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Miami Hurricanes Beat Alabama, LSU, Rank No. 1 in New Ranking of Colleges Producing Top NFL Players

On3 imageby: Matt Shodell10/08/25canesport
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Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

The Miami Hurricanes are working hard to return to the top of the college football world. And while there’s still work to do ahead in that area with the Canes entering a second bye weekend, UM’s No. 1 in another major area: The NFL.

A recent study by Bolavip titled “Which colleges produce the best NFL talent?” had one clear winner.

The site says it went beyond simple draft pick numbers and “scrutinized players’ longevity, awards, and on-field impact. By diving into a trove of data from Pro Football Reference from 2000 to 2025, analysts crafted a unique PlayerScore that, when averaged together with a CollegeScore based on the institution’s performance, produced the best colleges for NFL players.”

So recruits and transfers take notice: There’s one college that is No. 1 in top pros!

In listing Miami No. 1, the site had 138 players sent to the NFL since 2000 with the average players scaled score of 2.60 (from 1 to 10) and a “College Score Normalized” of 0.426. That bested No. 2 Alabama’s Average Player Score Scaled of 2.53 and College Score Normalized of 0.423 (‘Bama sent 171 players to the league, far more than Miami … but this is about quality, not quantity).

“The Miami Hurricanes have a storied history in college football and are famous for their consistent pipeline of NFL talent,” Bolavip declared. “With 138 players sent to the NFL, Miami’s alumni, such as Ray Lewis and Ed Reed, have made significant impacts in the league, contributing to a solid average player score of 2.60.”

As we move onto the top 10, let’s also explain the methodology used to come up with the scores.

The site’s explanation: “To answer the classic sports question, `Which colleges produce the best NFL players?’, Bolavip used data from the 2000-2025 Pro Football Reference (PFR). Each player from each college was evaluated based on career, number of First-Team All-Pro selections, number of Pro Bowl selections (All-Star recognition), games played (career longevity), and draft round and pick number. This gave 1,000s of players to be evaluated. From there, each player received a PlayerScore to measure player’s NFL career success. From there, data was aggregated by the college to produce the CollegeScore. For each college, how many players were sent to the NFL and average success of those players was calculated. A logarithmic function was used in the calculation of the CollegeScore to balance the impact between colleges that produce one or a few standout players and those that consistently produce a larger number of good players. This ensures both pipeline size and average quality matter.”

Now that you totally, easily understand that … on to the rest of the top 10: No. 3 on the list was Cal (0.397 college score normalized, 75 players sent to the NFL), No. 4 was LSU (0.390, 162 players), No. 5 USC (0.369, 134 players), No. 6 Ohio State (0.369, 181 players), No. 7 Texas (0.368, 105 players), No. 8 Florida State (0.368, 127 players), No. 9 Tennessee (0.367, 100 players), and No. 10 Oklahoma (0.365, 123 players).

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