South Carolina (the state) is filling up the NFL--proportionally

People have always said that South Carolina is a football state and North Carolina is a basketball state; now, thanks to Sporting News Today, we have some stats to back that theory up.

Currently, there are 51 former South Carolina prep players in the NFL; that figure is tied for eighth—with Virginia—among all 50 states. North Carolina, on the other hand, is 12th with 46 players.

Maybe that seems like a slight disparity, but then consider that S.C. is one of the nation’s smaller states, with a population of 4 million-plus. N.C.’s population of well over 9 million is more than twice that of the Sandlapper state.

And yet South Carolina has five more players than North Carolina playing in the league.

S.C. is No.3 in the union in NFLers per capita (one for every 78,667 people).
So it really is true, but what the heck; all you frustrated N.C. residents just need to keep in mind that North Carolina or Duke win the NCAA Basketball Championship every other year or so.

So which states have the most NFL players?

You could probably guess; No.1 is California, with 205. Right behind are Texas (179) and Florida (176). We had always heard that those were the Big Three in producing Division I college players; well, it obviously carries over into the pros.

--Stan Olson

Got recruiting news? email me at solson@charlotteobserver.com