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May Contain Offensive Statistics:As I’m watching these playoffs, a sobering & somber feeling came over me: The lack of Miami Hurricanes on these rosters.
However, it wasn’t just the lack of Hurricanes on these rosters, but also the lack of impact players on said rosters. As I started to really go down this rabbit hole, it had me wondering over the last 10 yrs, just how many guys have been drafted in the first 3-rounds.
The reason I focused on the first 3-rounds is b/c those r guaranteed spots after being drafted. These are considered to be the most likely to impact their team, & team’s future. That’s not to discredit players who are drafted in latter rounds, but the data clearly shows if you’re drafted 4th round, in particular, 5th round or later, the greater chance you’ll find urself either out of the league w/in 3 yrs, a practice squad journeyman, or on the 53 man-squad w/ limited PT.
Also, imo, there’s a direct correlation of teams who furnish the NFL w/ players drafted in the first 3-rounds & their success on the field. Let’s see if that theory holds up.
Looking at the last 10 yrs (2013 - 2022 seasons), we as a program have posted a 75-51 record during this period. We also had 11 players drafted in the first 3-rounds during this time frame. Focusing on each conferences’ power teams, this how we compare:
ACC:
Clemson (133-20 w/ 26 players drafted)
FSU (95-45 w/ 25 players drafted)
B1G:
OSU (128-15 w/ 50 players drafted)
PSU (85-41 w/ 19 players drafted)
UofM (102-43 w/ 25 players drafted)
Big 12:
OU: (113-31 w/ 20 players drafted)
Independent:
ND (106-35 w/ 27 players drafted)
PAC-12:
UO (101-39 w/ 14 players drafted)
USC (88-50 w/ 20 players drafted)
SEC:
Alabama (139-15 w/ 59 players drafted)
LSU (100-41 w/ 42 players drafted)
UGA (121-28 w/ 33 players drafted)
It’s clear that we have underwhelmed by comparison, & the lack of NFL impact talent could be directly attributed to this. However, can we also say it’s the “lack of talent”, which has become a point of contention on this board? Again, let’s take a look at the avg. recruiting classes during this period:
Miami avg. class rank (2013 - 2022) - 15th.
By Comparison-
ACC:
Clemson (T-11th)
FSU (12th)
B1G:
UofM (T-14th)
OSU (4th)
PSU (17th)
B12:
OU (T-11th)
Independent:
ND (T-11th)
PAC-12:
UO (T-12th)
USC (T-14th)
SEC:
Alabama (1st)
LSU (6th)
UGA (5th)
While it can be argued that we’re not nearly recruiting on the same levels of the SEC Powers, along w/ OSU & Clemson, compared to FSU, USC, PSU, & Michigan once again we have greatly underachieved. To further complicate matters, if we take a look at several stable programs like Baylor, Iowa, TCU, Utah, UDub, it becomes a bigger indictment on the state of our program.
Baylor (86-49 w/ 9 players drafted: Avg. class rank - 36th)
Iowa (86-41 w/ 14 players drafted: Avg. class rank - 45th)
TCU (86-47 w/ 11 players drafted: Avg. class rank - 11th)
Utah (83-42 w/ 13 players drafted: Avg. class rank - 40th)
UW (82-41 w/ 22 players drafted: Avg. class rank - 27th)
Here’s the bottom line, until we can start flooding the NFL, not w/ late round & UDFA talent, but consistently w/ first 3-round products, we’ll continuously underachieve. Baylor is the only outlier where they have overachieved by both their recruiting class & lack of top 3-round draft picks; but, it’s inexcusable for a program like Miami to consistently recruit w/in the top 15 out of 131 FBS programs, & yield a habitual 7-5 record.
This is y I gave Mario a mulligan for his first yr. Some things were inexcusable under his watch, but this program as a whole….well, let the data speak for itself. Here’s hoping w/ the classes of 2022/2023 (avg. rank 10th so far), we’ll see this ominous trend subside.
