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With final wraps on the 2024 NFL Draft, it's time to step back and see the big picture. A season after Michigan won the College Football Playoff, the Wolverines won another victory. UM's 13 players drafted led college football. That said, the Big Ten didn't catch up with the dominance of the SEC in conference standings. Here's the story from the 2024 NFL Draft.
2024 NFL Draft picks by college team
13: Michigan
11: Texas
10: Alabama, Florida State, Washington
8: Oregon, Georgia, Penn State
7: Notre Dame, USC
5: Utah, Auburn
4: Illinois, Iowa, Louisville, Kentucky, Ohio State, Miami (Florida), South Carolina, Texas A&M
3: Arizona, Duke, Kansas State, Mississippi State, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Oregon State, Pittsburgh, TCU, Tennessee, Wake Forest, Washington State
2: Arkansas, Boston College, Kansas, Marshall, Maryland, NC State, Purdue, South Dakota State (FCS!?!), Texas Tech, Troy, Tulane, UCF, UCLA, UTEP, Wisconsin
So what stands out about the team standings? Michigan and Texas being the top two isn't surprising. That's two-fourths of the college football playoff. Alabama and Washington complete the field leaving four-fifths of the top five in NFL Draft picks constituting the CFP field.
Who overachieved in 2023? Ole Miss sent only three players to the draft, the lowest of any AP top-ten team. Ohio State sent only four, but the Buckeyes returned an easily equal number of players who certainly would have been draft picks had they chosen to enter the NFL. No. 16 Oklahoma State didn't have a single draft pick, which is also the highest rank for any team with zero picks.
Which teams underachieved? USC tied for ninth with seven draft picks, but finished the year outside of the AP top 25. Auburn had five draft picks, which tied for 14th among colleges but finished not only outside the AP top 25 but not receiving any votes in the poll.
2024 NFL Draft picks by conference
59: SEC
43: Pac-12
42: Big Ten
41: ACC
31: Big 12
8: Independent
6: Sun Belt
5: AAC
3: Conference USA
2: Mountain West, MAC
Not a big surprise here, either. For the 18th season in a row, the SEC produced the most NFL Draft picks. The fact that the Pac-12, Big Ten and ACC were essentially interchangeable in the second through fourth slots might be a bit more surprising.
Of course, the ramifications of realignment are massive. The Pac-12's final year in an intact state was an impressive one in terms of draft prospects. The Big 12 was already behind the other leagues, but with Texas (11 picks, second overall) heading off with Oklahoma, that's a massive loss.
What college team has the most NFL players ever?
Michigan's 13 NFL draft picks in a season is impressive, but it's not the record. In fact, Michigan is fourth on that all-time list.
The top college team ever for NFL Draft picks was the 2022 Georgia Bulldogs with 15 picks, including overall No. 1 Travon Walker. Second place is a tie of two teams that produced 14 picks, the 2004 Ohio State Buckeyes and the 2020 LSU Tigers. LSU was led by No. 1 overall pick Joe Burrow, while Ohio State's top pick in 2004 was defensive end Will Smith, who went 18th.
How impressive was Michigan's draft class? Will this group be the best pros in the history of a single school's draft class? We'd love to hear your thoughts below in our comments section!
