On April 30th, 2015, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will select Jameis Winston as the first overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft, bringing FSU’s number of NFL draft pics in the past decade up to 54 (with 14 first rounders). Florida State University Football is expected to see FIVE players go in the first round of the 2015 NFL Draft, bumping that number up to 59 NFL players drafted in the past decade, including 18 first round draft picks. Even so, that will only land FSU at #3 on the list of the 20 schools who have churned out the most NFL draft picks in the past decade, behind LSU at #2 (63), and the University of Southern California at #1 (69).
After the Pats won the Super Bowl all the attention shifted to ‘Free Agency’, but now that the 2015 NFL Draft is approaching all eyes are on who’s going where. For the most part we know which of the top players are going where already, based on mock drafts such as this one. But in order to keep that content cycle rolling, College Football 24/7 writer Mike Huguenin poured over the data and put together this ranking of the ‘Most NFL Draft Picks By School’ in the past decade. As an FSU alum I’m not shocked to see that we’re at the top, and similarly I’m pleased to see that the SEC doesn’t account for even half of the top 10 schools (only 4 of the top 10).
Here are the 20 schools with the most NFL draft pics in the past decade (CLICK HERE for in-depth information on those draft picks):
1. USC
Total draftees: 69.
First-rounders: 14.
2. LSU
Total draftees: 63.
First-rounders: 14.
3. Oklahoma
Total draftees: 57.
First-rounders: 9.
4. Georgia
Total draftees: 56.
First-rounders: 7.
5. Florida State
Total draftees: 54.
First-rounders: 13.
6. (tie) Alabama
Total draftees: 53.
First-rounders: 16.
6. (tie) Ohio State
Total draftees: 53.
First-rounders: 13.
8. Miami
Total draftees: 46.
First-rounders: 6.
9. Florida
Total draftees: 45.
First-rounders: 11.
10. Wisconsin
Total draftees: 42.
First-rounders: 6.
11. (tie) Clemson
Total draftees: 41.
First-rounders: 5.
11. (tie) Texas
Total draftees: 41.
First-rounders: 9.
13. (tie) California
Total draftees: 40.
First-rounders: 6.
13. (tie) Notre Dame
Total draftees: 40.
First-rounders: 5.
13. (tie) Virginia Tech
Total draftees: 40.
First-rounders: 3.
16. Iowa
Total draftees: 39.
First-rounders: 4.
17. Nebraska
Total draftees: 37.
First-rounders: 4.
18. Penn State
Total draftees: 36.
First-rounders: 4.
19. Oregon
Total draftees: 35.
First-rounders: 4.
20. (tie) Auburn
Total draftees: 34.
First-rounders: 9.
20. (tie) Michigan
Total draftees: 34.
First-rounders: 5.
20. (tie) North Carolina
Total draftees: 34.
First-rounders: 7.
20. (tie) South Carolina
Total draftees: 34.
First-rounders: 5.
20. (tie) Tennessee
Total draftees: 34.
First-rounders: 9.
Takeaways:
How is Alabama not #1? I get that USC was an absolute powerhouse a decade ago, but they’ve done NOTHING in the past few years.
Three schools from the state of Florida. Florida is the greatest football state in the USA. FSU OWNS the state of Florida.
There are 5 schools from the ACC in the top 20. ESPN so desperately wants you to believe that ACC is garbage, but the numbers speak for themselves: FSU, Miami, Clemson, North Carolina, and Virginia Tech are all churning out NFL talent at an extremely high rate. The SEC has 7 schools in the top 20, but we all know that the SEC is the best conference. Nobody is claiming that over the past decade the SEC isn’t the best conference, I’m merely claiming that the ACC is a lot better than ESPN gives them credit for.
Oregon wants us all to think they’re here to stay, but they’re obviously still pretenders. They barely made the ‘top 20’, and yet they think their program should be taken seriously? The entire program is laughable (yes, I’m still munching on sour grapes from that ass whooping they gave the ‘Noles in the playoff).
For information on the school’s past draft pics, and their players that are expected to be drafted this year, CLICK HERE to go to NFL.com