Bulldogs visible in National Football League

Fresno State's football program is among the national leaders in National Football League players, according to information released by the NFL office last week. The NFL tabulated the information from players on active rosters for the season opening games.

Thirteen former Bulldogs were on NFL rosters on the opening weekend, the third-highest total of any non-BCS school, and the second-best among Western non-BCS schools. San Diego State led the non-BCS schools with 15, while Marshall and Louisville each had 14.

"Fresno State has a great tradition of producing quality NFL players," said head coach Pat Hill, who coached or recruited 10 of the 13 active players, including former NFL No. 1 overall pick David Carr of the Houston Texans.

"We have had great success in preparing players for life after college, and for some special people that includes an opportunity to play in the NFL. It's not our mission to prepare players for the NFL. Our goal is to have players get an education and graduate while playing at a very high level. Reaching the NFL is a great by-product of our program."

Fresno State's leads all WAC schools with the most NFL players. Hawai'i ranks second with nine and Boise State is next with seven. Rounding out the WAC schools are Louisiana Tech and San Jose State with six each, Tulsa, Rice and UTEP with four, SMU has three and Nevada two.

The Bulldogs were among the leaders of other western schools. BYU matched Fresno State's total of 13, while Utah produced nine and Colorado State seven. The Bulldogs were within range of several Pac-10 schools. Arizona has 15 NFL players, while Oregon and Washington State each have 14, and Oregon State has nine.

Fresno State has produced more NFL players than several notable BCS schools including Arkansas, Oklahoma State, North Carolina State, Kentucky, Iowa State, Minnesota and Texas Tech. Florida and Notre Dame each have 40 NFL players, the most of any schools.