If you’ve read my work over the years, you already know I'm a numbers guy. I can’t get enough statistical data in my quest to more accurately predict who will win a football game. Often, my search leads to calculating the latest analytical data. Less frequently, it produces questions I feel the need to answer. For example, “I wonder which Texas high school produces the most players on non-FBS rosters,” I thought to myself early last week.

What I haven’t learned in my 47 years is when I should tell my brain to be quiet. Hence, that first thought turned into two weeks of mining and researching data from Texas non-FBS rosters for the 2024 season.

What I found is interesting and insane to fathom. I should note that the information contained is from 34 of the 36 rosters, which means that UTRGV is represented. This data isn’t complete because one team has names but no city or high school listed on their website, and another team doesn’t have a roster posted online.

Still, 3,943 players were listed on the rosters of non-FBS teams, an average of 116 players on each roster. Players on Texas non-FBS rosters are from 14 different countries and 36 different states. 

It might surprise you to see Australia with six players on non-FBS rosters. It won’t surprise you to know that five of those players are punters, and one, Joe Ta’ase, is an offensive lineman who transferred to West Texas A&M from Louisiana Tech.

Louisiana, California, and Florida follow Texas as states producing the most talent on rosters. Of the 3,336 players from Texas on non-FBS rosters, a whopping 346 claim Houston as their hometown. San Antonio is the second-most claimed city, ahead of Dallas, Fort Worth, and Katy, which rounds out the top five of the 538 towns represented.

Of the 897 Texas high school football teams represented on Texas non-FBS rosters, Houston Lamar, Manvel, and North Shore are tied at the top (19), while Allen and Cedar Hill round out the top five with 18 players on rosters. One surprise high school on the list is Abilene, the only high school not located in the DFW Metroplex or Greater Houston area in the top 10. The Eagles are tied with DeSoto and Fort Bend Hightower for eighth with 16 players on rosters.

One final statistic is that an incredible 261 Texas high schools are represented by five or more players on Texas non-FBS rosters. Find the complete breakdown below.