Which college produces the most NFL gamers? We took a look at all 32 groups

Heading into Week 1 of the 2026 NFL season, 202 colleges are represented on the league’s 32 active lineups since Sept. 9.

U.S.A. TODAY evaluated lineup information from NFL.com to discover the college classifications of the NFL’s almost 1,700 gamers throughout every group’s active lineup. College overalls were determined from the 1,689 gamers with a college noted.

Amongst school overalls, blazing a trail with 57 gamers is Alabama. The Crimson Tide edges out Ohio State, which has 56 gamers. In 3rd location is Georgia with 52.

It’s then a bigger action down to No. 4. There, LSU has 44 gamers, 2 ahead of Texas and 3 ahead of Notre Dame. Michigan is simply behind Notre Dame with 40 gamers.

Other leading schools consist of Florida (37 gamers), Oregon (36 ), Penn State (36) and Oklahoma (32 ). The most-rostered FCS school is South Dakota State with 6 gamers.

Presuming Alabama holds its No. 1 area through Week 1, it’ll be the 10th straight season the Crimson Tide has actually had the most or connected for the most gamers in the NFL.

In 2015, Alabama had 60 gamers on Week 1 lineups, per the NFLvanquishing Ohio State at 56. In 2024, the Crimson Tide had 61while they had 57 in 2023

Location-wise, the 202 schools are spread out throughout the nation with 48 U.S. states represented( the 2 without a college producing NFL skill are Alaska and Vermont). There are likewise 2 Canadian schools: nose take on David Onyemata of the New York Jets participated in Manitoba, while offending deal with Theo Benedet of the Chicago Bears went to the University of British Columbia.

The heaviest-producing state is Texas, which has actually 16 schools represented in our dataset. Next is California with 11 schools, while Ohio and North Carolina have 10 each.

In overall, 127 FBS schools are represented on an NFL lineup. There are 11 such colleges without an NFL gamer, consisting of Army, Northern Illinois and UAB.

The staying overall is comprised of 49 FCS schools, while 26 are Division II, lower or beyond the NCAA.

Need to the variety of schools remain at 202 throughout Week 1, it’ll be a dip compared to current seasons.

Last season, the NFL determined that 233 schools were represented throughout the 32 Week 1 lineups, while 2024 had 234.

Those figures themselves were down compared to current seasons, as 2019 through 2021 all had at least 240 various schools.

The 2026 figure is a USA TODAY tally of NFL.com active lineups right away before Week 1, while the 2019-25 figures are the NFL’s main Kickoff Weekend counts. Since the figures were produced individually, there might be methodological distinctions in between the 2026 count and previous seasons.

Method: USA TODAY gathered lineup information from NFL.com on Sept. 9, right away before Week 1 of the 2026 season. Gamers noted by NFL.com with an active lineup status were consisted of and their college was credited as noted by NFL.com. School names were standardized where NFL.com utilized various names for the very same organization. 4 active gamers without a college noted on NFL.com were left out from college overalls.

For the map, schools were matched with CollegeFootballData to figure out football category and school area where readily available. Missing out on places were geocoded utilizing OpenStreetMap.

The 2019-25 figures in the historic chart are the NFL’s main Kickoff Weekend counts and for that reason might not be straight similar with USA TODAY’s 2026 tally.

Motorsport Colleges by variety of NFL gamers, 2026

57 NFL gamers

• Alabama

56

• Ohio State

53

• Georgia

44

• LSU

42

• Texas

40

• Michigan, Notre Dame

37

• Florida

36

• Oregon, Penn State

32

• Oklahoma

31

• Iowa

30

• Clemson

28

• Miami

27

• Texas A&M, USC

26

• Mississippi

25

• South Carolina

24

• Auburn

23

• Stanford, Washington

22

• Missouri, Utah

21

• Illinois, TCU, Tennessee

20

• UCLA

19

• Florida State

18

• Indiana, Minnesota, Texas Tech, Wisconsin

17

• Arkansas, N.C. State

16

• Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina

15

• Boston College, California, Mississippi State

14

• Cincinnati, Iowa State, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Syracuse

13

• Duke, Virginia Tech

12

• Arizona, Michigan State

11

• BYU, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest

10

• Houston, Kansas State, North Dakota State, Oklahoma State, Rutgers, SMU, Tulane

9

• Baylor, Boise State, Colorado, Washington State

8

• West Virginia

7

• Connecticut, Louisiana, Nebraska, Purdue, Toledo, UCF

6

• Arizona State, Buffalo, Memphis, Oregon State, San Diego State, South Dakota State, Temple, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Western Michigan

5

• Central Michigan, Fresno State, Kansas, Northwestern, Western Kentucky

4

• Appalachian State, East Carolina, Eastern Washington, Florida Atlantic, Georgia State, Louisiana Tech, Navy, Northern Iowa, South Alabama, Troy, Tulsa, Wyoming

3

• Bowling Green, Colorado State, Harvard, Idaho, James Madison, Marshall, Middle Tennessee State, Montana State, Nevada, Rice, Sam Houston State, South Dakota, Texas-El Paso, Utah State, Weber State, William & & Mary

2

• Flying Force, Alcorn State, Arkansas State, Central Arkansas, Eastern Michigan, Florida A&M, Florida International, Georgia Southern, Hawaii, Holy Cross, Illinois State, Lenoir Rhyne, Liberty, Miami (Ohio), Montana, Morgan State, San Jose State, Sioux Falls, South Carolina State, Southeast Missouri State, Southern Illinois, Southern Mississippi, Southern Utah State, Stephen F. Austin State, Tennessee-Chattanooga, Texas-San Antonio, UMass Amherst, UNLV

1

• Akron, Alabama A&M, Alabama State, Albany State (GA), Azusa Pacific, Ball State, Barton College, Brown, Cal Poly (San Luis Obispo), Canisius College, Charlotte, Coastal Carolina, Dayton, Delaware, Delta State University, Drake, Duquesne, East Tennessee State, East Texas A&M, Ferris State, Findlay, Fort Hays State, Fort Valley State College, Furman, Houston Christian University, Indiana State, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Jackson State University, Jacksonville State, Maine, Malone University, Manitoba (Canada), Marist, Minnesota State Moorhead, Missouri Western State, Murray State, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Northern Arizona, Penn, Princeton, Sacramento State, Sacred Heart University, Saginaw Valley State, Shepherd, Southern Arkansas, St. John’s (MN), Tarleton State, Texas State-San Marcos, Tusculum College, UC Davis, University of British Columbia, University of South Florida, VCU, Villanova, Washburn, Western Illinois, Wingate, Wisconsin-Whitewater, Yale, Youngstown State