There are about 1.1 million high school football players in the U.S. and only 90,000 college football players (source). We're not mathematicians (actually, some of us are), but we're pretty sure 1.1 million is a very large number and 90,000 is a lot smaller than 1.1 million.

This makes college football among the most competitive sports for high school athletes hoping to make the jump.

The good news, however, is that there are more scholarship opportunities available for football than any other sport. By a long shot. Every football team will average somewhere around 100 to 120 players, and football is a head-count sport. This means that each football program has a set number of full scholarships it can award athletes to fill its roster. Now, that's a lot of scholarships.

Division-I FBS teams have 85 scholarships to award, while Division-I FCS teams have 63. Division-II teams are permitted as many as 36 scholarships, NAIA schools have 24, and NJCAA programs have 85. Division-III and Ivy League schools don't offer athletic scholarships, though (source).

Where are we going with all of this? For the most part, if you make the team, you'll get a scholarship. If you want to walk on to a team, you'll have to work twice as hard.

If all goes well, you'll be dancing with the rest of the team on a full ride to college football glory. Or at least to your degree.