It should surprise no one who follows college football that California, Florida and Texas produce the most NFL players.
To that end, we decided -- with a tip of the cap to sbnation.com -- to pick all-star college teams from those three states. But in an effort to be truer to the "the best players come from ..." maxim, we took it a step further: Our teams are made up only of players who played high school ball in those three states. In other words, because Florida State Heisman-winning quarterback Jameis Winston played high school ball in Alabama, he is "ineligible" for our Florida team.
A quick perusal of the teams shows that numerous players left their home states to play college football. For instance, just look at the Florida receiving trio, which should make any fan salivate: Tampa native Nelson Agholor, Miami native Amari Cooper and Fort Lauderdale native Rashad Greene. But only Greene stayed "home" for college, signing with Florida State. Agholor went to USC (as did Daytona Beach native Leonard Williams) and Cooper trekked to Alabama.
Some other takeaways:
Here are the teams.
CALIFORNIA
Offense
High school: Pleasanton Foothill
High school: San Jose Valley Christian
High school: Fontana Summit
High school: Riverside J.W. North
High school: Fresno Washington Union
High school: Stockton St. Mary's
High school: Cypress
High school: Watsonville St. Francis Catholic
High school: Hemet
High school: Rancho Santa Margarita Santa Margarita
High school: Encino Crespi Carmelite
Defense
High school: Vacaville
High school: Pleasant Hill College Park
High school: Rancho Cucamonga Los Osos
High school: Palo Cero Foothill
High school: Fresno Hoover
High school: Colton
High school: Los Angeles Crenshaw
High school: Chino Hills
High school: Oakland McClymonds
High school: Murrieta Vista Murrieta
High school: Wilmington Banning
FLORIDA
Offense
High school: Miami Central
High school: Miami Norland
High school: Davenport Ridge Community
High school: Tampa Berkeley Prep
High school: Miami Northwestern
High school: Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas
High school: Lake City Columbia
High school: Palm Beach Gardens
High school: Jacksonville White
High school: Miami Central
High school: Seffner Armwood
Defense
High school: Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas
High school: Delray Beach Atlantic
High school: Daytona Beach Mainland
High school: St. Petersburg Lakewood
High school: Coral Gables
High school: Seffner Armwood
High school: Tampa Jefferson
High school: Tampa Wharton
High school: Ocala Vanguard
High school: Fort Lauderdale Pine Crest
High school: Orlando Edgewater
TEXAS
Offense
High school: Midlothian
High school: Frisco Liberty
High school: Killeen Ellison
High school: Missouri City Hightower
High school: Midland
High school: Dallas St. Mark's
High school: Allen
High school: Corinth Lake Dallas
High school: Houston Westside
High school: Marble Falls
High school: Missouri City Elkins
Defense
High school: Denton Ryan
High school: Amarillo
High school: Keller Fossil Ridge
High school: Cleveland
High school: Dallas Skyline
High school: Daingerfield
High school: Dallas Skyline
High school: Angleton
High school: DeSoto
High school: Alief Hastings
High school: Tyler John Tyler
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
