1,162 out of 1,321 (88%)
Those are the numbers of players invited to the NFL Scouting Combine, since 2015, that were high school multi-sport athletes according to a recent study conducted by Tracking Football. More importantly, the average Player Athletic Index score of invited players over the past four years was significantly higher than that of DI-FBS recruit averages. This indicates that players attending the Combine were generally bigger, faster, and more explosive than most DI recruits at the same position BEFORE college. On top of that the vast majority competed for and represented their high schools in a variety of sports other than football. Apparently competing in other sports along the way did not derail dreams of making the NFL.
NFL Combine 2015-2018: Participation percentages by sport
Total players: 1,321 (88% overall multi-sport participation)
Track & Field: (59%)
Basketball: (48%)
Baseball: (10%)
Wrestling: (3%)
Lacrosse: (2%)
Other: (2%)
Related: 289 of 330 NFL Combine invitees were HS multi-sport athletes
2018 NFL Combine invitees averaged a 3.47/5.0 PAI score in high school:
PAI Score Averages:
3.57/5.0 PAI – NFL Draft Pick 2017
3.47/5.0 PAI – NFL Scouting Combine Invitees 2018
3.2/5.0 PAI – DI-FBS All-Conference 2017
2.8/5.0 PAI – DI-FBS Recruits 2017
Related: High school track and field athletes at 2016 NFL Combine
Tracking Football is a scouting service that uses proprietary algorithms to score the raw athletic data of football players. NFL, FBS and HS football programs all use our Player Athletic Index to help evaluate prospects. This score takes into account a player’s height, weight, position, track and field results & multiple sport participation information. It provides a 0.0 – 5.0 comparison to 30,000+ current and former division 1 football players
NCAA Division I coaches are permitted to subscribe to Tracking Football for football scouting services. We currently have FBS clients in the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, MAC, Independent and Pac-12 conferences. Tracking Football focuses on the analysis of athletic data when evaluating football players. Our databases have 15,000 current high school football player profiles that can be compared to over 30,000 current and former Division 1 football players. We have studied the multiple sport background of high school football players for decades.
Follow us @TrckFootball for more information.