Tampa Super Bowl: Where did the Bucs, Chiefs players come from?

Tampa is a fitting site for Super Bowl 55; Florida high schools produced more players on the Bucs and Chiefs than any other state.

Thirteen players on the teams’ combined active rosters are from Florida. Two are from the Tampa Bay area — Bucs offensive lineman Ted Larsen (Palm Harbor University) and Chiefs receiver Byron Pringle (Tampa’s Robinson High).

Georgia and Pennsylvania (eight each) were next on the list, followed by Texas and Mississippi (seven).

LSU produced more players (six) than any other college. Clemson, Iowa and Michigan were tied for second with four each. Mississippi State was among the schools that had three players, all of whom were recruited by current Florida coach Dan Mullen.

The Gators (Chiefs punter Tommy Townsend and receiver Demarcus Robinson) and USF (Chiefs center Austin Reiter and Bucs outside linebacker Jason Pierre-Paul) both have two former players in the game. Florida State has one, Chiefs defensive lineman Derrick Nnadi.

For recruiting fans, seven players in the game were five-star recruits (using rankings from 247Sports): receivers Mecole Hardman and Sammy Watkins, quarterback Chad Henne, defensive tackle Chris Jones and tight end Ricky Seals-Jones from the Chiefs; and running back Leonard Fournette and defensive lineman William Gholston from the Bucs.

Twenty-five players were either no-star recruits or did not have a profile. That list includes Tom Brady, who was drafted in 2000 — two years before Rivals started ranking the nation’s top 100 high school prospects.

Here’s the full breakdown:

By state

13: Florida

8: Georgia, Pennsylvania

7: Texas, Mississippi

6: California, Louisiana, Michigan

5: Illinois, Ohio

4: North Carolina, Missouri, Virginia

3: Tennessee, Maryland

2: Alabama, Minnesota, Colorado, Iowa, Oregon, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Oklahoma

1: Canada, Nebraska, Delaware, New York, Utah

By school

6: LSU

4: Clemson, Iowa, Michigan

3: Central Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi State, Nebraska, Penn State, South Carolina, Texas A&M

2: Auburn, Colorado State Pueblo, UConn, Eastern Michigan, Florida, James Madison, Michigan State, Middle Tennessee, Missouri, Pitt, USF, Tulane, Washington

1: Appalachian State, Arizona, Arkansas, Assumption, Bowling Green, BYU, Cincinnati, Colorado State, Duke, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Grand Valley State, Harvard, Hawaii, Hobart, Illinois, Kansas State, Kentucky, Laval, Louisiana Tech, Missouri S&T, North Carolina Central, North Carolina State, North Dakota State, Ohio, Oklahoma, Old Dominion, Oregon State, Penn, South Carolina State, Southern Arkansas, Southern Miss, Texas, Texas Tech, Troy, USC, Utah State, Vanderbilt, Villanova, Virginia, Wagner, Washington State, West Alabama, Western Illinois

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By recruiting rankings

Five stars: 7

Four stars: 29

Three stars: 36

Two stars: 13

No stars/NA: 25

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