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Which Power 5 conferences have had most QBs taken in first round of the NFL Draft?
By Chris Wright
Published:
Draft analyst Mel Kiper projected five quarterbacks will be taken in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft.
More dramatic, he thinks Josh Allen, Sam Darnold and Josh Rosen — in some order — will be the first three players selected. That hasn’t happened since 1999, when Tim Couch, Donovan McNabb and Akili Smith went 1-2-3, respectively.
Arnold and Rosen have Power 5 pedigrees, just like Baker Mayfield and Lamar Jackson, the other two Kiper has going in the first round.
None of the five are from the SEC or Big Ten. Is that normal or an outlier?
In the past 50 years, 105 quarterbacks have been taken in the first round. More than half — 55 — have been taken in the past 20 years.
Where did they come from? Let’s take a look at the past two decade’s worth of first-rounders.
[table “” not found /]That data promotes three primary takeaways.
One, not only does it not matter where you go to school, it might actually be beneficial to avoid the big boys.
It certainly would seem safer than dodging Power 5 rushers Jadeveon Clowney or J.J. Watt coming off the edge.
Second, if you can survive Clowney and Co., in the SEC, your chances are better than everybody else’s of going No. 1 overall. That total was helped, no doubt, because the SEC’s schemes, in general, were more aligned to NFL schemes. But even that is changing as NFL QBs spend less and less time under center and most college QBs spend almost no time under center. Some actually have to relearn footwork technique to prepare for the draft or in the early stages of a rookie mini-camp.
Third, you’re better off going almost anywhere other than the Big Ten, which hasn’t had a first-rounder since Penn State’s Kerry Collins went No. 5 overall in 1995. That’s not to say the Big Ten doesn’t produce quality NFL quarterbacks. Obviously it does. Tom Brady and Drew Brees have won Super Bowls, but for whatever reason, NFL scouts liked others a lot more coming out of 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.
