The 9 Schools That Have Produced The Most NFL Draft Picks

Virtually every NFL player ended up in the league after showing what they were made of at the college level, and it goes without saying guys who want to make the leap benefit from paying their dues at a school with a history of consistently producing pro-caliber talent.

 

It’s been close to 90 years since the first NFL Draft was held, and it’s evolved a bit since then when you consider only 90 guys were up for grabs during the inaugural event (a grand total of 256 were selected in 2024).

Being drafted doesn’t guarantee you’ll end up playing a snap in the NFL, but the numbers compiled by Draft History concerning the schools with the most players who’ve been scooped up by a team serve as the most accessible metric when it comes to determining which programs have pumped out the most pros over the decades as of the 2024 season.

Notre Dame—532

Notre Dame narrowly leads the pack on this front and will probably end up increasing its lead based on the number of players who are poised to declare for the NFL Draft in the wake of the national championship.

Five members of the Fighting Irish have been selected with the first overall pick (although they haven’t checked that box since the Bills took DT Walt Patulski at that spot all the way back in 1972), and it seems like there’s a chance the team breaks the school record it set when 10 players were selected in 1994 when the event rolls around in 2025.

Joe Montana is probably the best NFL player to come out of South Bend, but the school has produced a grand total of 14 guys who’ve been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which makes them tied for the most with…

USC—530

USC comes in at a very close second when you consider it only trails Notre Dame by a couple of players, and it set the record for the most to be selected with the first pick when Caleb Williams became the sixth person to earn that distinction in 2024.

The Trojans have had 11 players selected in the same draft on two occasions (2006 and 2009), and Ronnie Lott, Marcus Allen, and Troy Polamalu stand out on the list of the 14 guys who’ve also been immortalized in Canton when everything was said and done.

At least one USC player has been selected in the draft since 1939, and Michigan is the only other school that can brag about a streak that’s poised to grow to 86 years in 2025.

Ohio State—489

There’s a comparatively large gap between the first two schools on this list and the one that earns the bronze, although Ohio State is still doing pretty well for itself thanks in no small part to the more than 160 players who’ve been selected since the start of the new millennium.

In 2004, the Buckeyes set the record for the most players selected in a single draft with 14 (LSU tied that total in 2020) before it was broken by a school we’ll get to in a bit.

Ohio State is tied for fourth when it comes to the most Hall of Famers (Pitt is somewhat surprisingly the other school with the same number) with 11 NFL legends including Eddie George, Cris Carter, and Orlando Pace.

Oklahoma—417

Notre Dame, Georgia, and Oklahoma were tied with USC for the most players selected at No. 1 before Williams gave the Trojans the lead; the Sooners joined the club when Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray went there back-to-back in 2018 and 2019.

In 2005, Oklahoma set a school record when 11 players were selected in the draft, but there are only five former Sooners who ended up in the Hall of Fame—none more famous than Troy Aikman.

Michigan—415

There were two schools that were essentially neck-and-neck on this list heading into the event in 2024, but Michigan took the lead with the 13 guys who heard their names called in the wake of their national championship win (breaking the school record of 11 that was previously set in 2017).

The Wolverines have only produced two players who were selected with the first overall pick (Tom Harmon in 1941 and Jake Long in 2008).

However, they’ve fared a bit better on the Hall of Fame front with 11 guys including Charles Woodson and Ty Law—and Michigan will see that number rise to an even dozen when Tom Brady is inevitably inducted in 2028.

Alabama—411

Alabama fell to sixth place after it “only” had 10 players drafted in 2024, which was good enough four third behind Michigan and Texas (11) but a couple short of the school record of 12 that was set in 2018.

Bryce Young became just the second member of the Crimson Tide to be picked first overall when the Panthers drafted him in 2023 (QB Harry Gilmer was the first in 1948), and Joe Namath, Bart Starr, and Derrick Thomas highlight the list of the eight Hall of Famers they’ve had so far.

Penn State—389

Two of the close to 400 Penn State players who’ve been drafted were selected with the first pick: Ki-Jana Carter in 1995 and Courtney Brown in 2000 (the Nittany Lions also set a school record when 10 players were tapped a year after Carter made the leap).

Six players who spent time in Happy Valley have made it to the Hall of Fame, and there’s not a single one who’s more beloved in Pennsylvania than Franco Harris.

LSU—381

As I mentioned before, LSU tied Ohio State for the most players selected in the same draft in 2020 until the next (and final) school on this list managed to show them up a couple of years later.

Nearly 50 years elapsed between the first and second time an LSU player was selected at No. 1, as Billy Cannon became the first in 1960 before Jamarcus Russell ended the drought in 2007. The latter obviously did not do very well as a quarterback in the NFL, but Joe Burrow has fared a bit better since the duo became a trio in 2020.

There’s still a long way to go, but it does seem like there’s a chance the Bengals QB could end up joining the six former Tigers who’ve ended up in Canton.

Georgia—379

No team has had more players selected in the same draft than Georgia, which surpassed Ohio State and LSU in 2022 with a class led by Travon Walker—the fifth member of the Bulldogs to go first overall.

Georgia is lacking more than you might expect on the Hall of Fame front based on the program’s pedigree, as Champ Bailey, Terrell Davis, Richard Seymour, Fran Tarkenton, and Charley Trippi comprised the quintet that’s earned that honor.