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Digging Deeper: Active NFL Players By School/Conference

Matt Gutridge's picture
May 3, 2019 at 10:30pm
38 Comments

Dan Hope, wrote this great article on Wednesday. The piece showed what an NFL roster would look like with Ohio State's 56 active players. In the comment section, 11W member Libera asked, "How does this compare to any other college team? How many of the 56 are considered all pro?"

Note, the numbers listed below are from the morning of 4/30 and may not include the undrafted free agents of every team. 

Before diving in, let's see how you do on this little three question quiz:

Which conference has the most active NFL players? Conference with the least?

Can you name the school in the power five conferences that has the least amount of players?

Which team in the ACC has the most active NFL players?

Ohio State currently has 56 players on the active roster. 57 if you count Ryan Shazier, he is listed on the Steelers' Reserve List. So, how do the Buckeyes compare to their Big Ten brethren with active players in the NFL? Let's find out.

The Bottom Four

Indiana, Northwestern, Purdue and Minnesota have the least amount of active players in the NFL. The Wildcats and Hoosiers each have 14 players, the Boilermakers have 13 and the Gophers are last in the conference with 12. The highest drafted player among these schools is LB Ryan Kerrigan from Purdue, he was selected with the 16th pick of the 2011 draft.

The Middle Five

Nebraska, Michigan State, Maryland, Rutgers and Illinois comprise the middle of the pack. The Illini, Scarlet Knights and Terrapins each have 18 players. There is a slight bump up to the Spartans (23) and Cornhuskers (24). The highest selected player among the middle five schools were OT Jack Conklin and TE Vernon Davis. Conklin is from Michigan State and Davis from Maryland, both were selected with the 6th pick. Conklin in 2016 and Davis ten years earlier in 2006.  

The Top Five

Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan, Iowa and Wisconsin are the flag bearers for the conference when it comes to current NFL players. It's not a shock that the Buckeyes are at the top of the list, but seeing Iowa ahead of Nebraska and Michigan State is a little surprising. What is not surprising is the gulf between Ohio State and the second and third placed teams.

Penn State (38) and Michigan (36) have a lot of catching up to do if they want to catch the Buckeyes. 18 players separate Ohio State from the second place Nittany Lions and the Buckeyes have a 20 player lead over the Wolverines. How great a number is that? Well, half the conference has 18 players or less. So in other words, Ohio State has about another Big Ten team's worth of players more than their closest competition.

Big Ten's Active NFL Players
RANK SCHOOL PLAYERS
1 OHIO STATE 56
2 PENN STATE 38
3 MICHIGAN 36
4 IOWA 30
5 WISCONSIN 29
6 NEBRASKA 24
7 MICH. STATE 23
8 ILLINOIS 18
8 MARYLAND 18
8 RUTGERS 18
11 INDIANA 14
11 N'WESTERN 14
13 PURDUE 13
14 MINNESOTA 12
  TOTAL 343
The Big Ten vs. The SEC

Ohio State is the crown jewel of the Midwest, but how do the Buckeyes and Big Ten compare to the behemoth beating up our beloved college football? Alabama has five more active roster NFL players than Ohio State, but the SEC has a total of 458 active players. That is 115 more players than the B1G. 

The biggest disparity isn't between the top two schools, but the teams ranked second through fourteenth.

Penn State is second in the Big Ten with 38 players, that number is 12 below second ranked LSU's 50. Florida has eight more than third place Michigan.

Scanning through the list, other double digit leads for the SEC come at positions four and eleven. Iowa trails Auburn by 11 players and Illinois, Maryland and Rutgers have 10 less than South Carolina who checks in with 28 players.  

Power Five Breakdown

The SEC not only has more current NFL players than the Big Ten, but the conference has more than any other P5 conference. That is easy to do when Alabama, LSU, Florida and Auburn represent four of the school in the top 10. As mentioned above, the SEC has 438 current NFL players and the Big Ten ranks second with 343. Rounding out the rankings are the ACC (314), PAC-12 (288) and Big 12 (176). Something to keep in mind is that the PAC-12 does not have more players in the NFL than the ACC, but the PAC-12 (24.0) does have a higher average per school than the ACC (22.4).

Alabama and Ohio State are the best in their respective conferences. Miami leads the ACC with 47 players, USC is the best in the PAC-12 with 41 players, and Oklahoma has a Big 12 best 39. If you are wondering, Clemson comes in 11th out of the 64 power five conference teams with 37 NFL players.

The ten worst teams in the P5 are in the ACC, Big 12 and PAC 12. Four of the lowest bottom dwellers belong to the ACC, and three each in the Big 12 and PAC 12. Although the ACC has the most teams in the bottom ten, the Big 12 has three of the five worst including the two programs with the least amount of NFL players. Iowa State only has seven players and Kansas has a P5 worst six players.

The worst teams in the rest of the conferences are Arizona (9), Georgia Tech (9), Minnesota (12) and Kentucky (15).

Quiz Answers

Which conference has the most active NFL players? Conference with the least?
Answers: SEC (458) and Big 12 (176)

Can you name the school in the power five conferences that has the least amount of players?
Answer: Kansas (6)

Which team in the ACC has the most active NFL players?
Answer: Miami (47)

 

This is a forum post from a site member. It does not represent the views of Eleven Warriors unless otherwise noted.

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