The Sunshine State is No. 1 in the nation in drawing interest from Division I college football coaches.
According to a study released by NCAA Research Tuesday, Florida has the highest percentage of high school football players that are recruited by a Division I school.
A total of 4,193 players out of 42,262 – 9.9 percent – were recruited by Division I schools between 2013 and 2016.
Georgia is No. 2 at 8.6 percent, followed by Louisiana (8.1 percent), the District of Columbia (7.2), Maryland (6.5), Tennessee (6.2), South Carolina (6.2) and North Carolina (5.9).
Former Glades Central quarterback James Blackman (No. 3) was one of the area’s top football recruits last year. He signed with FSU. (Richard Graulich, Palm Beach Post)
Texas, with the most high school football players at 163,835, had a percentage of 2.7; while California, with 100,205 high school players, had a percentage of 3.5.
Percentages were derived from the number of Division I football recruits from 2013-2016 divided by the number of boys football participants per state in 2015-16 as reported by the National Federation of State High School Associations.
Palm Beach County has long been a recruiting target for college football coaches.
In last year’s senior class, nineteen of the top 20 players on the Post’s Class of 2017 Big Board signed with schools that compete in the NCAA’s Football Bowl Subdivision.
