Florida beat out Texas with the most former high schoolers picked in the 2021 NFL Draft in Cleveland. It’s the third time in the last four years that the Sunshine State has finished No. 1 in former scholastic players chosen during the three-day, seven round event.
Related: 2021 NFL Draft – Pick-by-Pick, State-by-State
The Sunshine State had 37 former players picked with IMG Academy and Plantation’s American Heritage leading the way with seven and six players hearing their names called respectively. IMG’s seven draft choices is a draft record.
IMG Picks
No. 26 Cleveland Browns – Greg Newsome II, CB
No. 65 Jacksonville Jaguars – Andre Cisco, S
No. 66 Minnesota Vikings – Kellen Mond, QB
No. 95 Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Robert Hainsey, OG
No. 97 Los Angeles Chargers – Tre’ McKitty, TE
No. 144 Kansas City Chiefs – Joshua Kaindoh, DE
No. 222 Carolina Panthers – Thomas Fletcher, LS
American Heritage (Plantation) Picks
No. 9 Denver Broncos – Patrick Surtain II, CB
No. 33 Jacksonville Jaguars – Tyson Campbell, CB
No. 91 Cleveland Browns – Anthony Schwartz, WR
No. 136 Arizona Cardinals – Marco Wilson, CB
No. 173 Green Bay Packers – Tedarrell Slaton, DT
No. 217 Chicago Bears – Khalil Herbert, RB
In addition to IMG and AH, two other schools had multiple former players taken. St. Thomas Aquinas had three former players drafted and Northwestern had two.
Twelve other schools had two players taken: Allen (Texas), Archbishop Wood (Pennsylvania), Bingham (Utah), Bishop O’Dowd (California), Episcopal (Bellaire, Texas), Gahanna Lincoln (Ohio), Lawrence Central (Indiana), Oak Ridge (Texas), Parkway (Louisiana), Rancho Cucamonga (California), Riverdale Baptist (Maryland) and Westlake (Texas)
Former High School Football Players Taken by State
Florida – 37 players
Texas – 33
Georgia – 21
California – 19
Louisiana – 13
North Carolina – 10
Ohio – 9
Michigan, Pennsylvania – 8
Alabama, Utah – 7
Indiana, Maryland, Oregon, Virginia – 6
Tennessee – 5
Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, Wisconsin – 4
Illinois, Kansas, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina – 3
Canada, Connecticut, New York – 2
Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Washington, Washington DC – 1
In all, 38 states, plus the District of Columbia were represented in this year’s draft. Canada had two players chosen.
