Bret Bielema made a name for himself in the coaching ranks during his seven-year reign as head coach of the Wisconsin Badgers, and during that time he helped 26 of his former players get selected in the annual NFL Draft.

Among those 26 players, five were first round selections, all five of which played in the trenches for the Badgers: offensive tackle Joe Thomas (2007), offensive tackle Gabe Carimi (2011), defensive end J.J. Watt (2011), guard Kevin Zeitler (2012) and center Travis Fredrick (2013).

Last year, Bielema sent his first crop of Arkansas players to the NFL following his first season on the job. Four players were selected, none higher than the third round. This spring he’ll help his second collection of Razorbacks advance to the NFL, but once again his program is not expected to boast a first round selection.

The SEC routinely clutters the first round of the annual draft, and most feel it is only a matter of time before some of Bielema’s brightest stars start asserting themselves as top-round picks.

But who will break down that barrier for the Hogs’ head coach? Who is good enough to become Bielema’s first first-round pick during his Arkansas tenure?

The only candidate in the 2015 class is defensive end Trey Flowers, who was a second-team All-SEC honoree in 2014. Flowers is both physical and athletic, and he’s expected to be a productive pass rusher at the NFL level (he registered 6 sacks and 15.5 tackles for loss last season).

Unfortunately, few regard Flowers as even a top 5 defensive end prospect in the class (CBS Sports rates him as its No. 8 defensive end), and it’s unlikely he’s selected any higher than the second round when the draft arrives in late-April.

If Mel Kiper’s opinion is any indication, Flowers is certain to fall short of a first round selection. The former Razorback has yet to crack the first round in any of Kiper’s mock drafts this offseason. Of course, those mock drafts are far from an exact science.

But unless Flowers can cause jaws to drop at his private pre-draft workouts with NFL clubs, there’s not much else he can do to elevate his draft stock now that the NFL Combine and Arkansas’ Pro Day have both passed. Thus, the Hogs may have to wait until 2016 to boast their first first-rounder.

The team’s top candidate in that draft class is likely tailback Jonathan Williams, who passed on a chance to enter the NFL a year early this spring. Williams is regarded as the No. 3 tailback prospect in the 2016 class, according to CBS Sports.

He will once again have to split carries with rising junior Alex Collins, but that timeshare didn’t keep either from rushing for more than 1,000 yards in 2014. If anything, splitting time with Collins is saving Williams’ body wear and tear, which could eventually extend his pro career.

However, there are concerns that the timeshare may cause Williams to hit the “rookie wall” upon receiving a full allotment of carries over the course of a 16-game season. Not to mention the value of a tailback in the NFL is marginalized compared to what it once was. Tailbacks are viewed as replaceable and as a result are not viewed as players with first-round value.

Nevertheless, a strong senior season from Williams could allow him to elevate himself into the late first round where the NFL’s most complete teams get to pick.

The same can be said for Collins, who will be draft-eligible after the coming season but will have the option to play at Arkansas in 2016 and enter the 2017 draft.

Collins is rated as the fourth-best back in the 2017 class by CBS, but still has plenty of time to improve his draft stock, especially if he stays an extra year to be the Razorbacks’ featured back once Williams is gone.

The rising junior has great patience and great vision as a runner, and those traits will serve him well in the NFL. However he, too, faces concerns regarding a “rookie wall.” In 16 career games before the month of November, Collins has rushed for at least 100 yards seven times. In nine career games in November or December, however, he’s never rushed for 100 yards. That is a concern for NFL scouts.

An outside the box projection to be Bielema’s first first-rounder at Arkansas is tight end Hunter Henry, who burst on the scene a year ago as one of the SEC’s best pass-catching threats at the position with 37 receptions for 513 yards. He’s valued as one of the top 3 tight ends in the 2017 class, and considering the emergence of pass-catching tight ends in the NFL, if Henry continues his progress in Fayetteville he could have late-first-round potential after his senior season.

And while we’re thinking outside the box, we may as well mention 2015 four-star defensive tackle signee Hjalte Froholdt, a 6-foot-4, 282-pound beast yet to even make his SEC debut.

Froholdt was one of the most touted defensive tackle recruits in the nation this past recruiting cycle, and he has the frame to allow him to bulk up beyond the 300-pound plateau. If he can add that size and can live up to his hype, he not only has a great chance to be Bielema’s first top-round pick, but the chance to be the first-ever Norwegian taken in the first round of the draft. That would be pretty cool, right?

But that’s looking way down the line. Froholdt won’t even be draft-eligible until the 2018 draft, and we may as well let him play out his college career before anointing him a top-round pick. This is merely a suggestion that he has the upside to make it happen. After all, every other Bielema first-rounder has played on the offensive or defensive line.

Ultimately, Bielema is going to continue to produce NFL talent during his years at Arkansas, and at that point it will be up to his former players to decide how they’ll fare in the league. But it’s fun to project which of his many stars might earn first-round money when he leaves Fayetteville.

Hunter or Froholdt or the tandem of tailbacks may have the best shot, but Flowers has the next shot. He’ll learn his fate when the draft begins on April 30, and so will Bielema.