Notre Dame among top schools in terms of active NFL players
It is not a mischaracterization to say Notre Dame football is once again becoming a pipeline to the NFL.
Last week, FOX Sports’ RJ Young made a list of schools most likely to get a college football player drafted. Notre Dame checked in at No. 4. They are fourth once again on a new report from the Action Network titled “Players of the Future: Most Successful College and States.”
The report’s methodology is as follows: “Action Network analyzes the full rosters of every current 2021 team in the NFL, NBA and MLB. By analyzing each player by state and college, the data identified which college/state produced the most professional major sports stars, ranking them in order by number.”
Per the report, which includes an interactive map for all 50 states, Notre Dame has 49 former players on 2021 NFL rosters. The Irish are not just sending players to the league, those players are finding success once they get there and sticking around.
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The lists included a couple of notable NFL players from each school, and those from Notre Dame were Pittsburgh Steelers receiver Chase Claypool and San Francisco 49ers offensive tackle Mike McGlinchey.
The Detroit Lions have six Irish former Notre Dame players on their roster, at least two more than every other NFL team. Both the Cleveland Browns and New Orleans Saints check in with four. Of course, the numbers will change after the NFL Draft later this week.
Current NFL players
1. Alabama — 74
2. Ohio State — 65
3. LSU — 59
4. Notre Dame — 49
5. Florida — 46
T6. Iowa — 43
T6. Michigan — 43
8. Georgia — 42
T9. Clemson — 40
T9. Washington — 40
Indiana ranked high across the three top professional leagues
The report also looked at talent by state across three professional leagues — NFL, NBA, MLB — and the state of Indiana checked in at No. 9 due in large part to the 53 athletes out of Notre Dame.
In addition to the 49 players signed with NFL teams last year, there are four additional athletes playing professional basketball and baseball. Pat Connaughton, who currently plays for the Milwaukee Bucks, is the sole Irish representative in the NBA at this time. Notre Dame had three former players at the top of the MLB last season — Trey Mancini of the Baltimore Orioles, outfielder A.J. Pollock of the Chicago White Sox and pitcher David Phelps of the Toronto Blue Jays. There are a few other Irish players flipping between levels of professional baseball, but it is likely the report included these three as consistent mainstays at the top of MLB.
Most successful states
- Texas — 250 professional athletes (50 from University of Texas)
- California — 215 (46 from University of Southern California)
- Florida — 179 (63 from University of Florida)
- Ohio — 169 (70 from Ohio State University)
- North Carolina — 159 (43 from Duke University)
- Alabama — 141 (82 from University of Alabama)
- Louisiana — 121 (75 from Louisiana State University)
- Pennsylvania — 107 (39 from Pennsylvania State University)
- Indiana — 106 (53 from University of Notre Dame)
- Tennessee — 102 (35 from University of Tennessee)
