Eighteen percent of all players on 2019 Missouri Valley Football Conference rosters hail from Illinois. It is — by far — the most-represented state in the MVFC.
Illinois State running back and two-time HERO Sports All-American James Robinson is one of four Redbirds from Rockford, Ill., and one of 50 Redbirds from the state of Illinois, or just shy of 50 percent of their entire roster. And Robinson is one of 190 MVFC players from Illinois. Iowa is the only other state with more than 100 players (118), although three more states have at least 80 players: Missouri (94), Ohio (88) and Minnesota (81).
Rockford is tied with seven other cities for the 21st-most players, 15 players behind the leading city, Chicago. The Windy City accounts for 1.9 percent of all MVFC players. St. Louis (17) ranks second, followed by Kansas City, Blue Springs (Mo.), and Youngstown, all with 12 apiece. Indianapolis (11) is the only other city with at least 10 players.
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Only four of the 1,055 total players have a listed hometown outside the United States: Missouri State defensive end Taiwo Oluwafunmila (Nigeria), South Dakota State offensive lineman Ethan Vibert (Canada), Southern Illinois punter Jack Colquhoun (Australia), and Indiana State defensive lineman Filip Zacok.
Interactive map of hometowns (Want more MVFC hometown facts and figures? Tweet at me.):
(Yellow = 1 player, Green = 2-5 players, Purple = 6-9 players, Red = 10+)
