NFL Draft: SEC leads the way with most first rounders
By Matt Green
For the sixth time in the last seven years, the Southeastern Conference leads the way with the most players being selected in the first round of the NFL Draft.
This year, the SEC had 12 players taken in the first round of the draft, while the Big Ten was second, with seven.
Texas A&M’s Myles Garrett was the first overall pick of the draft to the Cleveland Browns, while LSU’s Leonard Fournette and Jamal Adams also went in the top 10 to the Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Jets, respectively.
Alabama led all SEC teams with four players selected. Marlon Humphrey (16th), Jonathan Allen (17th), O.J. Howard (19th), and Reuben Foster (31st) were all selected on Thursday night.
LSU had the second most players taken in the first round of the NFL Draft with Fournette (4th), Adams (6th), and Tre’Davious White (27th).
The other four SEC players selected in the first round were Tennessee’s Derek Barnett (14th), Florida’s Jarrad Davis (21st), Missouri’s Charles Harris (22nd), and Ole Miss’s Evan Engram (23rd).
Since 2010, the SEC has had 76 players taken in the first round of the NFL Draft, accounting for 29.8 percent of total first round picks. They’ve also accounted for 19.4 percent of total players drafted during that time.
The only year since 2010 that the SEC didn’t have the most first round picks was 2015 when the ACC and Pac-12 each had nine players selected in the first round, while the SEC had seven.
You have to go all the way back to 2006 to find the last time the SEC didn’t have the most total players drafted in the NFL Draft, source: Kansas City Star.
The second and third rounds of the NFL Draft will begin Friday at 7 p.m. And the fourth through seventh rounds will begin at noon on Saturday.