This Michigan College Produces the Highest-Earning NFL Players (It’s Not What You Think)

Michigan has some great college football teams. Every fall, Michiganders certainly enjoy watching college football, and you can add high school and pro football to that list, too. Now, a new study is out that reveals that one Michigan college produces the highest-earning NFL players, and it's not what you think.

The study was conducted by sports betting media group Canada Sports Betting. In the study, they looked into the "lifetime career earnings of active NFL players who attended college in America, to calculate the average earnings per player from different colleges." Now, in Michigan, one would assume that the University of Michigan would be on the top of this list. But, it's not. Shocking, right?

Before we get to our state, note that the University of California, Berkeley, took the No. 1 spot on the list with average earnings of $38,242,817 million per player. Not too shabby. Next, Mississippi State is No. 2 on the list, with an average earnings per player of $28,653,428. When it comes to that school, according to Canada Sports Better, "Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott is the highest-earning active NFL player from Mississippi State, earning approximately $131,317,825 throughout his career." Finally, No. 3 is Clemson, South Carolina, with average earnings per player of $22,639,863. For that school, "Tennessee Titans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins is the highest-earning currently active NFL player to hail from Fresno, with career earnings of approximately $111,577,890," according to the study.

Here we go. The Michigan college that produces the highest-earning NFL players in the whole country is Michigan State University, with an average earnings per player of $19,980,639. It's no big surprise that Minnesota Vikings Kirk Cousins is the highest-earning active NFL player from MSU. His approximate total career earnings are currently $201,669,486. That number honestly shocks me. I'm a Cousins fan, too, because I went to MSU. What do you think? Reach out to me (Anne Erickson) here. No. 5 on the list is Fresno State University, California, with an average earnings per player of $19,244,175. Derek Carr, quarterback for the New Orleans Saints, is the highest-earning active NFL player out of Mississippi State University, with approximate career earnings of $135,666,395. For more on Canada Sports Betting, go here.