[Click here for Part II, which focuses on more recent drafts.]
The Steelers found lots of players from Pittsburgh, but not this one.
In the 2013 draft, Belichick selected three players from Rutgers — cornerback Logan Ryan, safety Duron Harmon, and linebacker Steve Beauharnais. The Patriots were one of two teams to draft three players from one college. Down in Miami, the Dolphins selected three Florida Gators, linebacker Jelani Jenkins, running back Mike Gillislee, and kicker Caleb Sturgis.
It’s not unusual for teams to get smitten with the Gators program. In the last 25 years, only once has a team selected four players from the same college. That happened in 2003, when Chicago drafted the following players from Gainesville: quarterback Rex Grossman, defensive back Todd Johnson, and defensive tackles Ian Scott and Tron LaFavor.
Which team has selected the most players from one school? As it turns out, there’s a two-way tie. 2013 will mark the 77th season for the Rams, who spent their first nine years in Cleveland and their last eighteen in St. Louis. But the middle fifty years were spent in Los Angeles (or Anaheim), and the franchise has drafted 45 players from UCLA. The other team to draft 45 players from one school also had a local connection. The Steelers used to go to the Pittsburgh well repeatedly, although they have selected only Panther in the last 20 drafts. You can view the 90 Rams/Bruins and Steelers/Rams draftees here.
Want to see which school your favorite team likes? The table below shows the top five schools from which each NFL team has drafted the most players. I’ve also added a very cool feature: If you click on each school, you can see the full list of players drafted by that team. The table is fully searchable, too, so you can see which NFL teams like to draft from “Florida” or “Penn St.” or “Michigan.”
Finally, here’s a list of all teams that drafted 20 players from at least one school. This table is searchable, too.
