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NFL Players by College Conference
Posted on 8/30/08 at 7:30 am
Posted on 8/30/08 at 7:30 am
An authoritative and objective source for how BCS conferences stack up against each other is the NFL. You can throw out all the polls, fan bases, strength of schedule, affiliations, mismatches, and amateur opinions. With the NFL, you're talking about the highest level of football competition in the world, a league in which hundreds of people earn their livings by determining which players are worthy of contracts worth hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars to play football and give their respective teams the best possible chance of winning the most important game in all of sports. Here is a list of how many former players from each BCS conference are in the NFL as of the start of the 2008 NCAA football season, listed from highest to lowest according to average number of players per college within each respective conference.
Rank...Conference...NFL Players Per College
1......SEC..........31.1
2......Big Ten......28.8
3......ACC..........27.8
4......Pac-10.......27.3
5......Big 12.......20.5
6......Big East.....18.3
source: ESPN
These numbers are probably somewhat inflated because NFL rosters had not yet been finalized. If you use only players who played in the NFL during the 2007 season, these are the numbers:
Rank...Conference...NFL Players Per College
1......SEC..........25.0
2......Big Ten......24.5
3......ACC..........23.0
4......Pac-10.......20.9
5......Big 12.......16.8
6......Big East.....12.6
source: databaseFootball.com
Rank...Conference...NFL Players Per College
1......SEC..........31.1
2......Big Ten......28.8
3......ACC..........27.8
4......Pac-10.......27.3
5......Big 12.......20.5
6......Big East.....18.3
source: ESPN
These numbers are probably somewhat inflated because NFL rosters had not yet been finalized. If you use only players who played in the NFL during the 2007 season, these are the numbers:
Rank...Conference...NFL Players Per College
1......SEC..........25.0
2......Big Ten......24.5
3......ACC..........23.0
4......Pac-10.......20.9
5......Big 12.......16.8
6......Big East.....12.6
source: databaseFootball.com
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Posted on 8/30/08 at 7:48 am to Tebow4ReElection
Sure...NFL is a guaranteed haven of geniuses. Plus, did ya forget that the SEC has 12 teams, the Big 10 has 11, the PAC 10 only has...oh well, now you get it...sure adds about 100 extra players per conference to put in the draft compared to the PAC 10...don't ya think Timmy?
Posted on 8/30/08 at 8:20 am to Zamoro10
quote:
Sure...NFL is a guaranteed haven of geniuses. Plus, did ya forget that the SEC has 12 teams, the Big 10 has 11, the PAC 10 only has...oh well, now you get it...sure adds about 100 extra players per conference to put in the draft compared to the PAC 10...don't ya think Timmy?
Yes, I did account for the fact that different conferences have different numbers of colleges. If I were to rank them by total number of players, rather than average per college, the list for the start of the 2008 NCAA football season would look like this:
Rank...Conference....NFL Players
1......SEC........373
2......ACC........333
3......Big Ten....317
4......Pac-10.....273
5......Big 12.....246
6......Big East...146
Or, only counting players who played in the NFL in the 2007 season, the list would look like this:
Rank...Conference...NFL Players
1......SEC..........300
2......ACC..........276
3......Big Ten......269
4......Pac-10.......209
5......Big 12.......202
6......Big East.....101
You can say what you want about the NFL, but they're the best at what they do. By the way, these are not NFL draftee numbers. These are NFL player numbers, which accounts for the fact that some NFL draftees don't make it in the NFL, and some non-NFL draftees do.
This post was edited on 8/30/08 at 8:35 am
Posted on 8/30/08 at 8:24 am to Tebow4ReElection
Ok so the numbers at the top are very similar. Thanks for the info. 
Posted on 8/30/08 at 8:26 am to Buckeye06
quote:
Ok so the numbers at the top are very similar. Thanks for the info.
No problem. Thanks for the feedback.
Posted on 8/30/08 at 8:28 am to Tebow4ReElection
Oh c'mon man, wasn't insulting you just playing off your handle. It's Gameday just having fun...interesting post...but ranking them by total number of players rather than conference average doesn't negate the fact that if a conference has more teams they are going to put more players in the draft because that conference has more players and therefore is more likely to have more players in the NFL. I am curious about which conference has the most Probowlers but I doubt if there are stats for that.
Posted on 8/30/08 at 8:34 am to Zamoro10
quote:
Oh c'mon man, wasn't insulting you just playing off your handle. It's Gameday just having fun...interesting post...but ranking them by total number of players rather than conference average doesn't negate the fact that if a conference has more teams they are going to put more players in the draft because that conference has more players and therefore is more likely to have more players in the NFL. I am curious about which conference has the most Probowlers but I doubt if there are stats for that.
I understand your concern about the number of teams per conference. That is why I originally ranked them by average per team within each conference. I feel that average per team is the best way to compare the conferences. There is information on Pro Bowlers per conference, but it would take more time to analyze than I am willing to commit. I suspect that the results would be similar though.
This post was edited on 8/30/08 at 8:39 am
Posted on 8/30/08 at 8:43 am to Tebow4ReElection
Some of those stats account for going back quite a few years given the length of an NFL player's career...however remembering the last few drafts it appears the ACC numbers are declining given the dearth of Miami and FSU players drafted the last couple of years compared to the players they used to churn out to the NFL.
Posted on 8/30/08 at 10:29 am to Zamoro10
quote:
Some of those stats account for going back quite a few years given the length of an NFL player's career...however remembering the last few drafts it appears the ACC numbers are declining given the dearth of Miami and FSU players drafted the last couple of years compared to the players they used to churn out to the NFL.
Those are good points, but I think the numbers reflect more recent trends better than you might think. The average NFL career only lasts about 3 years, so the vast majority of these players have only been in the NFL for only a few years or less. Also, concerning the ACC, teams in that conference may well be headed in the wrong direction, but I personally doubt that that will continue. If you check various recruiting sites, it is apparent that Miami and Florida State still recruit extremely well. It's probably just a matter of time before they return to dominance, just like it was for pre-2002 USC, pre-2000 Oklahoma, etc.
Obviously, the purpose of this post was not to rank the conferences in order of how strong they are this season or were last season. I think it really just shows the overall trend of recent history. As such, it could be controversial because it definitely will challenge the opinions, assumptions, and stereotypes of close-minded fans. For instance, it suggests that Big Ten haters who complain that Ohio State only gets consistently high rankings because it plays a cupcake conference schedule every year are probably underestimating that conference and the players who go there.
This post was edited on 8/30/08 at 10:32 am
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