Moderators CJ Vogel Posted March 6 Moderators Share Posted March 6 Following the impressive showings by AD Mitchell and Xavier in Indianapolis for the NFL Combine, the most recent Mock Drafts from the top NFL Draft experts have the resulted in three Longhorns going in the first round. NFL.com's Lance Zierlein #13 Las Vegas selects Byron Murphy #28 Philadelphia selects AD Mitchell #32 Kansas City selects Xavier Worthy The Athletic's Dane Burgler #18 Cincinnati selects Byron Murphy #24 Buffalo selects AD Mitchell #32 Kansas City selects Xavier Worthy As a result, this got me thinking a good bit – something that does not happen all too often. When was the last time Texas had three first round draft picks? Well, the answer to that is 1980 – #2 Johnny 'Lam' Jones, #17 Johnnie Johnson and #24 Derrick Hatchett. It was surprising. Texas has had first round success under Mack Brown with four straight years of two first round picks, but never finding a third out of that group. From 2004-2007, Texas saw two players get selected in the first round in four consecutive years, though again, it did not meet the criteria for my research here. We have seen in the last decade or so Alabama, Georgia and Ohio State have set record after record with players selected, first rounders and consecutive draft accomplishment. I should tip my cap to LSU and their historic first round as well here. It really could not be that common throughout all of college football right? Well, to my surprise, out of the 68 power four programs, 33 have seen a trio of players selected in the first round (48.5%). Of those 33 programs, 26 have experienced more recently than Texas. Schools with 3+ First Rounders in a Single Draft By Conference ACC: 8/18 (44.4%) B1G: 11/18 (61.1%) Big 12: 3/16 (18.8%) SEC: 11/16 (68.8%) Then, my mind really began wandering into the realm of which power five program has the most drafts of three (or more) players drafted in the first round. Number of Drafts With 3+ First Rounders (most recent) 12 – Ohio State (2023) 11 – Alabama (2023) 9 – USC (2009) 8 – Notre Dame (1994) 6 – Miami (2007) 5 – FSU (2013) 4 – Oklahoma (2010 – had four) 3 – Nebraska (1972) 3 – LSU (2020) 3 – Georgia (2023) 2 – Six Schools 1 – 17 schools *** A handful of teams have had four players in one draft, only four have eclipsed five (LSU, Miami, Georgia and Alabama) and the record sits at six with Miami and Alabama there. It is an interesting conversation. Notre Dame and Nebraska have put players in the league, but it has been a long time since their last three-player showing in the first round. *** A few more surprises: Oregon has never done it. TCU did it in 1939, so take that for what it is worth. Only Oklahoma (2010) and Michigan State (1967) had three selections in the first five picks of a draft. Clemson has only accomplished this feat once. Georgia sits at three, but two of those come in the last two years. A current Big 12 school has not done this since 1984 when Steve Young was the first off the board for BYU. Aside from Ohio State, an original B1G school (not including USC or UW) has not accomplished this since Penn State in 2003. Eight SEC schools have had drafts since 2010 with three players in the first round. Michigan has only done this twice. Miami had 19 first rounders from 2001-2004, each hit 3+ per draft. *** It was a really fun deep dive. Attached in the comments will be a screenshot of the data compiled from this rabbit hole. Hope you all enjoyed it. Every time I say hello to Bugs Bunny down these research expeditions I end up with wild and wacky takeaways. Let me know what you think and if there was anything that stood out to you. View full news 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators CJ Vogel Posted March 6 Author Moderators Share Posted March 6 The players shown are from the most recent draft that each school has had three players selected in R1. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators CJ Vogel Posted March 6 Author Moderators Share Posted March 6 Programs that have never had three or more first rounders in a single draft. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horns96 Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 Impressive work! Rod B will love this! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shane Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 20 minutes ago, horns96 said: Impressive work! Rod B will love this! I agree with you 💯 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hookem777 Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 Great rabbit hole CJ! Really surprised to see SMU not having one back during the early 80s. What website did you use for this rabbit hole, would like to take a look at it myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators CJ Vogel Posted March 7 Author Moderators Share Posted March 7 58 minutes ago, Hookem777 said: Great rabbit hole CJ! Really surprised to see SMU not having one back during the early 80s. What website did you use for this rabbit hole, would like to take a look at it myself. This was a google search of every P5’s draft history and manual search through the years. Have yet to find one website with all of this info collected yet. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NothinButDaHorns34 Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 I think we MAY see two first round picks because i think they’ll either ping xavier negatively for his size, sophomore slump season, or something to not draft him that high. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hookem777 Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 1 hour ago, CJ Vogel said: This was a google search of every P5’s draft history and manual search through the years. Have yet to find one website with all of this info collected yet. Wow, that's a lot of research. Thanks for taking the time CJ!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaHorn Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 This is amazing. Well done! Much appreciated. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChanmanV Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 Wow great stuff CJ. Love it! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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