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Football
Big Ten Draft History
By Tony Gerdeman

With national signing day just one week away, and with the NFL combine starting in about a month, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at some NFL draft numbers involving the Big Ten schools.

My initial reason for wanting to do this was to see which position at which school would give a player the best chance of being drafted. So I went back and checked the draft picks from each Big Ten team over the last 20 years, then threw it all in a spreadsheet and waited for the computer to spit out the results (pretty much like Professor Frink and the Sarcasm Detector).

First, some background information on the schools and the number of draft picks. As you might expect, Ohio State leads the conference in draft picks over the last 20 years with 114. Here is the entire breakdown per NFL.com:

1. Ohio State 114
2. Penn State 92
2. Michigan 92
4. Michigan State 70
5. Wisconsin 68
6. Iowa 60
7. Purdue 47
8. Illinois 43
9. Minnesota 31
10. Northwestern 27
11. Indiana 24

For the purposes of the breakdown, the defensive backs were all lumped in together for two reasons. First, many times college cornerbacks will have to transition to safety in the NFL, so there‘s quite a bit of overlap between the two positions; and second, NFL.com rarely broke it down between cornerback and safety, and I apologize if I can’t recall whether Filmel Johnson (and the like) was a cornerback or a safety for Illinois back in 1993.

The offensive line was broken down by position, as offensive tackle is rarely something a college guard ends up doing, and likewise centers in the NFL are usually centers in college. However, I will also give you the numbers if we lumped the offensive line in all together as well.

Which position in the Big Ten is a prospective recruit’s best chance to land in the NFL? You probably already guessed it--defensive back at Ohio State. The Buckeyes have had 26 defensive backs drafted over the last 20 years.

The secondary wasn’t the only draft-day foothold the Buckeyes have had over their Big Ten brethren. Of the 13 positions charted (QB, RB, WR, TE, OT, OG, C, DE, DT, LB, DB, K and P), Ohio State leads in six of these categories (and came in second in two others).

Here is the breakdown of the top three draft-producers at each position:

QB: 1. Michigan (7); 2. Ohio State (5); 3. Michigan State (4)
RB: 1. Penn State (14); 2. Ohio State (13); 3. Michigan (12)
WR: 1. Ohio State (18); 2. Michigan (14); 3. Michigan State (10)
TE: 1. Michigan (8); 2. Iowa (7); 3. (tie) Penn State and Wisconsin (6)
OT: 1. (tie) Michigan and Wisconsin (8); 3. (tie) Purdue, Iowa and Penn State (6)
OG: 1. Penn State (10); 2. Michigan (8); 3. Iowa (7)
C: 1. Ohio State (4); 2. Six others tied at (3)
DE: 1. Ohio State (8); 2. (tie) Iowa, Michigan State and Penn State (6)
DT: 1. (tie) Michigan, Michigan State and Wisconsin (8)
LB: 1. Ohio State (18); 2. Penn State (16); 3. Michigan (11)
DB: 1. Ohio State (26); 2. Penn State (14); 3. Michigan (12)
K: 1. (tie) Michigan State and Penn State (2); 3. Six others tied at (1)
P: 1. (tie) Michigan State and Ohio State (2); 3. Purdue (1)

Notes of Interest:

- Penn State’s total of running backs includes a couple of fullbacks and a quarterback (Michael Robinson);

- Ohio State’s total of defensive backs includes a running back (Butler By’not’e) and a quarterback (Steve Bellisari);

- Per NFL.com, Michigan hasn’t had a defensive end drafted to play defensive end in the NFL in the last 20 years--though several players, including Shawn Crable, LaMarr Woodley, and Alan Branch all spent time there in college;

- Ohio State has had as many long snappers drafted as Iowa has had quarterbacks drafted;

- Ohio State has had as many defensive backs drafted as Michigan and Penn State combined;

- Despite Purdue’s passing attack, they have only had one more quarterback drafted than Indiana--and that’s not even including the Hoosiers’ best quarterback of the era, Antwaan Randle-El;

- Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State have combined to see 16 of their quarterbacks drafted--the rest of the Big Ten has had 13;

- Michigan State had two kickers and two punters drafted, which proves that solid special teams are powerless to keep Sparty from being Sparty.

As promised, here’s the total if the offensive line was viewed as one lump sum:

OL: 1. (tie) Michigan and Penn State (19); 3. (tie) Wisconsin and Iowa (16)

Regarding the offensive line numbers, Ohio State had 15 offensive linemen drafted, but that number does not include a long snapper and three tight ends. And as we all know, a tight end at Ohio State is basically just a quicker offensive tackle, so we could probably put the Buckeyes at the top of this list as well.

But even with these offensive line numbers, the data is still quite clear. A player’s best chance at landing in the NFL is to first land in the Ohio State secondary. If things don’t work out in the secondary, there are other options. First, they could maybe pack on a few pounds and move a little closer to the line of scrimmage and play linebacker. Or, maybe they could try the offensive side of the ball and become a receiver. Because as the numbers show, being a linebacker or a receiver at Ohio State is almost as beneficial as being a defensive back.

Here are the top ten draft-pick producing positions in the Big Ten over the last 20 years (you may start to notice a trend):

1. Ohio State defensive back (26)
2. Ohio State linebacker (18)
3. Ohio State wide receiver (18)
4. Penn State linebacker (16)
5. Penn State defensive back (14)
6. Penn State running back (14)
7. Michigan wide receiver (14)
8. Ohio State running back (13)
9. Michigan defensive back (12)
10. Michigan running back (12)

If you wanted to break it down into percentages and whatnot (which I have no desire to do), you may even be able to show that linebacker or receiver is a better way to go. But the purpose of this piece is only to show the sheer numbers, not the percentages.

The information speaks for itself, definitive proof of the best places to land in the Big Ten if you hope someday to play in the NFL. Think of it as a consumer report for the undecided. Or an Angie’s List that actually matters.

Of course, this bit of a history lesson begs the question of what the future will look like going forward. Football is changing, and with it, the NFL’s needs are changing as well.

But the one need that isn’t changing is the need for athletes, and it’s pretty clear which schools the NFL feels best fit their needs.

And once the NFL has a need for 15 slot receivers per team, I can guarantee you we’ll see a massive uptick in the number of Wolverines that get drafted.

(That number, of course, also includes their “quarterbacks“.)

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