The state of Texas became the first state to win national championships at every level of college football two weeks ago with Sam Houston’s victory over South Dakota State. 

Sam Houston’s win was just the latest in a recent explosion of small college success in the state. Texas A&M-Commerce captured the state’s first Division II national championship since 1982 four years ago. Mary Hardin-Baylor, which only started a program in the late ‘90s, won a pair of titles in 2016 and 2018, though the former was officially vacated by the NCAA. 

Four college football coaches have won national championships at Texas programs since 2010. We asked all of them what has been behind this wave of Texas college football success. Their answers were all exactly the same. 

“Number 1 is the Texas high school football culture,” said former NJCAA national championship-winning Navarro coach Nick Bobeck. “Football has always been a big deal in the state and I think that everything bleeds from high school programs into the collegiate programs and then into the professional programs.” 

This holds true at virtually every level. Sam Houston coach K.C. Keeler noted that the program does not recruit high school kids from outside the state of Texas short of a player showing up to their on-campus camp. 

When UMHB coach Pete Fredenburg started the program, he drew a 75-mile radius around the Belton campus and made a goal to talk to every single high school coach within that range. More than 150 of the 164 players on UMHB’s national title roster in 2018 hailed from the state of Texas. Back in 2010, Texas JUCOs could only have five out-of-state players on their roster, so the roster was filled with underrecruited Texan players. 

Minnesota has some great Division II teams. The Dakotas bring in a great deal of FCS-level talent from around the Great Plains. But doing it at every level? Texas stands alone. 

“Texas is football country,” Texas A&M-Commerce defensive back Alex Shillow said. “We come from a culture of knowing football our entire lives. No matter what division you play, we’re elite – D-I, D-II, D-III. Our teams can go and play teams from other states and dominate them.” 

That investment at the high school level manifests itself in many ways. Texas kids have athletic periods to work out during school hours, so they come to campus more physically prepared. Texas high schools have far more full-time coaches, so they come to campus with more skill development. And of course, many have been through the ringer in the most competitive state playoffs in the nation. 

Sam Houston quarterback Eric Schmid notably led The Woodlands to the Class 6A Division I state championship game in 2016. The criminally underrated Mascorro brothers, Trace and Ysidro, won a combined three state championships at the 2A and 3A level at Refugio. UMHB receiver K.J. Miller contributed to a pair of 4A state championships at West Orange-Stark. No one knows how to make it through a six-game single-elimination playoff quite like Texas high school football players. 

“You’re getting a high level of player that understands what it’s like to play in big ball games,” Keeler said of Texas high school recruits. “I think that gives us in Texas an advantage because you get a really high level player that has been coached probably the best of any player in the country.” 

As more colleges have started playing high-level college football – and as more out-of-state schools start to recruit Texas – there has been concern that the talent is getting spread too thin. But in a state as big as Texas, the small college programs have continued to grow by looking through every level of high school ball. 

“The state is overrecruited honestly, but the other piece of it is there are so many kids who are overlooked in some of the small towns across the state of Texas,” Bobeck said. “Some of the best kids that we had at Navarro were kids who were not recruited at all and came from small towns or whatever may be.” 

This is also manifesting itself through the huge number of people moving to the Texas metros. Estimates show that the state of Texas has grown by four million people over the past 10 years, making it one of the fastest-growing states in the country. 

Take Frisco for example. From 1902 to 2003, it was a one high school town featuring the Frisco Fighting Racoons. Since 2010 alone, the district has added seven high schools for a total of 12 expected by 2022. Schools that didn’t exist just a few years ago like Frisco Lone Star and Alvin Shadow Creek have developed into state title contenders. 

“Every so often, I’m looking up film of a high school and I have no idea where it is,” said Stephen F. Austin coach Colby Carthel, who coached Texas A&M-Commerce to the D-II national title. “I go look it up and this high school just opened this year. The population is booming in Texas so there’s just more and more talent.” 

RELATED: What does it take to win a small college national title? 

There’s no question, the pieces to win college football games at the highest level – from FBS to JUCO – reside in the state of Texas. Cisco Junior College came damn close to proving that again this year, finishing No. 3 nationally and just outside the national championship game following a perfect season. 

“It is special because you’re representing more than just yourself and more than just your school,” Carthel said. “You’re representing all those Texas high school coaches that take a lot of pride. They’ll say they don’t care about where their kid is going, but 99 percent of them love to see their kids stay home and play in the great state of Texas.” 

And at every level, the same existential question is the same: How can we keep Texas high school players home? There’s a very simple reason Texas has won a national championship at every level of NCAA ball except FBS since 2017. 

Texas small colleges are keeping Texas high school football players home. And when that happens, Texas high school football is an unbeatable advantage. 

“That’s what we need to do to be the next North Dakota State,” Keeler said. “That’s a long way away, but to be able to win another national championship, that’s what you have to do. You have to keep those guys who have FBS offers outside the state in the state.” 

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This story is part three of a three-part series on Texas small college football championships. Read the other two stories here: 

• Texas becomes first state to win every collegiate national title
• What does it take to win a small college national title?