By the time he had his first hit record in the mid 1960’s, Donald Lytle had run away from home at 15, rode the trains, performed in plenty of clubs, joined the Navy, played instruments on other artist’s recordings, recorded solo music on various labels and changed his name to Johnny Paycheck. From that point, he had a few hits but nothing huge. But Paycheck was never afraid of changing his musical direction. He started with a honky-tonk sound, then went through a stage of pop arrangements and strings. After some issues with the law in the mid 70’s, he altered to the now-popular “outlaw” image going through the genre. This would bring about a string of successes for him, but more problems with the law in the early 1980’s would put an end to that. Throughout the 80’s, his legal issues would not stop: drugs, alcohol, tax problems, arrested for rape of a minor, and murder. He spent 22 months in prison before being pardoned by the Ohio governor. He never got a radio career back after that, but he kept recording and performing until 2000, and passed away in 2003. He has got the hits and resume to be a Hall Of Fame member, but I’m sure those legal problems are big deterrents to voters. Will he make it in? 

We are looking at college football to answer the question of which state does it better. Although players come from all over the country (and sometimes all around the world), it's the colleges that bring the talent!

This isn’t about which team produces the best scores, but which states create the best football players. It's these players who make Super Bowl winners and let’s be honest, that’s the real goal!

We will dive into current and historical legends to show which state can produce the most outstanding players! 

1.  Texas

Texas is filled with talents! Their “go big or go home” motto is so strong that losing is not an option. Although other states might have produced more elite players, the amount of talent that has come from Texas is too large to ignore!

Teas has produced 53 of the top 100 players since 2014. They churn out stars like it’s nobody’s business! 

The defensive tackler Ed Oliver won the Outland Trophy as just a sophomore, and it wasn’t long into his college career that he told the world he was joining the NFL. 

Baker Mayfield may have played for Oklahoma, but he was born and raised in Texas and is considered one of their own. The same with Kyler Murray!

If you look into many of the college states' history around the country, a lot of their talented players grew up in Texas and followed their high school’s education to earn their skills. Players like Rodney Anderson, who played for Oklahoma, Chase Young who played for Ohio State, and Ben Baogu who played for TCU. All of this talent was brewed in Texas!

2.  Florida

20 of the top-tier players you see at the NFL all come from Florida. That's an astonishing number that is only rivaled by Texas. Florida’s talents come not just from their college teams but also from their IMG Academy, which has projects all over the country. As they are all run by Florida, we are taking their numbers as part of the Sunshine State!

Just like with Texas, some of the best Florida players no longer play for their hometown, but that doesn’t take away from their homebrewed history. Playing for Ohio State, Nick Bosa is just as talented as Joey Bosa, both of whom are big names in their home state. Devin Singletary is undoubtedly the best Group Five player. Marquise Brown is one the fastest players in the sport!

Some of you might be wondering why Florida isn’t in the number one spot when players like Mitch Hyatt and Zack Moss come from the sunshine state, and although these players are outstanding, we are looking at the state that produces the best all-rounders.

3.  California

California has created star after star after star! In 2015, their run of single-handed best players was at breaking point, developing two fantastic players (Josh Rosen and Sam Darnold) who plowed straight to the NFL without continuing their senior season of college football!

Very few players get this privilege, which is why they are so good and why California isn’t higher up the list. Still, their 2015 run wasn’t a fluke as the state has produced 52 high-ranking players since 2014, which is a number that anyone should be proud of.

Jake Browning is one of California’s prolific players, and that title will stay with him for years to come. Double up with Khalil Tate; these boys are double threats for signal-callers.

California creates a wave of team players who make support offenses. Just take a look at the big names like Greg Gaines, Collin Johnson, and Bobby Okereke.

4.  Georgia

A lot of household names have come from Georgia, including Bradley Chubb, Roquan Smith, and Nick Chubb. These A-class players are just a few names that the state has in their arsenal, which is more than enough to make them a top contender in our list of the best football player creators.

Since 2014 Georgia has produced 46 top 100 players, and 4 of them have become national stars. 

Mississippi has become a great lover of Georgia and has collected players like Nick Fitzgerald and Montez Sweat, who are both raised on Georgia soil. Oklahoma had the same thought when they bagged Trey Sermon, who became an incredible player to watch. California even grabbed the Georgian favorite Demetris Robertson, who has become a top receiver in his own right!

Although the years have shown that talent comes in spurts, Georgia can and does produce amazing talent to share across the country!

5. North Carolina

North Carolina hasn’t produced a fantastic set of players in some time, but they do have a solid collection of steady and reliable sorts.

As a whole, North Carolina has only produced 6 top 100 players since 2014, but all of these players have been amazing across the country. Throughout the list so far, we have looked at the number of top players and not the players individually, but North Carolina needs to have a mention due to Bryce Love and Will Gier. Love was a Heisman Trophy runner-up and ran 2,118 yards in a season. He’s a world-class player who has brought North Carolina a ton of pride.

Will Gier has traveled around the country as every team wants him with them. He is a reliable and strong-willed offense who will hopefully encourage other North Carolinians to join in with his mentality.

Of course, we cannot ignore the likes of Dexter Lawrence, who is a powerhouse!

Founded in 1966, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band fit in perfectly with the folk-rock movement that was happening in California at that time. Mainly a jug band at the beginning, they used that novelty to do various things: appearing in the film “Paint Your Wagon” and doing concerts with acts like Jack Benny, Bill Cosby and The Doors. Switching to more of a traditional country sound in 1970, they got a top ten song on the mainstream Hot 100 chart. Still not integrated into the Nashville system, they decided to collect some country music legends to record with them on their next album. Even though 1972’s “Will The Circle Be Unbroken” would be nominated for Grammy awards and come to be considered one of the most important albums in the history of country music, it would still be eleven more years until Nitty Gritty Dirt Band would begin getting hits on country radio. Once their hits began, it was a good stretch of top tens that lasted for almost a decade. The band is thought to be big instrumental figures in the progression of contemporary country music. They are still recording and touring to this day, and would be very deserving of a Hall Of Fame induction came knocking on their door.

With only five years under his belt, Cale Makar is as of this writing the best Defenseman in Hockey, and that should not be in dispute.

The Third Overall Pick in 2017, Makar joined the Avs after taking UMass to the Frozen Four, and the Hobey Baker Award Winner in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs, scoring six Points in 10 Games.  Colorado knew they had a star on their hands, and he easily won the Calder, where the blueliner scored 50 Points and he was ninth in Norris voting.

Makar was now established the anchor of the defense, and also one of Colorado’s top scoring threats.  In the COVID-impacted 2020-21 campaign, Makar had 44 Points in 44 Games and was the runner-up for the Norris, losing it to Adam Fox of the Rangers, but he would not be denied in his third year.

Makar blew everyone else away in 2021-22 to win his first Norris, scoring 29 Goals and 86 Points and arguably taking over the mantle as the Avalanche’s top player.  Colorado won the Stanley Cup in 2022, with Makar winning the Conn Smythe Trophy, joining Bobby Orr as the only players to win the Smythe and Norris in the same year.  He followed that with another Second Team All-Star Selection and a third place finish for the Norris.

What did he do next?  Makar scored a record 90 Points and added another Second Team All-Star, giving the blueliner a four-year streak of post-season All-Stars and five-year run of top ten Norris finishes, and four-year run where he placed in the top three.

At only 26, Makar could be destined for number one on this list.