The University of Alabama is the No. 1 producer of major-league players among the nation’s colleges, according to a new survey by The Action Network.
In combining the rosters from the NFL, NBA and MLB, the survey found 82 Alabama alumni, more than any college in the country. Ohio State ranked second with 70 big-league athletes.
The Crimson Tide owed its ranking to football. At the time of the survey, 74 Alabama alumni were on NFL rosters. In 2020, a record 64 former Tide players appeared in NFL regular-season games, and 61 already have done so in the first six weeks of the 2021 season.
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The University of Alabama’s output helped push the state of Alabama to sixth in the nation for the production of major league-level athletes by its colleges. The state had 141 players in the NFL, NBA and MLB.
The colleges in Texas gave the Lone Star State the No. 1 ranking with 250 athletes, with California at 215, Florida at 179, Ohio at 169 and North Carolina at 159.
CHECK OUT A U.S. MAP OF ATHLETE PRODUCTION
The states behind Alabama that had at least 100 players were Louisiana with 121, Pennsylvania with 107, Indiana with 106, Tennessee with 102 and South Carolina with 100.
The state with the fewest major-league athletes was Vermont with one. The lone representative was the University of Vermont’s Anthony Lamb of the NBA’s Houston Rockets.
Joining Alabama and Ohio State in the college top five were Florida with 63 players, LSU with 59 and Michigan with 56.
Other SEC schools in the top 25 were Kentucky ninth with 50 athletes, Georgia eleventh with 48, Texas A&M 18th with 43, South Carolina 19th with 42, Mississippi State 22nd with 38 and Auburn 24th with 37.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
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