STUDY: Majority of South Dakota D-I Football Players Come from Minnehaha County

(NPN) --

(NPN) -- South Dakota doesn’t produce many Division I football players—only 41 of over 25,000 current D-I players, according to a recent study.

Benn Stancil of the online site Mode compiled the statistics from ESPN, compared it to U.S. Census data then utilized a Google Maps tool to render an interactive map.

However, over half of those produced come from Minnehaha County with 21 players, with the I-29 corridor counties of Codington, Deuel, Hamlin, Brookings, Grant and Lincoln Counties contributing another six. However, sparsely populated Bon Homme County alone produced three D-I players.

Other South Dakota Counties: Pennington County produced five, Lake County two, and Harding, Sully, Turner, Hughes and Charles Mix each had a player hale from their county.

Stancil found that the largest recruiting grounds are the usual suspects.

“The largest number of players come from LA, New York, South Florida, and Houston,” according to Stancil. “Relative to the number of college-aged males in the region, however, the South produces the most players.”

Stancil also noted that the South, though a major recruitment area, produces few kickers and punters. He also said Texas rarely recruits outside the Lone Star State.