Breaking Down the Niners Roster By College Conference

There are 82 players listed on the 49ers roster on their official web site. Although around 30 of those gentlemen will head toward the chopping block before the summer ends, I thought it would be fun to see the college conference (and school) affiliations of the players on the roster. Are there more Pac-10ers than SECers? Let's find out: Pac 10 (16) – Cal (3), Oregon (3), UCLA (2), USC (2), Washington (2), Arizona, Arizona St., Stanford, Washington St. Big 12 (15) – Oklahoma (4), Missouri (2), Texas A&M (2), Baylor, Colorado, Kansas, Kansas St., Nebraska, Oklahoma St., Texas SEC (12) – Auburn (2), Florida (2), LSU (2), Mississippi St. (2), Tennessee (2), Georgia, Ole Miss ACC (10) – Maryland (2), North Carolina (2), North Carolina St. (2), Virginia Tech (2), Miami, Virginia Big 10 (6) – Michigan (2), Ohio St. (2), Penn St. (2) WAC (6) – Hawaii (3), San Jose St. (2), Boise St., New Mexico St. Independent (2) – Notre Dame (2) Big East (2) – Pitt (2) Conference USA (2) – East Carolina, Memphis Mountain West (2) – Utah (2) Others (8) – Central Missouri (2), Albany St., Central Michigan, Princeton, Shepherd University, Tennessee St., UC-Davis By the way, Barry Sims (Utah) was included in the count. What does this all mean? Well, it's not a surprise that the Pac 10 leads the way, since Niners scouts surely pay extra attention to players in their neck of the woods. It's less expensive and easier logistically to scout in one's own backyard. I'm a bit surprised that the WAC and Big 10 share the same number of players, although it does seem that the Big 10's quality of play has suffered in recent years. All in all, it looks like the Pac 10, Big 12 and SEC are the top purveyors of NFL talent. I'm sure a runthrough of other NFL rosters would produce a similar weighted account of those three conferences churning out NFL players.