Outside of quarterback, there’s no more vital spot to have sewn up than the offensive line. If a team has one, success on the offensive side of the ball becomes much, much easier.

So which SEC school is the best at bringing in linemen and grooming them into stars up front over the last decade?

To figure it out, we did some simple tallying. We looked back at the last 10 recruiting cycles (2006-15), seasons and NFL drafts (2005-14). Each four- or five-star wide receiver recruit a school signed earned a half-point, each AP first-team All-SEC selection earned two points, AP All-American selections were worth four points and NFL draft picks were worth three.

In the cases of Missouri and Texas A&M, both of which joined the conference in 2012, we included any AP first-team Big 12 selections from 2005-11.

School 4- and 5-star signees 1st-team All-SEC All-Americans NFL Draft picks Points
Alabama 21 12 6 10 88.5
Arkansas 10 5 1 6 37
Auburn 16 6 3 6 50
Florida 16 4 1 5 35
Georgia 17 3 1 7 39.5
Kentucky 2 0 0 1 4
LSU 19 5 0 4 31.5
Mississippi State 5 4 0 3 19.5
Missouri 5 4 0 3 19.5
Ole Miss 7 4 1 6 33.5
South Carolina 9 1 0 3 15.5
Tennessee 9 3 0 3 19.5
Texas A&M 14 4 2 5 38
Vanderbilt 0 1 0 4 13

Alabama comes out on top by a landslide. The Crimson Tide’s nearest competitor a mere 38 points behind. The Tide have recruited the most elite linemen, had double the first-team All-SEC appearances and All-American selections of any other school and has sent the most linemen to the NFL draft. From Evan Mathis back in the early-2000s through Chance Warmack and the Kouandjio brothers, Alabama has had excellent players up front for the entire decade, with no let up. It’s no coincidence that the Crimson Tide played home to one of the greatest college offensive lines in recent memory on the 2012 national championship team.

It’s a long way down from the Crimson Tide, but once you get there you find their in-state rival, Auburn. The Tigers are tied for fourth in four- and five-star recruits over the last decade, yet are second in both first-team All-SEC and All-American linemen in the conference and tie for third in NFL draft picks.

Following the two Alabama schools, there are quite a few teams bunched up. Georgia (39.5 points), Texas A&M (38), Arkansas (37) and Florida (35) battled it out for the next place on the list. They’ve all sent between five and seven players to the NFL draft, while Texas A&M leads the other three schools in this grouping in All-Americans, two to one each for the others.