I don’t know what awaits on Thursday when the 2025 NFL Draft kicks off, but I do know that the brag graphics are coming.
That’s the guarantee of the century. You can expect to see no shortage of random schools flexing about their defensive first-rounders, or that they’ve had more offensive linemen selected than anybody else in the conference. It makes sense. Coaches and teams have to know those types of brag-worthy numbers in all forms of recruiting.
But instead of just hyping up teams even more than they already will, I thought it’d be a bit more SEC to provide a negative NFL Draft trend for each squad entering 2025.
These are the things that won’t be showing up to a graphic anytime soon:
Alabama — 0 WRs drafted from 2016-24 made a Pro Bowl
Just in case you need a reminder of all of Alabama’s receivers selected in the NFL Draft during that 9-year stretch, here it is:
2017 — ArDarius Stewart (3rd Round) 2018 — Calvin Ridley (1st Round) 2020 — Henry Ruggs (1st Round) 2020 — Jerry Jeudy (1st Round) 2021 — Jaylen Waddle (1st Round) 2021 — DeVonta Smith (1st Round) 2022 — Jameson Williams (1st Round) 2022 — John Metchie III (2nd Round) 2024 — Jermaine Burton (3rd Round)That’s 6 1st Round receivers in that stretch, and none of them have appeared in a Pro Bowl yet. To be fair, Ridley was an All-Pro in 2020 and, by all accounts, was worthy of such an honor. But as it stands, no Alabama receivers drafted after Amari Cooper in 2015 have made it to a Pro Bowl.
Arkansas — 1 RB selected in first 4 rounds since the historic Darren McFadden-Felix Jones Draft of 2008
That means from 2009-24, Arkansas had just 1 running back selected in the first 100 picks, and it was 3rd-rounder Knile Davis back in 2013. Davis started 2 games in his NFL career. That’s it. Even with ground-heavy offenses during that stretch, it’s been a tough position for Arkansas to produce NFL talent. We can talk about the devaluing of the running back position in that area, but Arkansas hasn’t had a running back picked since 2018. In that 2009-24 stretch, it had 5 selected, 4 of which were picked after No. 150 overall.
Auburn — Last WR selected in Round 1 of the “normal” NFL Draft was … Terry Beasley in 1972
I say “normal” NFL Draft because Chris Woods was the No. 28 overall pick in the 1984 Supplemental Draft. If you want to count that, fine. In that case, Auburn hasn’t had a first-round receiver in 4 decades. If you want to just count the normal NFL Draft, yeah, it’s been more than half a century since the Tigers had a first-round receiver. Alabama had 5 in the 2020s alone. Auburn, on the other hand, hasn’t had a receiver selected in the first 2 rounds since Tim Carter in 2002. My guess is that Cam Coleman will be the guy to end that drought, but that’ll have to wait until at least 2026.
Florida — Riding worst 3-year stretch of NFL Draft picks since switch to 7 rounds in 1994
In the last 3 years, Florida had just 10 players selected in the NFL Draft. That included last year when Ricky Pearsall was the lone Florida pick off the board. That ended a streak of 41 consecutive years with multiple Florida players selected in the first 7 rounds. Blame that all on Dan Mullen, if you will, but it was telling that the Gators didn’t have a single defensive player selected. This year, Florida had 9 players selected to the NFL Combine on the heels of Year 3 of the Billy Napier era. In other words, the worst 3-year stretch will be a thing of the past by this time next week.
Georgia — Last QB selected before Day 3 was Matthew Stafford in 2009
Maybe that stat doesn’t feel particularly dated because Stafford is still slingin’ it at age 37, but think about this. That was 16 years ago. The majority of Georgia players are too young to remember Stafford’s days in Athens. Even current UGA seniors would’ve been 4-5 years old during Stafford’s last college season in 2008. That’s why it continues to be amazing that Kirby Smart recruits elite quarterbacks. For all that UGA has done right with winning at a high level and producing NFL talent, those elite quarterback prospects just haven’t materialized.
Kentucky — 0 offensive players selected in Round 1 in the 21st century
That’s right. Tim Couch was the last to do so when he was the No. 1 overall pick in 1999. Will Levis was expected to break that, but that didn’t happen after his 2023 NFL Draft slide. Someone like Randall Cobb provided first-round value, but it’s been more than a quarter century since Kentucky had an offensive player get the call that early. Even with the longest-tenured SEC coach, 5 different UK head coaches played a part in that dubious stat.
LSU — 0 New Year’s 6 Bowl appearances in the 2020s even though it ranked 4th with 29 players Drafted from 2021-24
I only included the last 4 Drafts because obviously, the 2019 team produced a historic 2020 NFL Draft class for LSU. But yeah, here are your leaders in Draft picks from 2021-24:
Georgia: 42 Alabama: 37 Michigan: 35 LSU: 29 Penn State: 28 Ohio State: 26 Texas: 21 Notre Dame: 21 Oregon: 20 Clemson: 19LSU is the only team in that group that failed to reach the Playoff in the 2020s, and Penn State and Oregon are the only other teams in that group with just 1 Playoff appearance during the 2020s. Yikes. Needless to say, there’s a lot of pressure on LSU to change that in 2025.
Mississippi State — In the post-Dan Mullen era, only 3 offensive players were picked before Round 7 (and they were all linemen)
So in the post-Mullen era Drafts from 2019-24, Mississippi State‘s offense produced 5 total draft picks. The non-linemen were 7th-rounders Tommy Stevens (QB) and Kylin Hill (RB). I’m not sure that’ll change this year with the 4th different coach of the post-Mullen era. The last time that the Bulldogs had an offensive skill-player picked in the first 4 rounds was … you guessed it. Dak Prescott in 2016. He’s the program’s only offensive skill-player selected in the first 4 rounds since Jerious Norwood in 2006.
Mizzou — The Tigers’ last offensive player selected in the top 100 picks was Drew Lock in 2019
Yes, Mizzou fans. I’m aware that Armand Membou and Luther Burden III will both be coming off the board in the top 100 picks this year. Both could come off the board on Night 1. Eli Drinkwitz is also coming off a stellar 2-year stretch that saw Mizzou go 21-5. All is well in Columbia. But it’s interesting that it took 5 years of Drinkwitz’s scheme to produce an offensive player worthy of being picked on the first 2 nights.
Oklahoma — The defensive-minded Brent Venables has yet to have a defensive player drafted at OU
Granted, that’s an extremely small sample size of just 2 years. Many would point to that as being more of a Lincoln Riley issue instead of a Brent Venables issue, especially because Billy Bowman and Danny Stutsman will change that in Venables’ third draft. Still, though. Venables hasn’t really shown that he can turn portal players into NFL Draft picks, either. Again, all signs point to this turning around, but it’s worth noting that even if you add Venables’ last 2 seasons at Clemson, he had 1 defensive player selected before Round 7 (CB Andrew Booth was a second-round pick in 2022). As accomplished as he was in the 2010s, it’s been a minute since Venables could flex about his defensive talent breaking into the NFL.
Ole Miss — The best NFL QB that Lane Kiffin produced as a head coach was Matt Barkley
Lane Kiffin is an elite offensive mind, but he’s not an elite developer of NFL quarterbacks. Here’s the list of quarterbacks that Kiffin had selected in the NFL Draft after they finished their careers with him as their head coach:
2022 — Matt Corral (Ole Miss), 3rd round 2010 — Jonathan Crompton (Tennessee), 5th round 2013 — Matt Barkley (USC), 4th roundIn 13 years as a head coach, Barkley is the only quarterback that Kiffin coached who started an NFL game. Barkley lasted a long time in the NFL as a fourth-round pick, but ultimately, he started 7 career games and he was 2-5 with an 11-22 TD-INT ratio. Jaxson Dart will inevitably be the highest-drafted Kiffin quarterback, and he might be the one to turn that on-field trend around. But Kiffin’s lack of a track record of producing NFL quarterbacks as a head coach will have some skeptical about Dart’s learning curve at the next level.
South Carolina — 1 OL drafted before Round 4 during the Playoff era
And it was third-rounder AJ Cann back in 2015. The last time that South Carolina had an offensive lineman selected in the first 2 rounds was Ernest Dye in 1993. That’s a long time in a league that prides itself on trenches play. South Carolina did improve in that area in 2024, but it’s rarely been an area of strength in recent memory. Perhaps that’s also why the Gamecocks haven’t had a running back selected in the first 3 rounds since Duce Staley in 1997.
Tennessee — The most productive NFL season from a Heupel-era skill player was 2023 Jalin Hyatt
As in, a guy who had 23 catches for 373 yards and 0 touchdowns. Cedric Tillman had flashes with 3 touchdowns in Year 2, but he had just 339 receiving yards. Jaylen Wright didn’t hit that number, and Velus Jones didn’t come anywhere close to that as a primary kick returner who is already on his second team. And what about Hendon Hooker and Joe Milton, you ask? They combined for 303 passing yards as backups so far. That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement of Heupel’s offense.
Texas — 0 QBs selected in first 2 rounds since Vince Young in 2006
Since I can no longer use the stat about Texas not having an offensive player selected in Round 1 since Young (Bijan Robinson ended that in 2023), let’s look at another stat related to Young. Look at all of these quarterbacks who played high school football in Texas and came off the board in the first 2 rounds since 2007:
Kevin Kolb Matthew Stafford Andy Dalton Christian Ponder Andrew Luck Robert Griffin III Ryan Tannehill Johnny Manziel Pat Mahomes Kyler Murray Baker Mayfield Jalen HurtsThat’s 13 quarterbacks who bypassed Texas and went on to become a Round 1-2 guys in those last 18 NFL Drafts. That’s a tough pill to swallow, but then again, Arch Manning feels like as safe a bet as any to end that drought sometime soon.
Texas A&M — 1 first-round pick since Myles Garrett
Six years of the Jimbo Fisher era yielded a single first-rounder, and it was former 5-star recruit Kenyon Green. That’s a troubling lack of development for a program that consistently brought in blue-chip talent. Just for a little perspective, here are some of the schools who have had multiple first-round picks from 2018-24:
Tulsa Duke Kentucky Houston Boston College Maryland NorthwesternWith all due respect to those institutions, they don’t have the resources that Texas A&M has. The good news? Shemar Stewart and Nic Scourton could both be first-rounders this year.
Vanderbilt — Clark Lea has yet to produce an NFL Draft pick
For all the great things that Lea has done in Nashville, he has yet to produce an NFL Draft pick. That’s 3 consecutive years without a player selected, and perhaps it’ll be 4 after the Dores didn’t get a single NFL Combine invite. The good news for Lea is that would’ve been a different story if Eli Stowers had gone pro. Instead, he ran it back for another year with Diego Pavia. Perhaps 2026 is when Vandy’s drought will end.
1 negative NFL Draft trend for each SEC team entering 2025 Saturday Down South.
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