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NCAA Football (Division 1-A)

Making sense of all those numbers.




NFL Rushing 1990 to 2009: What states did athletes come from? Which schools sent the most running backs to the NFL and gained the most yardage?

The following data comes from the Top 50 rushers per season from 1990 to 2009 (by yardage)--50 places for 20 seasons, or 1000 player-seasons.

Quarterbacks were removed from the list in order to make the comparison between running backs only, so the total number of player-seasons is slightly less than 1000. State refers to location of athlete's high school or, if that information is unavailable, place of birth.

Fewer athletes or fewer player-seasons in the Top 50 but higher yardage is an indicator of higher quality seasons.

Thus, even though Louisiana had more athletes than Pennsylvania and more player-seasons in the Top 50 the state had fewer total yards—meaning the running backs from Louisiana tended to gain fewer yards in their seasons than the running backs from Pennsylvania. This is reflected in the fact that backs from Pennsylvania had almost twice as many 1000+ yard seasons as backs from Louisiana (32 vs 19). Louisiana sent a lot of running backs to the NFL during this period, but they didn't gain the same kind of yardage on average as the backs from Pennsylvania.


NFL Rushing Yardage by State, 1990 to 2009

State

Total
Yardage

Player-Seasons in the Top 50

Athletes

1000+ Yard Seasons

1. Florida

2. Texas
3. California
4. Pennsylvania
5. Louisiana
6. Georgia
7. Virginia

8. North Carolina
9. Michigan
10. South Carolina

11. Illinois
12. New Jersey
13. Maryland
14. Alabama

15. Washington
16. Kansas
17. Ohio
18. Arkansas
19. Tennessee
20. Indiana
21. Missouri
22. Kentucky
23. Mississippi

24. Oklahoma
25. New York
26. Nebraska
27. Nevada

28. Arizona
29. Washington, DC
30. Minnesota
31. Wisconsin

32. Colorado
33. Iowa
34. Idaho
35. Hawaii

Other (Canada, England, Germany, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Virgin Island, Zaire)

TOTAL US

16 states had no yardage.

106,902

80,364
66,015
59,777
52,479
49,325
45,614

24,947
24,492
24,154

19,267
18,829
17,030
16,338

14,526
14,048
13,763
13,016
12,759
11,789
11,647
11,401
10,444

8,707
8,546
8,440
7,073

4,926
4,922
4,638
3,709

1,883
1,271
772
453

10,379




783,873

114

98
86
61
69
53
55

33
29
30

25
26
21
23

15
10
18
14
17
19
17
12
14

13
13
7
7

8
8
6
6

2
3
1
1

20




954

31

31
26
14
20
13
12

12
6
8

9
10
4
7

4
2
8
4
4
6
7
5
6

6
5
2
2

3
3
2
2

2
1
1
1

11




290

51

34
21
32
19
23
18

7
10
11

5
3
8
4

8
9
5
6
4
2
2
5
4

3
3
6
5

0
1
0
1

1
0
0
0

0




311

Source: www.nfl.com




NFL Rushing Yardage by School, 1990 to 2009

School

Total
Yardage

Player-Seasons in the Top 50

Athletes

1000+ Yard Seasons

Some Leading Rushers

1. Miami (FL)


2. Florida
3. Notre Dame
4. Tennessee

5. Georgia
6. Virginia
7. Oklahoma State

8. Florida State
9. Auburn
10. Ohio State
11. Texas
12. Pittsburgh

13. Washington
14. Penn State
15. TCU
16. Michigan
17. North Carolina
18. Nebraska

19. UCLA
20. Alabama
21. USC
22. Houston
23. LSU
24. San Diego State
25. Clemson

26. South Carolina
27. Utah
28. Oregon
29. West Virginia
30. Ferrum
31. Texas A&M
32. Oklahoma
33. East Carolina
34. Wisconsin

35. Minnesota
36. Arkansas
37. Oregon State
38. Arizona State
39. Michigan State
40. Texas Tech
41. Mississippi

42. Villanova
43. Virginia Tech
44. Georgia Tech
45. Colorado
46. Purdue
47. Fresno State
48. San Jose State
49. Kentucky

50. Memphis
51. Tulane
52. Northern Illinois
53. California
54. Washington State
55. Southern Illinois
56. Maryland
57. Toledo

58. Stanford
59. North Texas
60. Alabama State
61. Iowa
62. Lane
63. Illinois

64. Arizona
65. Mississippi State
66. Midwestern State
67. Louisiana-Monroe
68. Texas A&M-Kingsville
69. Southern Methodist
70. Massachusetts
71. Ottawa (Kansas)
72. Boston College

73. Pittsburg State
74. Indiana
75. Rutgers
76. Ball State
77. Central Florida
78. Azusa Pacific
79. Portland State
80. Coe

81. Savannah State
82. Jackson State
83. Louisville
84. Temple
85. Stephen F Austin State
86. Winston-Salem State
87. Northeastern State
88. North Carolina A&T

89. South Dakota
90. Eastern Washington
91. Georgia Southern
92. Western Illinois
93. Northwestern State
94. Idaho State
95. Southern Miss
96. Towson
97. Louisiana-Lafayette

98. Richmond
99. Liberty
100. William and Mary
101. New Mexico State
102. Miami (OH)
103. Missouri
104. McNeese State
105. Kansas State
106. Louisiana Tech
107. Northwestern
108. Central Oklahoma
109. The Citadel
110. Kansas

41,330


39,442
39,005
34,368

29,690
26,639
26,107

23,761
23,294
23,224
23,020
22,787

16,409
14,960
14,488
13,961
13,634
13,449

12,843
12,630
12,451
12,380
12,349
11,987
10,861

9,721
8,945
8,851
8,505
8,393
8,345
7,975
7,515
7,098

6,975
6,772
6,707
6,636
6,551
6,110
6,081

5,526
4,885
4,706
4,626
4,530
4,396
4,146
4,031

3,850
3,796
3,706
3,590
3,373
3,356
3,265
3,261

2,874
2,865
2,790
2,761
2,552
2,526

2,372
2,293
2,283
2,259
2,257
2,135
2,115
2,036
2,031

1,978
1,881
1,793
1,746
1,723
1,701
1,655
1,633

1,551
1,484
1,417
1,313
1,300
1,232
1,145
1,068

913
907
901
811
808
772
658
627
612

598
582
570
533
512
445
414
411
390
334
326
325
313

42


39
42
39

29
32
22

32
25
26
24
24

11


6
7
7

8
7
4

10
8
8
6
5

22


21
21
16

17
12
17

7
10
12
11
12

Frank Gore, Willis McGahee, Edgerrin James, Clinton Portis

Emmitt Smith, Fred Taylor
Jerome Bettis, Ricky Watters
Jamal Lewis, Travis Henry

Garrison Hearst, Terrell Davis
Tiki Barber, Thomas Jones
Barry Sanders, Thurmon Thomas

Warrick Dunn, Marion Butts
Rudi Johnson, Stephen Davis
Robert Smith, Eddie George
Ricky Williams, Priest Holmes
Curtis Martin, Craig Heyward

Source: www.nfl.com