What have been the greatest and most productive states for recruiting in Notre Dame's football history? Our countdown from 50 to 1 is based on these criteria:

• Quantity from the state who have seen game action at Notre Dame.

• Quality and depth of athletes from the state throughout history.

• Impact made on the program in the past, present and how it's on the rise or decline in the future.

With our final 20, we have now reached a point where at least 10 major contributors, record setters or luminary-like figures can be counted from each state. Eventually, the top states will have an all-time team at every position.

At No. 19 is Louisiana.

Players Who Have Seen Action At Notre Dame: 29

First To Play: Fullback/halfback Edward Prudhomme (Bermuda) was on the original team in 1887 and then became the first two-time captain in the program's history during the 1888 and 1889 seasons.

Most Recent To Sign Scholarship: Defensive lineman Jerry Tillery (Shreveport) came aboard this winter as an early enrollee and positioned himself during the spring to share time with senior Jarrion Jones, recovering from Lisfranc surgery, at nose guard/tackle.

Notable: Since the turn of the century, the only Louisiana player prior to Tillery to enroll and then see action for the Irish was 2004-05 walk-on receiver Brandon Harris (New Orleans). Until Tillery's arrival, cornerback Albert Poree (New Orleans) had been the most recent native of The Pelican State to ink a scholarship with Notre Dame, in 1999, but he transferred after his freshman year to Georgia Tech. The year prior, the Irish signed quarterback Arnaz Battle (Shreveport), who would move to wideout, and defensive back Donald Dykes (Hammond).

1. Joe Heap (Abita Springs, 1952-54) — Game-breaking speedster joins 1990 Heisman runner-up Raghib "Rocket" Ismail as the only two Fighting Irish players to eclipse 1,000 yards rushing (1,447, 14 TDs) and 1,000 yards receiving (1,137 and two scores) during a three-year varsity career. Theo Riddick did it too in 2012, but that was after four seasons. Heap also had two punt returns for scores and intercepted four passes.

The lone three-time first-team Academic All-American at Notre Dame, Heap saw all three of his Irish teams finish no lower than No. 4 in the final AP poll before he was the No. 8 overall pick in the 1955 NFL Draft.

2. Michael Stonebreaker (River Ridge, 1986, 1988, 1990) — Two-time consensus All-America linebacker was second in tackles with 104 for the 1988 national champs and first in 1990 (95). He recorded 220 career tackles, five sacks, five interceptions (one for a score), broke up eight passes and caused four fumbles.

3. Al Ecuyer (New Orleans, 1956-58) — Excelled as a three-year starting guard on offense and on defense. He tied for the team lead in tackles (88) on the 1957 team that finished No. 10 in the AP poll, and paced that category again the next season (78). Ecuyer earned consensus All-America notice as a junior and first-team UP and Sporting News as a co-captain in 1958.

4. Jerry Petitbon (New Orleans, 1949-51) — A rare sophomore starter (at safety) for head coach Frank Leahy's 1949 national champions, Petitbon excelled on offense and defense each of his last two seasons while totaling 1,432 all-purpose yards and 10 TDs. After serving in the Korean War, he played several years in the pros, highlighted by the 1955 NFL Championship while at Cleveland.

5. Arnaz Battle (Shreveport, 1998-2002) — The starting quarterback before getting injured in 2000, Battle's 58 receptions for the 10-3 team in 2002 were the most in one season at Notre Dame in 32 years. His nine-year NFL career is tied for the longest of any Irish player from Louisiana with our next person.

6. Cedric Figaro (Lafayette, 1984-87) — Recorded 204 career tackles while starting 29 times as an outside linebacker. The Football Newsrecognized him as a third-team All-American each of his last two seasons.

7. Paul Limont (New Orleans, 1942-43, 1946) — A starting end both ways on the 1943 national champs that defeated the teams that finished Nos. 2-3-4-9-11-13, Limont couldn't break the two-deep on the supremely talented Notre Dame teams after he returned from World War II service.

8. Brock Williams (Hammond, 1997-98, 2000) — Starting cornerback on the 9-3 teams in both 1998 and 2000, he developed into a fourth-round draft pick and won a Super Bowl ring at New England in 2002 during his five-year pro career.

9. Benny Guilbeaux (Opelousas, 1995-98) — Now the athletics director and head football coach at Donaldson High in Opelousas, the safety Guilbeaux led the Irish in interceptions in 1996 and 1997, four apiece, and recorded 173 career tackles.

10. Norb Roy (Baton Rouge, 1959-61) — A co-captain his senior year with Nick Buoniconti, Roy started at right guard on offense and also started on defense.

Honorable mention: Joining Stonebreaker in head coach Lou Holtz's first recruiting class was New Orleans native Rod West (1986-89), whose Brother Martin High School teammate Warde Manuel received much more ink but opted for Michigan. West became a strong niche player as a blocking tight end and in 1996 became the youngest person and first African-American to be voted president of Notre Dame's National Alumni Board. He has been the Chief Administrative Officer and Executive Vice President at New Orleans' Entergy Corporation since June 7, 2010. Meanwhile, Manuel is the director of athletics at UConn.

Along with Georgia, this state has been targeted by the Irish staff as one where Notre Dame needs to make more inroads in the future, although the challenge will always be lofty to pry away elite prospects from in-state power LSU, or other top schools in the SEC.

Tillery is a good start for the 2015 cycle — but even with him there were constant rumors, innuendo or paranoia that LSU was a threat to flip him to its side. Defensive end Bo Wallace (New Orleans) also signed this February, but a mutual understanding and agreement was reached later between him and Notre Dame that the fit didn't quite mesh, and he is now at Arizona State

This state was productive for the Irish in the 1990s because the Tigers were struggling on the field and Notre Dame 1994-96 offensive coordinator Dave Roberts knew the area well after having been the head coach at Northeast Louisana from 1989-93, where he was 37-20-2.

Nothing will come easy in the Bayou, but at least Tillery broke the drought. Among the prospects Notre Dame has seriously looked at this year are defensive backs Kristian Fulton (Metairie) and Cameron Lewis (Monroe), the latter committed to LSU, and 253-pound "athlete" Devin White (Springhill).