by Jacob Langford

Created on: September 09, 2009   Last Updated: September 10, 2009

The answer to this question is simple: Texas. Year in and year out Texas has the best crop of high school football talent in the nation. You might be able to make a slight argument for Florida or Ohio or California, but when all is said and done Texas rules.

First off, there are more high school football programs in Texas than in any other state. Football is not only big in urban areas like Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth, but it is perhaps even bigger in rural areas of the state. If you have seen Friday Night Lights then you know the story. Towns revolve around high school football. The players are almost like celebrities and the coach himself is larger than life.

Texas also has the largest number of Division 1 college football programs in the nation with ten. This does not necessarily equate to good high school football talent, but if you look at their rosters, most of the schools have over ninety percent of their players from within state. Coach Mike Leach of Texas Tech once said there is no reason to leave the Lone Star borders to recruit for his school when all the talent is right near him. This was also a major factor in why he did not leave Texas Tech for University of Washington. He knew there was not enough talent in the Pacific Northwest to have a winning program each year.

Another reason is to look at college rosters from schools outside of Texas. Oklahoma, LSU, Ole Miss, and Kansas have many star players and starters from Texas. They have to head south into Texas to find the caliber of players they need. Other schools have seen this trend as well and have been trying to do the same. Now not every star in Texas high school football wants to play ball a thousand miles away when at least five schools in state would take him on their team.

If you think back to the books, movies, TV shows, and magazine articles of the past twenty years about high school football you will always see Texas mentioned in the front. It's no wonder Friday Night Lights and Sports Illustrated and ESPN always look to Texas for deciding upon stories about high school football. It is supreme in Texas, just as baseball is in Florida or basketball is in Ohio or New York. The way of life for so many teenage boys in Texas is football. It is all their town knows, their family knows and most likely it is the path they will choose too.

Learn more about this author, Jacob Langford.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.