SALT LAKE CITY — If there's one thing I've learned from this Dick's Sporting Good's commercial, it's that sports matter. I had no idea Americans were so apathetic toward sports until I first saw it on TV last year, so hats off to Dick's for having the courage to raise awareness on this subject. The war against sports may be an upward battle, but it's the only true course if we are to stay ahead of the Chinese athletically.

In the spirit of celebrating sports, I've researched the number of college football and basketball athletes each Utah high school has produced this decade. I've then ranked the top "football" and "basketball" schools in the state, based on how many Division I athletes each program has graduated since 2010.

Football

From 2010-2015, almost 180 local high school athletes were offered scholarships to play college football at the FBS level. Forty-six high schools were represented by at least one player over that span, yet the majority of athletes can be traced to a small grouping of elite football programs.

To keep things simple, only athletes offered college football scholarships while in high school are taken into consideration for our rankings (this eliminates walk-ons who later earn scholarships). Here's how the rankings shape up:

Most football alumni at FBS level (2010-2015)

1. Bingham (22)

2. Alta (13)

2. East (13)

4. Cottonwood (12)

4. Timpview (12)

6. Pleasant Grove (11)

7. Logan (8)

8. Brighton (7)

9. Hunter (6)

10. American Fork (5)

10. Highland (5)

10. Lone Peak (5)

10. Pine View (5)

Bingham reigns supreme as the state's deepest recruiting pool, producing enough FBS athletes over six years to field an entire offense and defense of former Miners. It's no surprise the program has been the No. 1 recruiting "arms dealer" for Utah State (seven players), BYU (six players) and Utah (four players) since 2010.

Bingham has also shown it's capable of both quality and quantity when it comes to producing football stars. The following list ranks the top 10 in-state recruits since 2010 according to 247Sports' Composite Ratings. Two Miners cracked the list.

Basketball

From 2010-15, close to four dozen Utah high school athletes were offered scholarships to play college basketball at a Division I school. Thirty-three high schools were represented by at least one player, yet the majority of athletes can be traced to a small grouping of elite basketball programs.

To keep things simple, only athletes offered college basketball scholarships while in high school are taken into consideration in our rankings (this eliminates walk-ons who later earn scholarships). Here's how the rankings shape up:

Most basketball alumni at Division I level (2010-2015)

1. Lone Peak (6)

2. American Fork (5)

3. Brighton (3)

3. Orem (3)

5. Bountiful (2)

5. East (2)

5. Olympus (2)

5. Pleasant Grove (2)

5. Sky View (2)

5. West (2)

Former Fresno State/BYU-Hawaii forward Bracken Funk remains the only Lone Peak star Dave Rose and the Cougars haven't signed this decade. And if Nate Austin, Tyler Haws, Nick Emery, Eric Mika and T.J. Haws weren't enough of a Knight fix, the Cougars hired long-time Lone Peak head coach Quincy Lewis as an assistant in April.

Much like Bingham football, Lone Peak basketball also flexes its muscles when ranking the state's top-10 basketball recruits according to 247Sports' Composite Ratings.

Only a handful of Utah high schools crack the top 10 lists for football and basketball athlete production. Those programs demonstrating duel-sport success include: East (T-2nd football, T-5th basketball), Lone Peak (T-10th football, No. 1 basketball), Pleasant Grove (No. 6 football, T-5th basketball), Brighton (No. 8 football, T-3rd basketball) and American Fork (T-10th football, No. 2 basketball). Alex Clark is a sports writing intern for KSL.com. He currently studies digital journalism at BYU. Email: alclark35@gmail.com Twitter: alclark35

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