Our picks and predictions for the 2026 NFL season
Joe Rivera, Chris Bumbaca and Adam Kaufman break down their predictions for the 2026 NFL season on the latest episode of the Sports Seriously NFL Vodcast.
Heading into Week 1 of the 2026 NFL season, 202 colleges are represented on the league’s 32 active rosters as of Sept. 9.
USA TODAY analyzed roster data from NFL.com to uncover the college designations of the NFL’s nearly 1,700 players across every team’s active roster. College totals were calculated from the 1,689 players with a college listed.
Among school totals, leading the way with 57 players is Alabama. The Crimson Tide edges out Ohio State, which has 56 players. In third place is Georgia with 52.
It’s then a larger step down to No. 4. There, LSU has 44 players, two ahead of Texas and three ahead of Notre Dame. Michigan is just behind Notre Dame with 40 players.
Other top schools include Florida (37 players), Oregon (36), Penn State (36) and Oklahoma (32). The most-rostered FCS school is South Dakota State with six players.
Assuming Alabama holds its No. 1 spot through Week 1, it’ll be the 10th straight season the Crimson Tide has had the most or tied for the most players in the NFL.
Last year, Alabama had 60 players on Week 1 rosters, per the NFL, beating out Ohio State at 56. In 2024, the Crimson Tide had 61, while they had 57 in 2023.
Location-wise, the 202 schools are spread throughout the country with 48 U.S. states represented (the two without a college producing NFL talent are Alaska and Vermont). There are also two Canadian schools: nose tackle David Onyemata of the New York Jets attended Manitoba, while offensive tackle Theo Benedet of the Chicago Bears went to the University of British Columbia.
The heaviest-producing state is Texas, which has 16 schools represented in our dataset. Next is California with 11 schools, while Ohio and North Carolina have 10 each.
In total, 127 FBS schools are represented on an NFL roster. There are 11 such colleges without an NFL player, including Army, Northern Illinois and UAB.
The remaining total is made up of 49 FCS schools, while 26 are Division II, lower or outside of the NCAA.
Should the number of schools stay at 202 throughout Week 1, it’ll be a dip compared to recent seasons.
Last season, the NFL calculated that 233 schools were represented across the 32 Week 1 rosters, while 2024 had 234.
Those figures themselves were down compared to recent seasons, as 2019 through 2021 all had at least 240 different schools.
The 2026 figure is a USA TODAY tally of NFL.com active rosters immediately before Week 1, while the 2019-25 figures are the NFL’s official Kickoff Weekend counts. Because the figures were produced independently, there may be methodological differences between the 2026 count and prior seasons.
Methodology: USA TODAY collected roster data from NFL.com on Sept. 9, immediately before Week 1 of the 2026 season. Players listed by NFL.com with an active roster status were included and their college was credited as listed by NFL.com. School names were standardized where NFL.com used different names for the same institution. Four active players without a college listed on NFL.com were excluded from college totals.
For the map, schools were matched with CollegeFootballData to determine football classification and campus location where available. Missing locations were geocoded using OpenStreetMap.
The 2019-25 figures in the historical chart are the NFL’s official Kickoff Weekend counts and therefore may not be directly comparable with USA TODAY’s 2026 tally.
Colleges by number of NFL players, 2026
| No. of NFL players | School |
| 57 | Alabama |
| 56 | Ohio State |
| 52 | Georgia |
| 44 | LSU |
| 42 | Texas |
| 41 | Notre Dame |
| 40 | Michigan |
| 37 | Florida |
| 36 | Oregon, Penn State |
| 32 | Oklahoma |
| 31 | Iowa |
| 30 | Clemson |
| 28 | Miami |
| 27 | USC |
| 26 | Mississippi, Texas A&M |
| 25 | South Carolina |
| 23 | Auburn, Stanford, Washington |
| 22 | Missouri, Utah |
| 21 | Illinois, TCU, Tennessee |
| 20 | UCLA |
| 19 | Florida State |
| 18 | Indiana, Minnesota, Texas Tech, Wisconsin |
| 17 | Arkansas, N.C. State |
| 16 | Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina |
| 15 | Boston College, California, Mississippi State |
| 14 | Cincinnati, Iowa State, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Virginia Tech |
| 13 | Duke, Michigan State |
| 12 | Arizona |
| 11 | BYU, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest |
| 10 | Houston, Kansas State, North Dakota State, Oklahoma State, Rutgers, SMU, Tulane |
| 9 | Baylor, Boise State, Colorado, Washington State |
| 8 | West Virginia |
| 7 | Connecticut, Louisiana, Nebraska, Purdue, Toledo, UCF |
| 6 | Arizona State, Buffalo, Memphis, Oregon State, San Diego State, South Dakota State, Temple, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Western Michigan |
| 5 | Central Michigan, Fresno State, Kansas, Northwestern, Western Kentucky |
| 4 | Appalachian State, East Carolina, Eastern Washington, Florida Atlantic, Georgia State, Louisiana Tech, Navy, Northern Iowa, South Alabama, Troy, Tulsa, Wyoming |
| 3 | Bowling Green, Colorado State, Harvard, Idaho, James Madison, Marshall, Middle Tennessee State, Montana State, Nevada, Rice, Sam Houston State, South Dakota, Texas-El Paso, Utah State, Weber State, William & Mary |
| 2 | Air Force, Alcorn State, Arkansas State, Central Arkansas, Eastern Michigan, Florida A&M, Florida International, Georgia Southern, Hawaii, Holy Cross, Illinois State, Lenoir Rhyne, Liberty, Miami (Ohio), Montana, Morgan State, San Jose State, Sioux Falls, South Carolina State, Southeast Missouri State, Southern Illinois, Southern Mississippi, Southern Utah State, Stephen F. Austin State, Tennessee-Chattanooga, Texas-San Antonio, UMass Amherst, UNLV |
| 1 | Akron, Alabama A&M, Alabama State, Albany State (GA), Azusa Pacific, Ball State, Barton College, Brown, Cal Poly (San Luis Obispo), Canisius College, Charlotte, Coastal Carolina, Dayton, Delaware, Delta State University, Drake, Duquesne, East Tennessee State, East Texas A&M, Ferris State, Findlay, Fort Hays, Fort Valley State College, Furman, Houston Christian University, Indiana PA, University of, Indiana State, Jackson State University, Jacksonville State, Maine, Malone, Manitoba (Canada), Marist, Minnesota State, Missouri Western, Murray State, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Northern Arizona, Penn, Princeton, Sacramento State, Sacred Heart University, Saginaw Valley State, Shepherd, Southern Arkansas, St. John’s (MN), Tarleton State, Texas State-San Marcos, Tusculum College, UC Davis, University of British Columbia, University of South Florida, Villanova, Virginia Commonwealth Univ., Washburn, Western Illinois, Wingate, Wisconsin-Whitewater, Yale, Youngstown State |
