Never satisfied.
Nick? Yeah, him too. But add us to the long list of those always wanting more.
Take the NFL Draft, for instance. The SEC, for the 10th consecutive year, led all of America by producing 51 draft picks.
It could have been 61 (or more). Here are 10 other NFL Draft first-rounders from SEC states who for whatever reason didn’t choose an SEC school.
No. 3 overall pick Joey Bosa, DE, Ohio State: Bosa starred at St. Thomas Aquinas in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He didn’t choose the homestate Gators, but he didn’t choose the Canes, either.
No. 4 pick Ezekiel Elliott, RB, Ohio State: Elliott was a four-star prospect from St. Louis, which certainly was a new territory for SEC schools, but Elliott was on everybody’s radar. The No. 5 back in the 2013 class, Elliott drew interest from Missouri, obviously, but also Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama, the team he torched for 230 yards and two scores in the 2014 national semifinals.
No. 5 pick Jalen Ramsey, CB, Florida State: Butch Jones has made a point of telling everybody that the best players in Tennessee choose Tennessee. Consider that a Vols apology for not pursuing Ramsey, a five-star DB from suburban Nashville in the Class of 2013. Ramsey was the No. 1-ranked player in Tennessee, but the Vols were transitioning from Derek Dooley and Jones never had a chance.
No. 12 pick Sheldon Rankins, DT, Louisville: Rankins beat the odds, developing from a three-star prospect ranked No. 750 in his 2012 class to a first-round pick. He was the No. 63-ranked player that year in Georgia.
No. 14 Karl Joseph, S, West Virginia: Hard to argue with Florida’s signings in the secondary, but Joseph was one who got away. He was a three-star prospect from Orlando in the 2012 class.
No. 15 Corey Coleman, WR, Baylor: Texas A&M hadn’t finished painting SEC logos on all of its athletic facilities by the time Coleman, a four-star prospect and No. 20-ranked player in Texas, chose Baylor. Not that the Aggies minded or necessarily needed him.
No. 19 Shaq Lawson, DE, Clemson: Think Steve Spurrier could have used Lawson? Lawson was a four-star prospect from Central, S.C., an even smaller town just outside of a small college town named Clemson. Originally part of the 2012 class, he spent a year at prep school before leading the Tigers to the national championship game. Tennessee was in the mix more than the Gamecocks.
No. 25 Artie Burns, CB, Miami: The SEC has had recent success pulling stars out of Miami, but Burns, a four-star prospect in the 2013 class and former teammate of Amari Cooper, stayed home.
No. 26 Paxton Lynch, QB, Memphis: Given the Gators’ quarterback struggles since Tim Tebow left, it’s obvious now they could have used Lynch, who played his high school ball 30 minutes northeast of Orlando. In fairness, Lynch wasn’t much of a prospect, receiving just two stars and an overall ranking of 1,908 in the 2012 class.
No. 30 Vernon Butler, DT, La. Tech: Butler was a two-star defensive end coming out of North Pike High in Summit, a small town in southern Mississippi. He weighed just 240 pounds in high school but developed into a 323-pound defensive tackle in college.
Managing Editor
A 30-time APSE award-winning editor with previous stints at the Miami Herald, The Indianapolis Star and News & Observer, Executive Editor Chris Wright oversees editorial operations for Saturday Down South.
