If your team -- whether it be in the NCAA or NFL -- is looking for a quarterback, it needs to look in California and Texas.
We took a geographical look at the starting quarterbacks for the 32 NFL teams and the 128 FBS teams, and found that almost half of the NFL's starters (15 of 32) went to high school in California or Texas and that those states provided more than a quarter (34) of the FBS starters. (There are 18 college starters and eight NFL starters from Texas, and 16 and seven, respectively, from California.) When you add Florida to the mix at the college level, 38 percent (48) of the FBS starters come from those three states.
To pinpoint it even further, the Dallas Metroplex and Southern California (L.A. and San Diego areas) have produced the most FBS starters (eight), with South Florida (Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties) second with seven. The Atlanta, Phoenix and San Francisco Bay metropolitan areas have produced five each.
Southern California leads the way in the NFL with three starters.
While Florida has produced the third-most college starters, only one NFL starting quarterback, the New York Jets' Geno Smith, went to high school in the state. Interestingly, two of the three quarterbacks taken in the first round in May -- the Jacksonville Jaguars' Blake Bortles and the Minnesota Vikings' Teddy Bridgewater -- are from Florida. Bortles is from Oviedo High, which is an Orlando suburb, and Bridgewater is from Miami Northwestern.
Some other points of interest:
» Texas has produced the most starters at "Power Five" conference schools, with 10. Florida is second with seven, while California and Georgia have produced six each.
» Georgia has produced the fourth-most starters in the FBS ranks, with nine. Tied for fifth at six are Alabama, Ohio and -- surprisingly -- Indiana.
» California and Texas are the only states that have produced more than two NFL starters.
» One high school, Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) St. Thomas Aquinas, has two alums starting at quarterback in college football (at Houston and Iowa). Incredibly, there are two high schools that have two alums starting in the NFL: Austin (Texas) Westlake, with Drew Brees and Nick Foles, and New Orleans Isidore Newman School, with the Manning brothers.
» One current college starter went to the same high school as a current NFL starter: Vanderbilt's Stephen Rivers attended Athens (Ala.) High, as did his brother, San Diego Chargers star Philip Rivers.
» Central California is fertile farmland, and also fertile quarterback-producing territory. Bakersfield has produced two college starters and one NFL starter. There is a college starter from Modesto. And there also are current NFL starters from Chico and Turlock.
» Pennsylvania has produced two current NFL starters but only one FBS starter.
» Idaho has produced two college starters, and both are top-flight dual-threat guys: Arizona State's Taylor Kelly and BYU's Taysom Hill.
Here's a state-by-state look, first with the FBS starters, then with the NFL starters. The asterisked quarterbacks are discussed at the end of the state-by-state breakdowns.
ALABAMA (6)
ARIZONA (5)
ARKANSAS (3)
CALIFORNIA (16)
COLORADO (1)
CONNECTICUT (1)
FLORIDA (14)
GEORGIA (9)
HAWAII (1)
IDAHO (2)
ILLINOIS (2)
INDIANA (6)
IOWA (1)
KENTUCKY (1)
LOUISIANA (3)
MICHIGAN (3)
MINNESOTA (1)
MISSISSIPPI (1)
MISSOURI (1)
NEBRASKA (1)
NEVADA (1)
NEW JERSEY (3)
NEW MEXICO (1)
NEW YORK (2)
NORTH CAROLINA (3)
OHIO (6)
OKLAHOMA (1)
OREGON (1)
PENNSYLVANIA (1)
SOUTH CAROLINA (3)
TENNESSEE (3)
TEXAS (18)
VIRGINIA (2)
WASHINGTON (3)
WASHINGTON, D.C. (1)
CANADA (1)
NFL QUARTERBACKS
ALABAMA (1)
ARIZONA (1)
CALIFORNIA (7)
FLORIDA (1)
GEORGIA (1)
INDIANA (1)
KANSAS (1)
LOUISIANA (2)
NEW JERSEY (1)
OHIO (2)
PENNSYLVANIA (2)
TEXAS (8)
VIRGINIA (2)
WASHINGTON (1)
WISCONSIN (1)
INJURY NOTE: The Panthers' Newton missed Week 1 with a rib injury but is expected back in the lineup this week.
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
