Half of the top four picks in the 2010 draft.

Thanks to the Football Perspective Draft Value Chart, we know the value of each pick in the draft. If we assign the draft value associated with each pick to the college of that player, then we can determine which school produced the most draft value in any given year.  For example, this year, Texas A&M could have three players selected in the top ten: Johnny Manziel, Jake Matthews, and Mike Evans.  In fact, I have the trio all going in the top 8 in my mock draft.

Only three times in the last 25 years has a school had three of its players go in the top ten. Four years ago, Oklahoma had three players go in the top four, with Sam Bradford, Gerald McCoy, and Trent Williams only interrupted by the Lions selection of Ndamukong Suh.  Nine years ago, Auburn running backs Ronnie Brown and Cadillac Williams went in the top five and cornerback Carlos Rogers was selected ninth overall. And in 1995, Penn State sent Ki-Jana Carter, Kerry Collins, and Kyle Brady to the NFL, although the Nittany Lions didn’t even have the best draft of any school that year.

But no school dominated a single draft quite like Notre Dame back in 1946. The Fighting Irish had three of the first five picks (including Jason’s boy, Johnny Lujack and Hall of Famer George Connor), and the 10th and 16th overall selections. And then seven more in the top 135! In more modern times, the Hurricanes’ 2004 class takes the cake.  That year, Miami had six of the top 21 picks (Sean Taylor (5), Kellen Winslow Jr. (6), Jonathan Vilma (12), D.J. Williams (17), Vernon Carey (19) and Vince Wilfork (21))!

The table below shows the top college from each year, as measured by draft value used to select its players. ^[1]Note that I have excluded all supplemental drafts.  I know, Cornhusker fans, you’re very disappointed that you can’t add Mike Rozier to the 1-2 punch of Irving Fryar and Dean Steinkuhler. Next to each player’s name, I have included the overall draft pick used to select him.

Some thoughts:

• Twelve different times, more draft capital was spent on Notre Dame players than on any other school. That’s the most, and only USC (9) and Miami (7) pulled off that feat in more than four drafts.

• From 2001 to 2004, Miami had the top draft value in each year. That’s an unmatched streak of success, which even outstrips the team’s 46-4 record on the field from 2000 to 2003. Over those four years, the Hurricanes won just one national championship (in 2001), but finished 2nd overall in 2000 and 2002.

• The Crimson Tide’s streak of three straight seasons will likely end this year, but that’s still an amazing accomplishment. Other than Miami, the only other school to have three consecutive top seasons was Notre Dame (1944-1946).

• Over the last 20 years, five different SEC schools – Alabama, LSU, Auburn, Tennessee, and Florida — have held the top spot in a given season. Meanwhile, the Pac-10/12, Big Ten, ACC, and Big East have had just one team each (USC, Ohio State, Florida State, and Miami – remember, the Hurricanes were in the Big East up until 2004). The only other conference with multiple teams with #1 seasons was the Big 12, with Oklahoma and…. are you sitting down? …. Colorado! To say that the Buffaloes have fallen on hard times would be an understatement — they’ve gone 29-70 over the last eight seasons. And now they’re in the Pac-12. But in 1995, the Buffaloes had two first round picks (Michael Westbrook, Rashaan Salaam), three seconds (Christian Fauria, Ted Johnson, and Kordell Stewart), and three thirds (Darius Holland and Chris Hudson).

• One might look at this list and conclude that the NFL was a bit quicker to get past segregation than say, the Southeastern Conference. In 1971 and 1974, a pair of HBCUs sent the most valuable groups of players to the pros. The idea that Grambling or Tennessee State could do that today is laughable; the vast majority of players that would have gone to an HBCU 40 years ago now would wind up in the SEC. But in 1971, Grambling was responsible for two of the top ten picks in the draft and three more in the top 50. But that was a long time ago: the last time Grambling had a top-50 pick was when Minnesota took a different Robert Smith in 1984, and the last first round pick out of Grambling was quarterback Doug Williams. In 1974,Tennessee State had the number one and number four picks in the draft, along with three others in the top 50. Tennessee State has had just one player go in the top 50 since 1978, although it was pretty recently: Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie was a first rounder in 2008.