For the second time in three years, Texas had the most former high school football players selected in the NFL Draft. The Lone Star State had 32 players taken over seven rounds of the 2022 NFL Draft in Las Vegas followed by Georgia (30), California (22) and Florida (21).
Ohio (13), Alabama (12), Louisiana (10), Maryland (10) and North Carolina (10) were the only other states to have 10 or more selections.
Cedar Grove (Ellenwood, Ga.) was the only school to have three selections as Jelani Woods was the first to go in the third round by the Indianapolis Colts with the 73rd pick. DeAngelo Malone went nine picks later at No. 82 to the Atlanta Falcons and Justin Shaffer was selected in the sixth round by Atlanta.
Archbishop Murphy (Everett, Wash.), Archer (Lawrenceville, Ga.), Carlsbad (Calif.), Cherokee (Canton, Ga.), IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.), Klein Collins (Spring, Texas), Long Beach Poly (Long Beach, Calif.), Marist (Atlanta), Neville (Monroe, La.), Plant (Tampa, Fla.), Riverdale Baptist (Upper Marlboro, Md.), Saraland (Ala.) and Southern Lab (Baton Rouge, La.) all had two selections each.
In total, 38 states had at least one selection and 31 had multiple players chosen.
Alaska, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia and Wyoming all had zero selections.
See the complete breakdown below.
Alabama — 12
Velus Jones Jr., Saraland
Arizona — 3
Arkansas — 4
California — 22
Zachary Thomas, Carlsbad
Jack Jones, Long Beach Poly (Long Beach)
Colorado — 2
Connecticut — 2
Florida — 21
Evan Neal, IMG Academy (Bradenton)
Christian Watson, Plant (Tampa)
Georgia — 30
Joshua Ezeudu, Archer (Lawrenceville)
Justin Shaffer, Cedar Grove (Ellenwood)
Jelani Woods, Cedar Grove (Ellenwood)
Montrell Washington, Cherokee (Canton)
Kyle Hamilton, Marist (Atlanta)
Illinois — 6
Indiana — 5
Iowa — 3
Kansas — 1
Kentucky — 2
Louisiana — 10
Phidarian Mathis, Neville (Monroe)
Tyrion Davis-Price, Southern Lab (Baton Rouge)
Maryland — 10
Zion Johnson, Riverdale Baptist (Upper Marlboro)
Massachusetts — 1
Michigan — 5
Minnesota — 3
Mississippi — 3
Missouri — 7
Montana — 1
Nebraska — 1
Nevada — 2
New Jersey — 5
New York — 1
North Carolina — 10
North Dakota — 1
Ohio — 13
Oklahoma — 4
Oregon — 4
Pennsylvania — 5
South Carolina — 6
Tennessee — 9
Texas — 32
Isaiah Spiller, Klein Collins (Spring)
Utah — 1
Washington — 3
Abraham Lucas, Archbishop Murphy (Everett)
Wisconsin — 5
Outside United States — 1
Deane Leonard, Canada
Garrett Wilson, shown here hauling in a pass one-handed during the 2018 Class 6A state playoffs, was one of 32 Texans selected in this weekend's NFL Draft.
Photo: Joe Calomeni
