By The Numbers: P5 and the State of Texas

Texas is one of the best (if not THE best) state in the country when it comes to volleyball.

The talent level is so very deep here that club teams from Texas will often play each other for first place at Qualifiers across the country. Plenty of clubs will also choose NOT to play at the Lonestar Qualifier BECAUSE they will have to go through so many Texas teams in order to win.

If I told you that you needed to be one of the BEST 40 volleyball players in the Texas in order to play at a Power 5 school, would you believe me?

Here are the numbers I got after going through all of the Power 5 Rosters from the 2021 season.

*I understand these numbers and teams will change in the next couple of years as conference change and grow, but I think these numbers will stay statistically relevant through all of that.

**Also, it's important to note that the rosters sizes will be larger this season and next season because of COVID eligibility. I don't believe that will cause HUGE shifts in the percentages at the end of the day

Below is a list of Power 5 conferences and the numbers of athletes from Texas on those rosters; along with the percentage.

Conference

Athletes from Texas/Total athletes in that conference = % of athletes from Texas

Big 10

12/146 = 5%

Pac 12

21/211 = 10%

ACC

27/257 = 11%

SEC

50/205 = 24%

Big 12

60/159 = 38%

Combine all of these numbers and you get:

Total

170/1078 = 15.8%

To break that down even further - if you're looking at a 16 person roster, then 2.5 athletes on that roster are from Texas (on average).

Now, some things to note. These are the schools (14) that have currently 0 athletes from Texas (half of them are in the Big 10):

Wisconsin

Ohio State

Purdue

Illinois

Northwestern

Michigan State (adding one in 23)

Rutgers (adding one in 23)

Utah

Washington State

California

Syracuse

Virginia Tech

South Carolina

Auburn

The Big 12 and the SEC make up for the biggest chunk of athletes from Texas (110). This makes sense with 5 schools in Texas. Add Oklahoma and LSU to that mix as the majority of their roster is from Texas.

With a total of 170 athletes from the state of Texas playing in the P5, that means that roughly 40 athletes in each recruiting class in the Power 5 are from the state of Texas.

So why is this important?

One of the biggest things right now that will help with recruiting is understanding where athletes are going to fit at the next level. Volleyball at the highest level is very competitive. I hope that knowing this little bit of information should be able to help in the process sooner than later.

Take a look at these other blogs for more information on this topic -

Aim For the Middle

By The Numbers: Playing in the Power 5

College Recruiting Needs List

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