Which college football programs produce most NFL players, draft picks?
By John Scimeca
Most active NFL players by college
- Alabama – 61
- Ohio State – 54
- Miami (Fla.) – 48
- Florida – 48
- LSU – 44
- USC – 39
- Florida St. – 38
- Notre Dame – 37
- Michigan – 36
- Clemson – 36
- Penn St. – 35
- Oklahoma – 35
- Georgia – 34
- Auburn – 34
- Tennessee – 33
- Wisconsin – 32
- Texas A&M – 32
- Texas – 30
- Washington – 30
- UCLA – 29
- Iowa – 29
- Stanford – 28
- California – 28
- North Carolina St. – 27
- Mississippi – 26
It’s no surprise that the Crimson Tide have the most active NFL players out of all college football programs. Head coach Nick Saban’s team has produced more first-round picks than losses and his team has racked up numerous SEC and national title trophies in the last decade.
In this above list by Pro Football Reference, it’s worth noting that Miami (Fla.) is tied with Florida for the third-most active NFL players (48). Since 2010, the Hurricanes have only reached double-digit wins once (a 10-3 record in 2017) and have failed to break the .500 mark three times. The once-vaunted ‘U’ has one bowl victory since 2006.
Clemson seems a bit low on this list, considering that Dabo Swinney’s Tigers are college football’s next dynasty heir apparent after the Crimson Tide. With their more recent success, the Tigers figure to move significantly up this list in the next season or two.
The highest Group of 5 programs on the list are Boise State and Central Florida, who are ironically tied at No. 38, with 18 active NFL players each. That’s more NFL players produced by each program than Missouri, Arkansas, Texas Tech, and Virginia Tech.
The highest non FBS-level program is Harvard, who is tied for No. 77 on this list with nine active NFL players. That’s as much as Minnesota and more than power-conference programs like Arizona, Iowa State, and Syracuse.
Which schools have produced the most NFL draft picks all-time?