It's not the most important benchmark for a high school football program, but it's not a bad place to start.
St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) has the most former players on current NFL rosters, and frankly, it's not even close.
The Raiders, a perennial national and Florida powerhouse, boast 11 alumni playing in the NFL this season. The next most are
Allen (Texas) and
Deerfield Beach (Fla.), each with six.
Seven others, including Florida schools
IMG Academy (Bradenton) and
Lakewood (St. Petersburg), claim five former players rostered on NFL squads.
The annual
alumni report from the NFL was released last week.
The Cincinnati Bengals (
Geno Atkins,
Giovani Bernard and
Bobby Hart) and Las Vegas Raiders (
Damon Arnette,
Lamarcus Joyner and
Sam Young) each have three former St. Thomas Aquinas players.
The other five are
Joey Bosa (Chargers),
Nick Bosa (49ers),
Phillip Dorsett (Seahawks),
Brandon Linder (Jaguars) and
James White (Patriots). The school's most famous alum is NFL Hall of Fame receiver Michael Irvin (Class of 1984).
All that talent has led to great success on the field. With back-to-back 7A championships starting in 2018, the Raiders have won seven state crowns in eight years, eight in 10 years and 13 overall. They've won three mythical national titles since 2010 via the MaxPreps computer rankings.
They are currently ranked third nationally in the MaxPreps Top 25 but aren't scheduled to start their season until next month due to COVID-19.
The other high schools with five former players on NFL rosters are
Cass Tech (Detroit),
DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.),
Long Beach Poly (Calif.),
North Shore (Houston) and
Stephenson (Stone Mountain, Ga.).
LaMarcus Joyner is one of 11 St. Thomas Aquinas alumni rostered on an NFL team this season, the most of any high school.
File photo by Lou Novick
