Ranking ACC Football Programs As NFL Draft Factories
Which ACC football programs are the biggest NFL draft factories? Which ones crank out the most pro prospects, the best draft picks, and the bulk bodies for the big league?
Which ACC football programs are the biggest NFL draft factories? Which ones crank out the most pro prospects, the best draft picks, and the bulk bodies for the big league?
Which ACC football programs are the biggest NFL draft factories? Which ones crank out the most pro prospects, the best draft picks, and the bulk bodies for the big league?
So which ACC programs send the most and best players to the NFL?
14. Duke
Last Four Years: 4
Last Ten Years: 4
Obviously, the basketball program is a wee bit more of a draft factory than the football team with no one sent off to the NFL from 2004 to 2013. The two Blue Devils taken in the 2015 draft were the most selected in one year since 1996.
13. Pitt
Last Four Years: 4
Last Ten Years: 23
It’s been a bit light lately for a program used to cranking out high-level NFL talents like Aaron Donald, LeSean McCoy, Darrelle Revis and Larry Fitzgerald.
As bad as things have been recently, there’s still a tremendous recent tradition of sending wide receivers and tight ends to the next level, and the defensive backs and linemen have been okay, too. It’s a far cry from the old days when the Panthers had 24 players taken from 1981 to 1983, but head coach Pat Narduzzi should change that soon.
12. Wake Forest
Last Four Years: 7
Last Ten Years: 19
The Demon Deacons have been relatively decent at times when it comes to getting players drafted. Kevin Johnson going in the first round in 2015 was the biggest prospect going since Aaron Curry was taken fourth overall in 2009. For the most part, Wake Forest players are late round fliers, but at least the program is getting players drafted.
11. Syracuse
Last Four Years: 7
Last Ten Years: 19
Back in the late 1990s, Syracuse was able to send great player after great player into the NFL with Donovan McNabb and Marvin Harrison just a few of the first rounders. Over the last ten years, though, Justin Pugh in 2013 and Chandler Jones in 2012 were the only two Orange players taken in the first two rounds.
The NFL talent pipeline hasn’t totally dried up, but just 15 players have been drafted since 2006.
10. Boston College
Last Four Years: 8
Last Ten Years: 19
Boston College might not have the bulk prospects most teams do, but the ones they send to the NFL turn out to be relatively strong.
Luke Kuechly, Matt Ryan and B.J. Raji are the best of the recent lot, but the bust factor among the top guys has been relatively low recently, especially among the linemen.
9. Virginia
Last Four Years: 7
Last Ten Years: 24
You want to know why Virginia has struggled lately? Since 2009, just eight players have been selected. For a while, Virginia was loaded with NFL talent sending Heath Miller (2005), D’Brickashaw Ferguson (2006), Chris Long and Branden Albert (both in 2008) in the first round. Just six Cavaliers have been drafted in the last three years – seven were taken in the 2005 draft.
8. Georgia Tech
Last Four Years: 7
Last Ten Years: 24
Considering that Georgia Tech is a different sort of school and football program – in style, education, etc. – it’s been a strong run over the last decade.
Receiver-wise, the Yellow Jackets have been amazing at least getting players taken with Calvin Johnson, Demaryius Thomas, Stephen Hill, DeAndre Smelter and Darren Waller all drafted. The running backs? Even in this Paul Johnson attack – not so much.
But here’s the problem: there haven’t been enough high picks lately. Since 2002, just six players have been taken in the top two rounds.
7. North Carolina State
Last Four Years: 9
Last Ten Years: 25
The Wolfpack sent defensive backs to the NFL over a few years with three of the four draft picks coming from the secondary, but the best prospects overall came from all sides of the defense.
It’s been a while since Mario Williams, Many Lawson and John McCargo all went in the first round of the 2006 draft, and since 2006, only seven of the 25 players drafted came from the offensive side.
6. Virginia Tech
Last Four Years: 10
Last Ten Years: 39
Frank Beamer made Virginia Tech a factory for a while with eight players taken in 2002 and five in 2004 with DeAngelo Hall and Kevin Jones going in 2004. And then came 2006 with nine Hokies going.
Recently, though, just seven Virginia Tech players have been drafted in the last three years.
This isn’t the hot program it was in the post-Michael Vick era, but that’s where the hiring of Justin Fuente should change things up – at least that’s the hope.
5. North Carolina
Last Four Years: 12
Last Ten Years: 31
There weren’t any players drafted in 2015, but that’s about to change soon after going four straight years with at least one player taken in the first round.
Led by Robert Quinn, prospects for the defensive front seven have made the biggest impact, but the receivers have been rolling, too, with Hakeem Nicks, Greg Little, Brandon Tate, and tight end Eric Ebron at least getting paid as relatively high draft picks.
4. Louisville
Last Four Years: 15
Last Ten Years: 33
Bobby Petrino has the machine cranked back up after doing a great job in his first stint with the program. Last year ten Cardinals were taken, and there’s a lot more where that came from.
Three Cardinals were taken in the 2014 first round, and DeVante Parker was taken with the 14th overall pick last year. There was a dip for a little while, but the defensive backs have been rolling and the skill players are coming. Most of all, defensive front seven players have been taken on a regular basis, with DT Sheldon Rankins the next Cardinal up.
3. Clemson
Last Four Years: 18
Last Ten Years: 43
Always a killer when it comes to sending warm bodies to the big league, Dabo Swinney has rocked the recruiting trail coming up with more and more difference-makers – and a lot more to follow over the next few seasons.
More than anything else, Swinney can sell Clemson as the cool school for skill players with Sammy Watkins, DeAndre Hopkins, and soon, Deshaun Watson among the recent stars. With 12 players taken in the first two rounds over the last ten years, the football program is doing its job.
2. Miami
Last Four Years: 18
Last Ten Years: 48
It’s been an alright run of talent, but it’s nothing like between 2001 and 2003 when Hurricanes were taken in the first round. It’s Mark Richt’s job to keep the top talent at home and get everything rolling again, even if the standards are impossibly high.
Ereck Flowers and Phillip Dorsett went in the first round of the 2015 draft, but before that, 2008 was the last time a Miami player was taken that early. More and more players from the area are going elsewhere, and the program has dipped a bit, but if Richt can put up that mythical fence around the “State of Miami” again, it won’t take much to crank it all back up.
1. Florida State
Last Four Years: 33
Last Ten Years: 60
Many Seminoles have been wild disappointments at the next level, but overall, the pipeline of talent to the NFL has been staggering. Why did they win the national title a few years ago? Take a look at the last three drafts.
There was a little bit of a dip in the mid-to-late 2000s – at least by FSU’s standards – but it kicked back in big-time including a loaded 2015 with Jameis Winston and 11 Seminoles being taken. Out of all the players recently drafted, 13 have gone in the first two rounds over the last three seasons.
