Where starting NFL QB's played high school football

When it comes to starting NFL quarterbacks, California and Texas lead the way in producing signal callers. At the start the 2020 season, both states had six starters. Ohio was the next closest state with three starters.

Due to injuries, three season opening game starters — Jimmy Garopollo (San Francisco), Drew Lock (Denver) and Tyrod Taylor (LA Chargers) — are on the sidelines for Week 3, so we’ve updated our numbers.

Florida joins Ohio with three starters with Jeff Driskel (Hagerty HS) filling-in for Lock in the Broncos’ game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Justin Herbert (Sheldon HS) will start his second straight game for the Los Angeles Chargers with Tyrod Taylor out. Herbert gives Oregon its first starter on our list. Finally, with the 49ers starting Nick Mullens for the injured Jimmy Garopollo, Alabama will will have two starting NFL quarterbacks today with Philip Rivers starting for the Indianapolis Colts.

To celebrate this week’s games, we thought it would be fun to show you video of every NFL starting QB in high school. Well, almost all, we were able to locate video from 29 of this week’s 32 starters.

Arizona Cardinals – Kyler Murray, Allen HS (Texas)

Atlanta Falcons – Matt Ryan, William Penn Charter HS (Pennsylvania)

Baltimore Ravens – Lamar Jackson, Boynton Beach HS (Florida)

Buffalo Bills – Josh Allen – Firebaugh HS (California)

Carolina Panthers – Teddy Bridgewater, Northwestern HS (Miami, Florida)

Chicago Bears – Mitch Trubisky, Mentor HS (Ohio)

Cincinnati Bengals – Joe Burrow, Athens HS (Ohio)

Cleveland Browns – Baker Mayfield, Lake Travis (Texas)

Dallas Cowboys – Dak Prescott, Haughton HS (Louisiana)

Denver Broncos – *Drew Lock, Lee’s Summit HS (Missouri); Jeff Driskel, Hagerty HS (Florida)

Detroit Lions – Matt Stafford, Highland Park HS (Texas)

Green Bay Packers – Aaron Rodgers, Mount Pleasant Valley HS (California)

Houston Texans – Deshaun Watson, Gainesville HS (Georgia)

Indianapolis Colts – Philip Rivers, Athens HS (Alabama)

Jacksonville Jaguars – Gardner Minshew, Brandon HS (Mississippi)

Kansas City Chiefs – Patrick Mahomes, Whitehouse HS (Texas)

Los Angeles Chargers – *Tyrod Taylor, Hampton HS (Virginia); Justin Herbert, Sheldon HS (Oregon)

Taylor missed last week’s start against the Kansas City Chiefs due to a punctured lung. Herbert started last week in Taylor’s place and will also get the start Sunday against the Carolina Panthers.

Las Vegas Raiders – Derek Carr, Bakersfield Christian HS (California)

Los Angels Rams – Jared Goff, Marin Catholic HS (California)

Miami Dolphins – Ryan Fitzpatrick, Highland HS (Arizona)

We couldn’t locate any video of the man that the Arizona Republic called “genius” — but we did find this clip from 2001. Notice the fresh face without a beard.

Thu, Feb 1, 2001 – Page 80 · Arizona Republic (Phoenix, Arizona) · Newspapers.com

Minnesota Vikings – Kirk Cousins, Holland Christian HS (Michigan)

Like Fitzpatrick, there isn’t any video online of the 2008 graduate of Holland Christian, but there are a couple of fun newspaper clips. including the one below talking about Cousins ACT scores.

Wed, May 30, 2007 – 65 · Detroit Free Press (Detroit, Michigan) · Newspapers.com

Thu, Feb 8, 2007 – Page 24 · Lansing State Journal (Lansing, Michigan) · Newspapers.com

New England Patriots – Cam Newton, Westlake HS (Georgia)

New Orleans Saints – Drew Brees, Westlake HS (Austin, Texas)

New York Giants – Daniel Jones, Charlotte Latin School (North Carolina)

New York Jets – Sam Darnold, San Clemente HS (California)

Philadelphia Eagles – Carson Wentz, Century HS (North Dakota)

Pittsburgh Steelers – Ben Rothlisberger, Findlay HS (Ohio)

San Francisco 49ers – *Jimmy Garoppolo, Rolling Meadows HS (Illinois); Nick Mullens, Spain Park (Alabama)

Garoppolo will sit-out Sunday’s game against the New York Giants, because of a high ankle sprain. Mullens will be making his first start since December 30, 2018 when he was filling-in for Garoppolo, who was out then with a torn ACL.

Seattle Seahawks – Russell Wilson, Collegiate School (Virginia)

Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Tom Brady, Serra HS (San Mateo, California)

Tennessee Titans – Ryan Tannehill, Big Spring HS (Texas)

Unfortunately there aren’t any highlights of Tannehill online during his time at Big Spring where he was a defensive back before taking-over the reigns of the Steers’ offense as a junior and senior.

Without video, here’s a thowback newspaper clipping heading into Tannehill’s senior season in west Texas.