OldSchoolLion

...but not by far. So, until you come up with some other objective measures, it's not fair to say no other state comes close to Florida in terms of quality of talent. The other southern states are very rich in talent. They simply don't have anywhere near the population that Florida does.

Florida's population is about quadruple that of Alabama. Generally speaking, the high schools there are much smaller. So, comparing the two states is not exactly apples to apples. To the right of each name is the FL classification where theTop 25 Alabama high schools would play if they were in Florida. With the exception of AHP, match the top 10 5A teams in AL versus Florida's top 10 5A teams and, at the very least, I think they would give those teams all they could handle, if not beat them. Several of those teams would be very capable of making the FL 5A state final. Concerning 4A top 10 matchups..I feel pretty confident saying the Alabama schools would get the best of the FL schools. 1 Hoover 7A 2 Pinson Valley 4A 3 Thompson 5A 4 Central 5A 5 McGill-Toolen 5A 6 Austin 4A 7 Hewitt-Trussville 5A 8 Clay-Chalkville 4A 9 Wetumpka 4A 10 Auburn 6A 11 Oxford 4A 12 Mountain Brook 5A 13 St Paul's Episcopal 3A 14 Spanish Fort 4A 15 Spain Park 5A 16 Park Crossing 4A 17 Hillcrest 4A 18 Opelika 4A 19 Lee 5A 20 Bob Jones 5A 21 Shades Valley 5A 22 Homewood 4A 23 Oak Mountain 5A 24 Vestavia Hills 5A 25 UMS-Wright Prep 3A

Please note the level of talent per capita in Georgia and Alabama. Florida has about double the population of Georgia and quadruple the population of Alabama. So, when you look it that way, the states are very close in terms of NFL talent produced. Florida has the fourth largest population of any state in the country.

To determine the top football baby factories, cleveland.com tabulated state totals for where NFL players were born and then calculated a ranking -- based on a ratio of current players from each state to births in the early 1990s when a big share of today's players were born. The top five states are all from the Southeast. Rank State Ratio (y) NFL Players (x) 1 Florida 1 in 4,095 201 2 Georgia 1 in 4,132 114 3 South Carolina 1 in 4,745 51 4 Alabama 1 in 4,818 55 5 Louisiana 1 in 5,017 60 6 Hawaii 1 in 6,462 13 7 Mississippi 1 in 7,000 26 8 Nebraska 1 in 7,692 13 9 Nevada 1 in 7,833 12 10 Ohio 1 in 8,226 84 11 Texas 1 in 8,818 154 12 Tennessee 1 in 9,515 33 13 North Carolina 1 in 9,711 45 14 Wisconsin 1 in 10,786 28 15 New Jersey 1 in 10,809 47 16 Delaware 1 in 11,250 4 17 Oklahoma 1 in 11,333 18 18 Maryland 1 in 11,517 29 19 Arizona 1 in 11,680 25 20 Virginia 1 in 11,800 35 21 Pennsylvania 1 in 11,831 59 22 Missouri 1 in 12,577 26 23 California 1 in 12,809 199 24 Arkansas 1 in 13,545 11 25 Iowa 1 in 13,583 12 26 Oregon 1 in 13,769 13 27 Utah 1 in 14,182 11 28 Colorado 1 in 14,313 16 29 Idaho 1 in 14,600 5 30 Michigan 1 in 15,049 41 31 Minnesota 1 in 15,611 18 32 Washington 1 in 17,789 19 33 North Dakota 1 in 18,500 2 34 Illinois 1 in 19,452 42 35 Connecticut 1 in 20,400 10 36 Indiana 1 in 21,176 17 37 Kansas 1 in 22,857 7 38 South Dakota 1 in 23,500 2 38 West Virginia 1 in 23,500 4 40 Kentucky 1 in 25,222 9 41 Wyoming 1 in 28,000 1 42 Massachusetts 1 in 37,200 10 43 New Mexico 1 in 39,333 3 44 New York 1 in 42,552 29 45 Montana 1 in 49,000 1 46 New Hampshire 1 in 69,000 1 47 Alaska NA 0 47 Maine NA 0 47 Rhode Island NA 0 47 Vermont NA 0

Agree. So, dig deeper in the data and show us how the trends change. Maybe use all 3-5 star athletes. That ought to keep you busy for a while I think using the top 300 is a good "representative sample" from which to draw conclusions.

I don't think south FL is that unique anymore. SFL has produced a disproportionate amount of elite-level talent at certain positions....db's, wr's and rb's. Below are the numbers of ESPN 300 players at each position from south FL(41 players), Atlanta(49 players) and Los Angeles(50 players) combining the numbers from the past 2 seasons. On another note, 51/97 players on the U of Alabama roster are from Alabama. What does that say about talent in Alabama? Apparently Nick Saban knows something we don't. The numbers don't support that nobody comes close to SFL in terms of overall, elite-level talent, at least not today. ATH - SFL 2, ATL 3, LA 5 RB - SFL 4, ATL 1, LA 1 WR - SFL 6, ATL 5, LA 11 TE - SFL 1, GA 0, LA 2 QB - SFL 0, ATL 5, LA 9 OL - SFL 4, ATL 6, LA 7 LB - SFL 4, ATL 7, LA 4 S - SFL 6, ATL 4, LA 2 CB - SFL 11, ATL 9, LA 8 DT - SFL 1, ATL 3, LA 0 DE - SFL 2, ATL 6, LA 1

Miami-Dade's OOS success against ranked teams this decade is due to Booker T and Central. Neither Carol City nor Northwestern have an OOS win against a nationally recognized opponent this decade. Until I see more teams from M-D, like a Southridge or a South Dade, beating nationally rankled teams, I will not be convinced. No doubt M-D has outrageous talent. But, generally speaking, the level of qb play and coaching in Georgia is at a different level. And the level of physicality is on par with M-D. Earlier this decade, Central went up to Grayson and I think a lot of folks thought Central would wipe the floor with them. Central was arguably the #1 team in FL all classes that year. http://www.maxpreps.com/news/_FruTdtDqUKPyczsMFVojw/no-2-grayson-routs-miami-central-35-3.htm

Panther, in the late 1980's the private schools in Broward were nothing like today. Except for Dillard and Ely, there was nothing holding Broward public schools back from emerging as powerful programs. Even in the 90s, it was really just STA, so still plenty of opportunity...but most Broward public schools had marginal success, even when things were less competitive. Between the mid 80's and early 2000's, when they were excelling, Dillard and Ely had good/very good continuity at head coach. The wheels fell off when they got into the coaching merry-go-round mode. Just as some colleges from up north, ie West Virginia, Kentucky, etc, have come to Florida and focused on 2-3 star talent and slowly built up their programs, I think a smart Broward coach could do the same...focus on those kids with good natural talent that could not start at one of the powerhouse private schools. We have college teams ranked today that people 10-20 years ago would have never dreamed of being there.

That's right. But with the exception of Walton, the other schools are traditional powerhouses who have been highly ranked in the past and who benefited from a long-tenured coach(s) who built the program up over years.

I respectfully disagree. The Atlanta metro area as a whole easily surpasses Miami-Dade County in terms of depth. In terms of presence on the ESPN list, MIami-Ft Lauderdale-WPB(24 players) is neck-and-neck with the Atlanta metro area(23 players). Miami-Dade County has approximately the same number of public high schools as the total number of public schools in Gwinnett and Cobb Counties(of Atlanta) do when combined. Below are the Maxpreps rankings for the top 7 schools from each area. Miami-Dade Northwestern #28 Central #52 Carol City #161 Columbus #254 Booker T Washington #563 South Dade #596 Southridge #597 Gwinnett & Cobb Counties North Gwinnett #22 (G) Grayson #75 (G) Brookwood #104 (G) Archer #106 (G) McEachern #122 (C) Walton #128 (C) Buford #172 (G)

...just a point of interest. Cardinal Gibbons was a combined 10-10 and Chaminade was a combined 10-9 in 2014 and 2015. Would be interesting to see if opinions would differ if we had done this exercise 3 years ago.

...interesting point. Below is # of public school teams from each county with 3 straight winning seasons. The data also gives us rough idea of population of each school district. My perception is that the talent in Orange County is better dispersed than in Broward, Palm Beach and Hillsborough, ie more parity. As Orange grows, will be interesting to see if kids tend to concentrate at a handful of powerhouses like what has happened elsewhere. Broward 1/29 teams Hillsborough 4/26 teams Miami-Dade 6/37 teams Orange 4/18 teams Palm Beach 4/22 teams

Thanks Pipe Dreams. Wasn't certain what you were referring to by "rankings." The team names under each county were simply in alphabetical order. I put the records there for a point of reference just to give those posters not familiar with a certain team a very rough idea of their level of success...nothing more.

So which is it, north central Florida, or southern north Florida? And someone please contact the College of Central Florida in Ocala and tell them they either need to move or change their name to be more geographically precise.

Oh Lord, the football quiz turned into a geography quiz

article concerning financial aid issues at Oxbridge https://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/local/financial-aid-inconsistencies-root-oxbridge-sports-teams-forfeits/3TecCIDyNDyrqfjtOGMpAO/

The Marion County' visitor's bureau website says "No other Central Florida destination offers more authentic experiences during the summer months than Ocala/Marion County." I know it's borderline.

Look above..N Marion, Robinson and Lake Wales

Fill in the blanks. There are 4 choices below. Each choice consists of two numbers. The first number is the response for the first "blank" and the second number is the response for the second "blank." Take a guess! 29 public school teams in Broward County play in the FHSAA. ______ head coaches have been at their present school for more than 3 seasons? _____ head coaches have been at their present school for more than 1 season. a. 4 , 11 b. 8, 15 c. 12, 19 d. 16, 20

...Broward coaches italicized below. Below are the head coaches and their current tenures at 75 of the top programs in Florida. 24% of the coaches have been there 10 years or more. 60% of the coaches have been there 5 years or less. 40% of the coaches have been there 2 years or less. Geographical breakdown 44%(8/18) of North Florida coaches have been there 6 years or more. 48%(12/25) of Central Florida coaches have been there 6 or more years. 31%(10/32) of South Florida coaches have been there 6 or more years. 43%(12/28) of Dade/Broward/Palm Beach County coaches have been there 2 years or less. 40%(10/25) of Central Florida coaches have been there 2 years or less. 33%(6/18) of North Florida coaches have been there 2 years or less. 6 years or more-30 coaches Lakeland-Bill Castle-42 seasons-6 state titles Trinity Christian-Verlon Dorminey-27 seasons-7 state titles Hillsborough-Earl Garcia-25 seasons-1 state final appearance Dwyer-Jack Daniels-22 seasons-2 state titles Palm Bay-Dan Burke-22 seasons-2 state titles Naples-Bill Kramer-20 seasons-2 state titles Charlotte-Binky Waldrop-19 seasons Bartram Trail-Darrell Sutherland-18 seasons-1 state title Columbus-Chris Merritt-17 seasons-1 final appearance Niceville-John Hicks-17 seasons-2 state final appearances Apopka-Rick Darlington-16 seasons-3 state titles Bishop Moore-Matt Hedrick-16 seasons-1 state title Fort Myers-Sam Sirianni Jr-16 seasons Monsignor Pace-Joe Zaccheo-15 seasons-1 state title Plant-Robert Weiner-14 seasons-4 state titles Plantation-Steve Davis-12 seasons Winter Park-Tim Shifflet-12 seasons Booker T Washington/Miami-Tim Harris-10 seasons-3 state titles Norland-Daryle Heidelburg-9 seasons-1 state title Madison County-Mike Coe-8 seasons-1 state title Osceola-Doug Nichols-8 seasons-2 state title appearances Raines-Deran Wiley-8 seasons-1 state title University Christian-David Penland-8 seasons-3 state titles Columbia-Brian Allen-7 seasons Dr Phillips-Rodney Wells-7 seasons-1 state title Tampa Bay Tech-Jayson Roberts-7 seasons Vero Beach-Lenny Jankowski-7 seasons Braden River-Curt Bradley-6 seasons Navarre-Jay Walls-6 seasons South Dade-Nate Hudson Jr-6 seasons-1 title 5 years or less-45 coaches (state titles/appearances not included below) Atlantic/Delray Beach-TJ Jackson-5 seasons Miami Central-Roland Smith-5 seasons Tampa Catholic-Mike Gregory-5 seasons Wakulla-Barry Klees-5 seasons Palm Beach Central-Tino Ierulli-4 seasons Palmetto/Miami-Mike Manasco-4 seasons Ponte Vedra-Matt Toblin-4 seasons Western-Adam Ratkevich-4 seasons Vanguard-Edwin Farmer-4 seasons Deerfield Beach-Devon Glenn-3 seasons Northwestern-Max Edwards-3 seasons Pensacola-Mike Mincy-3 seasons Rockledge-Wayne Younger-3 seasons St. Thomas Aquinas-Roger Harriott-3 seasons University School-Daniel Luque-3 seasons American Heritage/Plantation-Pat Surtain-2 seasons Baker County-Jamie Rogers-2 seasons Cardinal Gibbons-Matt Dubuc-2 seasons Chaminade-Madonna-Dameon Jones-2 seasons Daytona Beach Mainland-Chuck Smith-2 seasons Immokalee-Rodelin Anthony-2 seasons Jones-Elijah Williams-2 seasons Lake Gibson-Doug DeMyer-2 seasons Oxbridge Academy-Brendan Kent-2 seasons Pahokee-Orson Walkes-2 seasons St Augustine-Brian Braddock-2 seasons Wekiva-Rich Bedesem-2 seasons Armwood-Evan Davis-1 season Bolles-Wayne Belger-1 season Carol City-Benedict Hyppolite-1 season Edgewater-Cameron Duke-1 season Escambia-Mike Bennett-1 season Glades Central-Jessie Hester-1 season Godby-Corey Fuller-1 season Lincoln-Quinn Gray-1 season Miramar-Antwan Scott-1 season West Florida-Rhett Summerford-1 season Boyd Anderson-Darion Gray-0 seasons Cocoa-Ryan Schneider-0 seasons Dillard-Toriano Morgan-0 seasons Miami-Zach Gardner-0 seasons Sarasota Riverview-Josh Smithers-0 seasons Southridge-Sedrick Irvin-0 seasons Venice-Larry Shannon-0 seasons Viera-Derek Smith-0 seasons

It would be an interesting stand-alone topic...scheduling. Armwood and Plant seem to have done just fine over the years in the playoffs even without the toughest of regular season schedules. I am sure we could name other teams as well. In the stone ages, you usually played local teams. And it was part science, part art to get your team ready for the playoffs and "up" for specific games. Somehow we managed. There is a point of diminishing returns when it comes to scheduling "tough" teams. Once your team is at a certain level of play, further exposure is not necessarily going to make them better. Quality of practice and coaching is far more important. If I am a boxer, facing a wrestler in a match is not going to make me a better wrestler. Practicing wrestling with a good coach on a regular basis is going to make me better.

I think we've gotten a little off topic

...a little late, but...the West Nassau Warriors(Class 4A) won a playoff game against Marianna this past season year. That is their first playoff win since they beat Hamilton County in 1978!

Tampa Robinson is the third team. They reached the 2A state semis in 2009 and 2010, losing to Glades Central both years. In 2012, they reached the 5A state semis, losing a heartbreaker to eventual state champion Tallahassee Godby. Mike Depue was the coach of Robinson during those years. Unfortunately, Robinson's performance fell off after his departure.

It may be sheer coincidence....or maybe not.... STA did not win a state title between 2000-2006...their driest spell since 1990....years Mark Guandolo was at Chaminade. Between 2007 and 2011, STA won 3 state titles, their best stretch to date. None of the other private schools in Broward were doing anything those years.