More than 4,000 former Georgia high school football players made rosters of college teams this past season, according to the annual research of Steve Slay of the Georgia High School Football Historians Association.
(Lists of those players grouped by their GHSA classification and school can be found by clicking the links at bottom.)
It’s not known exactly how Georgia ranked with other states because the research has not been done completely on a national and annual basis, but past research on college signees and players at the Division I level consistently put Georgia in the top four, typically behind only California, Florida and Texas, all more populous states.
» Class-by-class breakdown: Class AAAAAAA | Class AAAAAA | Class AAAAA | Class AAAA | Class AAA | Class AA | Class A
Here are a few interesting facts about the 2018 numbers:
• Twenty-eight of the grand total of 4,331 played in Monday’s national championship game. Clemson had 21 former Georgia players, and Alabama had seven. The most widely known among those was probably Clemson starting quarterback Trevor Lawrence, a freshman and a Cartersville High graduate. Alabama safety Xavier McKinney and Clemson linebacker Tre Lamar, who were starters for their teams, were teammates at Roswell.
• McEachern, a Class AAAAAAA school in Cobb County, had the most college players with 56. Other Georgia high schools with 40 or more were Grayson (54), Buford (51), Norcross (47), Mill Creek (45), Peachtree Ridge (45), Tucker (43), Stephenson (42), Brookwood (42) and Stockbridge (41).
• The schools in each classification with the most college players were McEachern in AAAAAAA (56), Tucker in AAAAAA (43), Buford in AAAAA (51), Sandy Creek in AAAA (35), Greater Atlanta Christian in AAA (29), Hapeville Charter in AA (25) and Eagle’s Landing Christian in A (19).
• The region with the most college players was 4-AAAAAAA with 181. That region’s schools are Tucker (43), Stephenson (42), M.L. King (26), Lovejoy (25), Drew (18), Morrow (9), Mount Zion of Jonesboro (5) and Forest Park (2). All are in DeKalb or Clayton counties.
• The college team with the most Georgia players was Reinhardt University, an NAIA school in Waleska, with 125. Others with more than 70 Georgia players, all from Georgia, were West Georgia (114), Shorter (97), Georgia (92), Kennesaw State (86), Point (83), Berry (78), Georgia Southern (76), LaGrange (75), Mercer (73) and Georgia Tech (73).
• The out-of-state college with the most Georgia players was the University of the Cumberlands, an NAIA school in Williamsburg, Ky., with 48. Next were Birmingham Southern (35), Furman (35), Benedict in South Carolina (34), Carson-Newman (32), Auburn (30), Highland Community College in Kansas (33) and Hutchinson Community College in Kansas (29).
• The Football Bowl Series (FBS) claims more Georgia players than any other division. The breakdown wa FBS (1,111), FCS (941), Division II (881), Division III (549), NAIA (505) and JUCO (353). Within the FBS, 596 played in Power 5 Conferences. Of those, 241 played in the SEC, and 237 played in the ACC.
• The breakdown of Georgia players by GHSA classification is AAAAAAA (1,054), AAAAAA (857), AAAAA (699), AAAA (500), AAA (413), AA (316) and A (378). Another 120 played in GISA or other associations.
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