th, 2022 at 4:55 PM ^
I was surprised the active Detroit alums weren't all Cass Tech and MLK. There are actually more actives who graduated from other Detroit high schools.
September 16th, 2022 at 5:06 PM ^
If the list is just going based on where the kids were born, then it makes sense. A lot of Detroit kids go to suburban schools for sports.
September 16th, 2022 at 6:33 PM ^
It’s based on what schools they graduated from and excludes high schools outside city of Detroit.
September 16th, 2022 at 11:34 PM ^
These are some really cool links! Thanks for posting! I went to FH Northern in Grand Rapids and grew up playing sports with 1 of our 2 NFL players ever lol! I know we also had 1 NBA player in BIG 10 POY and former Seattle Supersonic Steve Scheffler
September 16th, 2022 at 5:18 PM ^
Yes, American Heritage is in Plantation, so that is where most/all of those guys came from.
September 17th, 2022 at 1:35 AM ^
Touche!
September 16th, 2022 at 4:37 PM ^
Very surprised Los Angeles isn't on that list. Guessing a list based on counties would have LA and Orange towards the top.
September 16th, 2022 at 4:51 PM ^
I won't do the work to prove it out, but "Los Angeles" is doubtless the actual number 1.
It gets confusing because people always refer to the neighborhoods of LA and call that their "city" when it still all part of LA proper.
For instance, at the link below, places like "Encino", "Sherman Oaks" and "Woodland Hills" are listed as separate cities but they are most definitely a part of the city of Los Angeles.
That's 7 active players from those 3 places alone --- add them to the 8 actually listed in LA and we're up to 15. And I'm sure there are other neighborhoods I didn't see in that 1 minute spot check.
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/schools/high_schools.cgi?hs_state=CA
September 16th, 2022 at 4:56 PM ^
Ah, that is good to know. I hereby rescind my comment above.
I wonder if this is happening with any other large cities.
September 16th, 2022 at 5:06 PM ^
Probably not --- this is getting deep in the weeds, but LA is kind of unique in that the neighborhood one lives in also gets attached to the local post office name.
When I lived in Cincinnati, I lived in the Oakley neighborhood, and when talking w/ other Cincinnati folk I'd always say I lived in Oakley. But enter my zip code online and "Cincinnati" would always pop up. Ditto for Sloan Lake and Denver.
But Sherman Oaks is Sherman Oaks, never LA --- although it IS part of LA.
September 16th, 2022 at 6:10 PM ^
It's an extremely LA thing. I don't think I've ever heard anyone say they're "from LA," whether it's because they were from a neighborhood or a suburb. Meanwhile, I grew up in the exurbs west of Pontiac and would tell people I was "from Detroit" whenever I was out of the state.
September 16th, 2022 at 7:18 PM ^
Hmm, to me being "from Detroit" means the city proper. I grew up in Oakland County and have always said I'm from "the Detroit area."
September 17th, 2022 at 7:58 AM ^
What are the exurbs west of Pontiac? Sylvan lake? Keego? Waterford?
September 16th, 2022 at 7:50 PM ^
Never thought I'd see Sloan's Lake on the Mgoblog
September 17th, 2022 at 7:42 AM ^
Depends, I'm from NKY but just tell people I'm from Cincinnati. If they ask where from them I'll explain. It's just far easier that way. The township name Oakley or Hyde Park and people are like, where's that if from out of town. So the default, Cincinnati.... I've had friends in LA that will live in an area but since they aren't from there they say they live in LA.
September 16th, 2022 at 5:09 PM ^
A quick check of SoCal schools, I found it's also not accurate. Corona Centennial has 2 players (Camryn Bynum from the Vikings and JJ Taylor from the Patriots) listed under Compton Centennial.
September 16th, 2022 at 4:42 PM ^
St. Thomas Aquinas in Lauderdale has 10 all by itselft
Link
Most by state:
Didn't know this was all in Football Reference. Thanks!
September 16th, 2022 at 4:57 PM ^
Surprising for sure, but add metro Atlanta, for example, and you’d likely have 13 from Gwinnett County alone. Would like to see if those are including just city limits or metro as well.
September 16th, 2022 at 5:07 PM ^
City limits primarily.
September 16th, 2022 at 5:14 PM ^
Where are all the five stars from the state of Alabama that have been propping up Bama's recruiting rankings for the past decade?
September 16th, 2022 at 5:24 PM ^
Gone from the days of Bo are Chicago, Indianapolis, Pittsburg! The Midwest used to be flush with top talent!
September 16th, 2022 at 7:04 PM ^
Detroit seems to produce a lot of underrated, late blooming DBs. Maybe Michigan should keep that in mind with their later CB takes.
September 16th, 2022 at 7:38 PM ^
I’m surprised Dallas isn’t on the list
September 16th, 2022 at 7:50 PM ^
A CA city didn’t even make the list. Shocking. Bradenton is no surprise with IMG
September 17th, 2022 at 7:44 AM ^
Some of those football factories shouldn't be listed as cities. Players move from all over states or the country to attend them so it's not like Bradenton was a hot bed of talent springing up from that one place.
September 16th, 2022 at 9:26 PM ^
How are Dallas, Fort Worth, and Houston not on this list? Weird.
September 16th, 2022 at 10:46 PM ^
Did you skip past first place on the list?
September 16th, 2022 at 10:37 PM ^
Michigan used to CLEAN UP in Detroit, Cleveland/Massillon (felt more like 40/60, but we had our share of wins) and Cincinnati.
For a long time, kids Dayton/Cincinnati was anti-OSU (not really pro-Michigan), but the result was Michigan going in and getting those kids.
Cleveland was always a battle ground. Toledo was always Michigan. And OSU owned the rest of the state.
Which was fine, because Michigsn owned all of Michigan and did well in western PA against PSU.
Toss in a few California kids and a scattered Louisiana due to Fred Jackson...and that was a classic Lloyd Carr recruit class.
Tressel fucked up a good thing.
September 17th, 2022 at 7:48 AM ^
For a long time Cincinnati was split, GCL was mostly ND fans but Michigan didn't have a problem recruiting the area. Cincy was ND, Osu/Michigan split. But a fight for a recruit in Cincinnati was very winnable battle. Dayton, Cleveland.. it was very open to Michigan. No doubt Tressell interrupted that one, but the real fact is Lloyd and the staff let it go imo.
September 17th, 2022 at 8:36 AM ^
My hope with Texas, Texas A&M, and USC all having recruiting resurgences is it finally keeps OSU from plucking 5 stars from those states so easily: JT Barrett, JK Dobbins, CJ Stroud, Garrett Wilson, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Okudah. And those are just the players from the top of my head
September 17th, 2022 at 10:03 AM ^
That was until tressel funneled.cinci kids to dantonio, guys like Marcus rush, made his program. Those players used to go to us and we must get back in. It was on Lloyd's watch that the state got shut down. And Hoke got back in. All seems the only good Ohio player Harbaugh got that they didn't let us have, like Carpenter and Rumler, both who flamed out here...
September 17th, 2022 at 8:32 AM ^
Take a look at Kentucky’s roster. 3 Detroiters having a big impact: Justin Rogers, Deone Walker, Deandre Square. Not to mention Marquan McCall past few years. UK has been a huge beneficiary of high school players in Detroit.
September 17th, 2022 at 8:39 AM ^
Impressed with Detroit having this many. Quality players.
No surprise that OH and FL have multiple cities with big numbers.
Surprised TX and CA are not prominently represented here.
I am glad we have a pipeline at St. Louis now. This stat shows how valuable that is.
September 17th, 2022 at 9:50 AM ^
If you add up all the FL's, all the TX's and all the OH's.... it tracks with what we know about recruiting hotbeds
FL is # 1, TX # 2, and OH#3
only thing missing is CA
September 17th, 2022 at 9:54 AM ^
Bradenton, Florida is by far, the most impressive here It's tiny and they have 14
September 17th, 2022 at 10:06 AM ^
Have you heard of this place?
I bet none of the 14 players are actually from Bradenton.