The Tampa Bay area has plenty of premier pass-catching targets in the Class of 2021. Five players — Armwood’s Charles Montgomery, Bloomingdale’s Agiye Hall, Jefferson’s Gage Wilcox, Plant City’s Mario Williams and Seffner Christian’s Mike Trigg — are all ranked among the top 15 nationally at their position. 

They each have offers from every Division I-A program in the state. How many of those standouts end up staying in Florida? That depends on their position, at least according to the most recent trends. 

Hall and Williams (above), both receivers, are the top overall rated players nationally among this year’s stellar group of area recruits. Yet when it came time to make their college decisions, they went elsewhere.

In April, Hall committed to Alabama. Last week, Williams picked Oklahoma.

RELATED: Plant City’s Mario Williams picks Oklahoma

RELATED: Agiye Hall picks Alabama

Their choices should not come as much of a surprise. After all, receivers want to play in pass-happy offenses. And only one Division I-A program in the state (UCF) has ranked among the top 10 nationally in passing yards in the past 10 years.

Playing in a high-octane passing offense also allows receivers to put up lofty numbers that usually help them move near the top of the NFL Draft board.

The state falls short in that category, too. No receiver from a Division I-A college in Florida has been selected in the first round in the past five years.

Locally, there have been two receivers selected in the first round: Plant’s Mike Williams (10th overall to Lions in 2005) and Berkeley Prep’s Nelson Agholor (20th overall to Eagles in 2015). Both played in college at Southern California.

All those factors are leading to top-end receivers in the area finding college homes outside the state. Hall and Williams just continued the trend. Of the 10 area receivers ranked among the top 100 nationally at their position in 247 Sports composite list the past five recruiting classes, seven committed to non-state schools.

It’s not just with receivers. 247 Sports analyzed where the top 100 overall prospects in the state went in the last 15 years. From 2005-08, 66 percent of Florida’s top 100 players stayed in the state. From 2017-20, that number dropped to 44 percent.

There are athletes everywhere in the state but only a select few are categorized that way when it comes to recruiting. These are the multidimensional forces who can make big plays in a variety of ways.

Only three locals have been ranked among the top 100 athletes in the nation the past five years. Two among that group left the state. This past weekend, Armwood’s Charles Montgomery (above) bucked the trend by committing to Florida.

RELATED: Armwood’s Charles Montgomery commits to Florida

If there is one position where the majority of top-ranked locals remain in the state, it is tight end. In February, Jefferson’s Gage Wilcox committed to the Gators, becoming the fourth area player ranked among the top 100 nationally in the past five years to stay in Florida.

RELATED: Local list of 2021 football commits

The reasons vary for why they wanted to stay. Jesuit’s Jonathan Odom, the son of former Florida and Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive lineman Jason Odom, followed the family path by committing to the Gators in the last recruiting cycle.

Jonathan’s former teammate, Larry Hodges (top featured photo/ credit: Miami Athletics), picked Miami because of the school’s reputation for producing NFL players at tight end.

And the list of locals remaining in the state could grow. Seffner Christian’s Mike Trigg, ranked fifth nationally among tight ends in the Class of 2021, is leaning toward committing to FSU.