This year’s draft was pretty depressing as a Canes fan. It’s been getting worse for two decades and bottoming out lately. During the draft, Alonzo Highsmith posted on Twitter that a playoff-caliber team needs 5-7 draft picks a year. That gave me an idea for a study.
I went back and looked at every national championship from 2013 (FSU) to 2020 (Alabama). I avoided more recent years because some of those classes still have key players in college.
For each champion, I looked at a three-year snapshot of their 2nd-4th year players. In other words, for 2020 Alabama, I looked at the 2017, 2018, 2019 classes. The three categories were: (1) average total amount of NFL Draft picks per class; (2) percentage of those players picked on Days 1 and 2; and (3) total amount of first rounders over the three-year snapshot.
At the end, I also looked at the three last Miami classes in this time frame (Richt’s last two classes, plus Manny’s first class) as a comparison. Here are the results:
The champions signed an average of 7.666 NFL Draft picks per class. 2016 Clemson with Deshaun Watson was the lowest with a 5.666 average. 2015 Alabama was the highest with 9.333.
Of those NFL Draft picks, 66.4% of them were picked on Day 1-2. The 2019 LSU Tigers were the most bottom-heavy team (only 56% being Day 1-2), while 2014 Ohio State and 2020 Alabama were loaded up top 77%.
The teams produced an average of 6.75 first rounders total over the three-year period. That’s a little over two first rounders in every class. The low team was the 2013 Noles with 4. The high team was 2020 Alabama with 11 (including 8 in an insane 2017 class).
Miami was nowhere close. In their snapshot (2017-2019) they had an average of 2.333 draft picks per class, with only 1 of those as a Day 1-2 pick.
The full results are below:
2013 Noles
7.333 average
63.6% Day 1-2 (14/22)
4 total first rounders
2010 class (6)
C Cameron Erving- 1st round
DE Bjorn Werner- 1st round
S Lamarcus Joyner- 2nd Round
S Terrence Brooks- 3rd round
LB Telvin Smith- 5th round
CB Mike Harris- 6th round
2011 class (9)
WR Kelvin Benjamin- 1st Round
DE Tank Carradine- 2nd Round
DT Timmy Jernigan- 2nd Round
OG Tre’ Jackson- 4th Round
RB Devonta Freeman- 4th Round
RB Karlos Williams- 5th Round
WR Rashad Greene- 5th Round
TE Nick O’Leary- 6th Round
OL Bobby Hart- 7th Round
2012 class (7)
QB Jameis Winston- 1st Round
DE Mario Edwards- 2nd Round
DT Eddie Goldman- 2nd Round
K Roberto Aguayo- 2nd Round
CB Ronald Darby- 2nd Round
OT Menelik Watson- 2nd Round
CB PJ Williams- 3rd Round
2014 Ohio State
7.33 average
77% Day 1-2 (17/22)
8 first rounders
2011 Class (8)
LB Ryan Shazier- 1st Round
WR Devin Smith- 2nd Round
TE Nick Vannett- 3rd round
WR Braxton Miller- 3rd Round
TE Jeff Heuerman- 3rd Round
CB Doran Grant- 4th Round
DT Michael Bennett- 6th Round
WR Evan Spencer- 6th Round
2012 class (6)
OT Taylor Decker- 1st Round
WR Michael Thomas- 2nd Round
OG Pat Elflein- 3rd Round
DT Adolphus Washington- 3rd Round
LB Josh Perry- 4th Round
QB Cardale Jones- 4th Round
2013 class (8)
CB Gareon Conley- 1st Round
RB Ezekiel Elliott- 1st Round
DE Joey Bosa- 1st Round
CB Eli Apple- 1st Round
OC Billy Price- 1st Round
LB Darron Lee- 1st Round
DT Tyquan Lewis- 2nd Round
S Von Bell- 2nd Round
2015 Alabama
9.333 average
67% Day 1-2 (19-28)
6 first rounders
2012 class (8)
WR Amari Cooper- 1st Round
CB Cyrus Jones- 2nd Round
S Landon Collins- 2nd Round
RB TJ Yeldon- 2nd Round
DE Ryan Anderson- 2nd Round
LB Reggie Ragland- 2nd Round
DT Dalvin Tomlinson- 2nd Round
RB Kenyan Drake- 3rd Round
2013 class (10)
DT Jonathan Allen- First Round
LB Reuben Foster- First Round
TE OJ Howard- First Round
DT A’Shawn Robinson- Second Round
RB Derrick Henry- Second Round
WR ArDarius Stewart- 3rd Round
DE Tim Williams- 3rd Round
DB Anthony Averett- 4th Round
DB Eddie Jackson- 4th Round
OL Bradley Bozeman- 6th Round
2014 class (10)
CB Marlon Humphrey- First Round
LB Rashaan Evans- First Round
OT Cam Robinson- 2nd Round
DT Jarran Reed- 2nd Round
DT Da’shawn Hand- 4th Round
LB Christian Miller- 4th Round
OG Ross Pierschbacher- 5th Round
P JK Scott- 5th Round
LB Shaun Dion Hamilton- 6th Round
DT Joshua Frazier- 7th Round
2016 Clemson
5.666 average
62.5% Day 1-2 (10/16)
5 first rounders
2013 class (9)
DE Shaq Lawson- First Round
WR Mike Williams- First Round
S TJ Green- 2nd Round
CB Mackensie Alexander- 2nd Round
LB Dorian O’Daniel- 3rd Round
CB Cordrea Tankersley- 3rd Round
RB Wayne Gallman- 4th Round
TE Jordan Leggett- 5th Round
S Jayron Kearse- 7th Round
2014 class (2)
QB Deshaun Watson- 1st Round
WR Hunter Renfrow- 5th Round
2015 class (6)
DE Clelin Ferrell- 1st Round
DT Christian Wilkins- 1st Round
S Tanner Muse- 3rd Round
DE Austin Bryant- 4th Round
WR Deon Cain- 6th Round
WR RayRay McCloud- 6th Round
2017 Alabama
8.666 per class
65.4% Day 1-2 (17/26)
8 first rounders
2014 class (10)
CB Marlon Humphrey- First Round
LB Rashaan Evans- First Round
OT Cam Robinson- 2nd Round
DT Jarran Reed- 2nd Round
DT Da’shawn Hand- 4th Round
LB Christian Miller- 4th Round
OG Ross Pierschbacher- 5th Round
P JK Scott- 5th Round
LB Shaun Dion Hamilton- 6th Round
DT Joshua Frazier- 7th Round
2015 Class (7)
WR Calvin Ridley- 1st Round
DT Daron Payne- 1st Round
DB Minkah Fitzpatrick- 1st Round
S Ronnie Harrison- 3rd Round
RB Damien Harris- 3rd Round
LB Anfernee Jennings- 3rd Round
DB Deionte Thompson- 5th Round
2016 Class (9)
DT Quinnen Williams- 1st Round
OT Jonah Williams- 1st Round
RB Josh Jacobs- 1st Round
TE Irv Smith- 2nd Round
CB Trevon Diggs- 2nd Round
DT Raekwon Davis- 2nd Round
DE Terrell Lewis- 3rd Round
LB Mack Wilson- 5th Round
OG Deonte Brown- 6th Round
2018 Clemson
6 average
62.5% Day 1-2 (10/18)
6 first rounders
2015 class (6)
DE Clelin Ferrell- 1st Round
DT Christian Wilkins- 1st Round
S Tanner Muse- 3rd Round
DE Austin Bryant- 4th Round
WR Deon Cain- 6th Round
WR RayRay McCloud- 6th Round
2016 Class (7)
DT Dexter Lawrence- 1st Round
S Isaiah Simmons- 1st Round
CB Trayvon Mullen- 2nd Round
OG John Simpson- 4th Round
CB K’Von Wallace- 4th Round
WR Cornell Powell- 5th Round
OG Tremayne Anchrum- 7th Round
2017 Class (5)
CB AJ Terrell- 1st Round
RB Trevor Etienne- 1st Round
WR Tee Higgins- 2nd Round
WR Amari Rodgers- 3rd Round
LB Baylon Spector- 7th Round
2019 LSU
8.333 average
56% Day 1-2 (14/25)
6 first rounders
2016 Class (7)
LB Devin White- 1st Round
CB Greedy Williams- 2nd Round
CB Kristian Fulton- 2nd Round
OL Llod Cushenberry- 3rd Round
DT Rashard Lawrence- 4th Round
DE Andre Anthony- 7th Round
TE Stephen Sullivan- 7th Round
2017 Class (13)
WR Justin Jefferson- 1st Round
LB Patrick Queen- 1st Round
DE K’Lavon Chiasson- 1st Round
RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire- 1st Round
OG Ed Ingram- 2nd Round
S Grant Delpit- 2nd Round
LB Jacob Phillips- 3rd Round
DT Tyler Shelvin- 4th Round
DT Neil Farrell- 4th Round
OL Saahdiq Charles- 4th Round
S JaCoby Stevens- 6th Round
WR Racey McMath- 6th Round
CB Kary Vincent- 7th Round
2018 Class (5)
WR Jamarr Chase- 1st Round
WR Terrace Marshall- 2nd Round
OL Damien Lewis- 3rd Round
LB Damone Clark- 5th Round
OL Chasen Hines- 6th Round
2020 Alabama
8.666 average
77% Day 1-2 (20/26)
11 first rounders
2017 Class (13)
QB Tua Tagovailoa- 1st Round
OL Alex Leatherwood- 1st Round
RB Najee Harris- 1st Round
WR Henry Ruggs- 1st Round
WR Devonta Smith- 1st Round
WR Jerry Jeudy- 1st Round
OL Jedrick Wills- 1st Round
QB Mac Jones- 1st Round
S Xavier McKinney- 2nd Round
DT Phidarian Mathis- 2nd Round
RB Brian Robinson- 3rd Round
DE Isaiah Buggs- 6th Round
LS Thomas Fletcher- 6th round
2018 Class (5)
CB Patrick Surtain- 1st Round
WR Jaylen Waddle- 1st Round
DT Christian Barmore- 2nd Round
TE Cameron Latu- 3rd Round
DB Jaylin Armour-Davis- 4th Round
2019 Class (8)
OL Evan Neal- 1st Round
WR John Metchie- 2nd Round
S Jordan Battle- 3rd Round
LB Christian Harris- 3rd Round
DE Byron Young- 3rd Round
DL Justin Eboigbe- 4th Round
K Will Reichard- 6th Round
DB Demarco Hellams- 7th Round
Miami (end of Richt, beginning of Manny)
2.333 average
14.2% Day 1-2 (1/7)
1 first rounder
2017 (3)
RB Deejay Dallas- 4th Round
DE Jonathan Garvin- 7th Round
DT Jonathan Ford- 7th Round
2018 (4)
DE Greg Rousseau- 1st Round
TE Brevin Jordan- 5th Round
CB DJ Ivey- 7th Round
TE Will Mallory- 5th Round
2019 (0)
