Best college football players of all time from every state

Maine – Al Harris

The 12th smallest state by area, and the ninth least populated, Maine, mostly famous for pine trees and lobsters to the rest of us, is anything but a hotbed when it comes to producing top-tier college football talent. Maine has just one D-1 collegiate football team in the University of Maine, and a whopping zero FBS teams.

That being said, some impressive talent has come out of the Pine Tree State.

Al Harris tops the bunch. Born in Bangor but attending high school and college in Hawaii and Arizona, respectively, Harris was a part of a 12-0 Arizona State team that was one of the best in the country. The team finished at No. 2 in the country in that season in 1975, but Harris really came to bloom later on in his college career.

Harris would become the first unanimous All-American to come out of Arizona State when he achieved that fact in the 1978 season, riding his impressive performance of 19 sacks, one of the top sack tallies in the Sun Devil’s program history.

Harris was a terror for opposing offenses coming off of the Sun Devils’ defensive line, and his stellar play there would eventually land him a spot as the No. 9 pick in the 1979 NFL Draft.

He went on to be an important part of the Chicago defense that was notably solid in the 1980s. He would also have been a Super Bowl champion in his time playing in the NFL, if not for a contract dispute during his time with the Bears.