Massachusetts: 100+ Colleges Produce Hockey Stars and Best QB You’ve Never Heard Of

Band manager Ian Faith informs the members of Spinal Tap,  “The Boston gig has been cancelled.” Singer David St. Hubbins asks, “What?” “Yeah,” Faith explains, “I wouldn’t worry about it though, it’s not a big college town.”

One of the funniest scenes in This Is Spinal Tap witnesses Ian covering himself by pretending he does not know there are more than 100 colleges in Boston. Granted, many more focus on academics than athletics.

We ran the Value Add Sports calculations on all returning athletes in the state and emailed sports writers and other experts in the state to help rank the 25 state players to watch on a list.

Hockey dominates the state, but even with three great players going high in the NHL draft the best athlete remaining is UMass quarterback Blake Frohnapfel, who USA Today calls the best quarterback you’ve never heard of. As the newspaper notes, he passed for 600 yards in a loss, is a dominant 6-foot-6 basketball player on the court, and boasts a 3.8 en route to his masters.

Either Boston University or Boston College has been in the Frozen Four nine of the last 10 years, and UMass-Lowell and Harvard have also been in the hockey sweet 16 during the past two seasons. In fact, BU fell one goal short of the title against Providence this year and against the eventual champion in the semifinal last year.

While Boston College and Massachusetts native Doug Flutie had the greatest pass in sports history, there is no doubt the never-defeated Rocky Marciano is the greatest athlete ever from the state according to the December 23, 2012, Bleacher Report.

It looks like an uphill battle for the Eagles to compete in the expanded ACC in football or basketball. Harvard basketball only plays on Friday and Saturday nights to avoid interfering with their studies.

Boston University’s Jack Eichel was by far the best athlete in the state before going 2nd in the NHL draft. Harvard’s Jimmy Vesey went 66th in the draft and BU’s Matt Grzelcyk 85th.

1. Blake Frohnapfel, Massachusetts Minutemen, Foot, QB
2. Ryan Anderson, Boston College, Basket, PF
3. Omari Spellman, Springfield, MA Macduffie School, Basketball, F
4. Hannah Lopiccolo, Northeastern, Soccer, Midfielder
5. Alex Carpenter, Boston College, Women’s Hockey
6. Steven Daniels, Boston College Eagles, Foot, LB
7. Donte Clark, Massachusetts, Basket, SF
8. Kayla Cappuzzo, Northeastern, Soccer, Forward
9. Aly Spencer, Holy Cross, Soccer, Forward
10. Dani Stollar, Harvard, Soccer, Midfielder
11. Mike Strizak, Boston College Eagles, Foot, LB
12. David Walker, Northeastern, Basket, SG
13. Tom Purnell, Harvard, Track/Field, 5,000m Run
14. Kendall Coyne, Northeastern University, Women’s Hockey
15. Kevin Kavalec, Boston College Eagles, Foot, DE
16. Allyson Swaby, Boston College, Soccer, Defender
17. Nikia Smith, Northwestern, Soccer, Defender
18. Kevin Roy, Northeastern University, Hockey
19. Jamie Murray, Babson College, Hockey
20. Mike Vollmin, Babson College, Hockey
21. Cedric Hankerson, Boston University, Basket, SF
22. Wenyen Gabriel, MA Wilbraham And Monson Academy, Basketball, F
23. Alex Larson, Nichols College, Hockey
24. Jahad Thomas, UMass Lowell, Basket, PF;
25. Corbin Miller, Harvard, Basket, SG