Best college football players of all time from every state

Connecticut – Dwight Freeney

One of the smallest states in the country in terms of land mass, Connecticut ranks surprisingly high in population, coming in at No. 29 in the last census. With large, modern big-city style areas like Hartford and Bridgeport, Connecticut produced some solid talent in the early years of football. As the power states turned more southwards, however, Connecticut fell victim.

That being said—it’s also home to one of the best defensive ends in college football’s long tradition, Dwight Freeney. Freeney recorded a massive 17.5 sacks at Syracuse in 2001 and got to the quarterback a total of 34 times in his four seasons. He was an All-American in 2001, and once had a string of games with at least one sack a massive 17 games long.

Freeney finished up with over 100 tackles, 34 sacks, and 51 tackles for a loss, and was drafted with the No. 11 overall pick in the 2002 NFL Draft, and would quickly move on to be a fan favorite with the Indianapolis Colts, before a journeyman career that ended in 2017 and should end in the Hall of Fame.

He also sacked Michael Vick 4.5 times in a game—a simply ridiculous statistic thanks to Vick’s elusiveness.