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The argument over which conference is the best in college football is usually ended with these two indisputable facts: Year after year, no conference gets more 4- and 5-star recruits, and no conference has more players selected in the NFL Draft, than the SEC.
Since the start of the 2000 NFL Draft, nearly 900 players (863) from the 14 schools that currently compete in the SEC have been selected in the draft. That’s almost 20 percent of the draft coming from current SEC teams (18.8 percent).
In addition, the SEC has had six No. 1 overall draft picks since 2000. No other conference even has five over that span.
Just this past draft alone, the conference led the way for the 11th consecutive year with 53 players selected, including a record 21 in the first two rounds.
But which schools excel in which positions when it comes to having players selected? As you might expect, the dominance is on the defensive side of the ball.
[table “” not found /]LSU (20) and Alabama (19) have combined for 39 draft picks from the defensive back position. Add in South Carolina’s 10 defensive backs selected and you have almost 50 defensive backs drafted over the last 18 years from just three schools. That means since 2000, an average of nearly three defensive backs are selected in the NFL draft from just these three schools.
You want linebackers? Go to Georgia and Tennessee, which combined have had 31 linebackers selected since 2000.
Missouri has had nine defensive ends drafted since 2000, while Auburn has had eight defensive tackles.
Here’s a breakdown of each team’s draft history since 2000, according to pro-football-reference.com’s database:
Alabama
Total players drafted: 96
First-round selections: 24
Most frequent position: Defensive back (19)
Best at position: Landon Collins, Dre Kirkpatrick
Arkansas
Total players drafted: 58
First-round selections: 6
Most frequent position: Wide receiver, defensive end (8 each)
Best at position: Trey Flowers (DE), Greg Childs (WR)
Auburn
Total players drafted: 60
First-round selections: 10
Most frequent position: Defensive tackle (8)
Best at position: Nick Fairley, Angelo Blackson
Florida
Total players drafted: 100
First-round selections: 21
Most frequent position: Wide receiver (14)
Best at position: Percy Harvin, Jabar Gaffney, Taylor Jacobs
Georgia
Total players drafted: 96
First-round selections: 15
Most frequent position: Linebacker (19)
Best at position: David Pollack, Thomas Davis, Justin Houston
Kentucky
Total players drafted: 26
First-round selections: 2
Most frequent position: Wide receiver (5)
Best at position: Randall Cobb, Stevie Johnson, Keenan Burton
LSU
Total players drafted: 102
First-round selections: 18
Most frequent position: Defensive back (20)
Best at position: Patrick Peterson, Tyrann Mathieu
Mississippi State
Total players drafted: 39
First-round selections: 2
Most frequent position: Defensive end, defensive back, linebacker (6 each)
Best at position: Pernell McPhee (DE), Fred Smoot (DB), Benardrick McKinney (LB)
Missouri
Total players drafted: 38
First-round selections: 9
Most frequent position: Defensive end (9)
Best at position: Kony Ealy, Michael Sam, Aldon Smith
Ole Miss
Total players drafted: 38
First-round selections: 10
Most frequent position: Offensive tackle, defensive back (7 each)
Best at position: Michael Oher (OT), Ken Lucas (DB)
South Carolina
Total players drafted: 54
First-round selections: 7
Most frequent position: Defensive back (10)
Best at position: D.J. Swearinger, Stephon Gilmore, Chris Culliver
Tennessee Volunteers
Total players drafted: 77
First-round selections: 15
Most frequent position: Linebacker (12)
Best at position: Kevin Burnett, Jerod Mayo
Texas A&M
Total players drafted: 55
First-round selections: 11
Most frequent position: Wide receiver (10)
Best at position: Mike Evans
Vanderbilt
Total players drafted: 24
First-round selections: 2
Most frequent position: Linebacker (6)
Best at position: Zach Cunningham, Jamie Winborn
Michael covers SEC football for Saturday Down South.
