JUCO Football Teams: Increase Your Athletic and Academic Skill Level

Oftentimes, football players opt to compete on a junior college football programs (also referred to as JUCO football teams) after their senior year in high school. In fact, many junior colleges are feeder programs for powerhouse D1 college football teams.

For many athletes, junior college gives them an opportunity to improve their GPA and knock out some general education requirements. It also gives athletes some time to develop physically and get experience competing against older, more challenging football players. For athletes who aren’t sure what they’d like to major in or don’t have the grades in high school, this is a great way to keep playing football while moving academics forward.

Make no mistake, junior college football teams compete at an extremely high level! Competing at a junior college gives athletes an opportunity to get two more years of experience playing against college-level athletes, which can help them prepare for the rigors of four-year collegiate football.

Best junior colleges for football

Many different websites and organization create rankings for JUCO football teams. The NJCAA, the governing body for JUCO football, creates its rankings each year based on votes cast by junior college coaches. The votes are translated into points, and the more points a team has, the higher up on the rankings they are. Currently, the top 10 teams in the junior college football rankings are:

1. East Mississippi
2. Iowa Western
3. Arizona Western
4. Snow
5. Independence
6. Trinity Valley
7. Northwest Mississippi
8. Northeastern Oklahoma A&M
9. Jones County
10. Itawamba

Other websites will also create their own junior college football rankings, but the top schools typically align from list to list.

How many JUCO football teams are there? 

There are 65 JUCO football teams in the United States. Teams are classified into the following JUCO football conferences: Independent, Iowa Community College Athletic Conference, Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference, Minnesota Athletic Conference, Mississippi Association of Junior & Community Colleges, Northeast Football Conference, Southwest Junior College Football Conference and Western States Football League. To start exploring the wealth of junior colleges across the country, use the following list of junior colleges with football teams. Search by state, conference or school name.