States that produce the most 5-star college football recruits

3. California, 92 five-star recruits in college football since 2000

While California’s college football teams might have taken a turn for the worse in recent seasons, the level of recruits coming out of the state has remained steady.

The state has produced 92 five-star prospects over the years, placing it as No. 3 among the rest of the states. While USC has gotten the most of the crop, pulling in 37 of the 92 prospects, the rest of the talent is spread around the country.

Every Power 5 conference has laid claim to a few of California’s darling high school products with a few going to both Notre Dame and BYU as well. Adding to that, there are three other California schools just in the Pac-12. That is a lot of in-state competition, only rivaled by the likes of Texas.

With USC taking much of the talent, it is easy to see why the other California universities struggle to maintain prominence in the college football world. UCLA, Stanford, and Cal have all had their moments, but none have had as much success as the Trojans have.

Not only did the Trojans get the most players either, but they also got the best with the likes of Reggie Bush, Mark Sanchez and Juju Smith-Schuster all attending USC.

Other prominent five-stars to come out of California include Josh Rosen, Vontaze Burfict, DeSean Jackson and Joe Mixon.

Because of its sheer size, population and number of quality high school programs, California will always be a top state for high school talent.