Overall Picks:
SEC: 65
Big Ten: 44
ACC: 42
Pac-12: 28
Big 12: 22
American: 19
Independent FBS: 15
C-USA: 4
Sun Belt: 4
MAC: 4
MVFC: 4
Mount West: 3
MEC: 1
MIAA: 1
NSIC: 1
Southland: 1
WIAC: 1
By 1st round picks:
SEC: 12
Big 10: 7
ACC: 6
Pac-12: 3
The American: 2
Independent: 1
MVFC: 1
A lot of people believe that the NFL Draft is made up of the Power 5 college football conferences (ACC, Big 10, Big 12, SEC & Pac-12) in college football but that is not totally the case. If we take a look at the past 5 NFL Draft we see that there are a good amount of draft picks that come from other levels of college football.
2020 NFL Draft (255 picks):
58 Draft picks Non-Power 5 (22.7%)
9 of those 53 Non-FBS
Green Bay Packers QB Jordan Love, Utah State – 1st round 26th overall was earliest Non-Power 5 pick.
New England Patriots Kyle Dugger, Lenoir-Rhyne- 2nd round 37th overall was earliest Non-FBS pick.
2019 NFL Draft (254 picks):
53 Draft picks Non-Power 5 (20.8%)
16 of those 53 Non-FBS
Buffalo Bills DT Ed Oliver, Houston – 1st round 9th overall was earliest Non-Power 5 pick.
Houston Texans OT Tytus Howard, Alabama State- 1st round 23rd overall was earlies Non-FBS pick.
2018 NFL Draft (256 picks):
63 Draft picks Non-Power 5 (24.6%)
22 of those 63 Non-FBS
Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen, Wyoming – 1st round 7th overall was earliest Non-Power 5 pick.
Philadelphia Eagles TE Dallas Goedert – 2nd round 49th overall was earliest Non-FBS pick.
2017 NFL Draft (253 picks):
43 Draft picks Non-Power 5 (16.9%)
15 of those 43 Non-FBS
Tennessee Titans WR Corey Davis, Western Michigan – 1st round 5thoverall was earliest Non-Power 5 pick.
Chicago Bears TE Adam Shaheen, Ashland – 2nd round 45th overall was earliest Non-FBS pick.
2016 NFL Draft (253 picks):
57 Draft picks Non-Power 5 (22.5%)
20 of those 57 Non-FBS
Philadelphia Eagles QB Carson Wentz, North Dakota State -1st round 2nd overall was earliest Non-Power 5 and Non-FBS pick.
So just remember if you are in a Power 5 conference there are other guys looking to get drafted just as high as you are and if you are not in a Power 5 conference it doesn’t matter if you can play football the NFL will find you
Overall Picks:
SEC: 64
Big Ten: 40
Pac-12: 33
ACC: 28
Big 12: 26
American: 11
Mount West: 10
MAC: 9
Independent FBS: 8
C-USA: 6
CAA: 3
MVFC: 3
MEAC: 2
OVC: 2
SWAC: 2
Sun Belt: 1
Big Sky: 1
GSC: 1
LSC: 1
MEC: 1
MIAA: 1
NSIC: 1
By 1st round picks:
SEC: 9
Big 10: 7
ACC: 7
Pac-12: 3
Big-12: 3
American: 1
Independent: 1
SWAC: 1
Full breakdown:
| Conf | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Total |
| SEC | 9 | 13 | 6 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 64 |
| Big Ten | 7 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 40 |
| Pac-12 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 33 |
| ACC | 7 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 28 |
| Big 12 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 26 |
| AAC | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 11 |
| MW | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 10 |
| MAC | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 9 |
| Ind. (FBS) | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| C-USA | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| CAA | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| MVFC | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| MEAC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| OVC | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| SWAC | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Sun Belt | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Big Sky | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| GSC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| LSC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| MEC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| MIAA | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| NSIC | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
By Justin VanFulpen
A lot of people believe that the NFL Draft is made up of the Power 5 college football conferences (ACC, Big 10, Big 12, SEC & Pac-12) in college football but that is not totally the case. If we take a look at the past 4 NFL Draft we see that there are a good amount of draft picks that come from other levels of college football.
2015 NFL Draft (256 picks):
56 Draft picks Non-Power 5 (21.8%)
20 of those 56 Non-FBS
Baltimore Ravens WR Breshad Perriman, UCF – 1st round 26th overall pick was the earliest Non-Power 5 pick.
San Francisco 49ers S Jaquiski Tartt, Samford – 2nd round 46th overall pick was the earliest Non-FBS pick.
2014 NFL Draft (256 picks):
84 Draft picks Non-Power 5 (32.8%)
24 of those 84 Non-FBS
Jacksonville Jaguars QB Blake Bortles, UCF – 1st round 3 pick overall was the earliest Non-Power 5 pick.
New England Patriots QB Jimmy Garoppolo, Eastern Illinois – 2nd round 62nd overall was the earliest Non-FBS pick.
2013 NFL Draft (254 picks):
88 Draft picks Non-Power 5 (34.6%)
29 of those 88 Non-FBS
Kansas City Chiefs OT Eric Fisher, Central Michigan – 1st round 1st overall pick was the earliest Non-Power 5 pick.
Atlanta Falcons CB Robert Alford, Southeastern Louisiana – 2nd round 60th overall was the earliest Non-FBS pick.
2012 NFL Draft (253 picks):
69 Draft picks Non-Power 5 (27.2%)
22 of those 69 Non-FBS
Kansas City Chiefs DT Dontari Poe, Memphis – 1st round 11th overall pick was the earliest Non-Power 5 pick.
St. Louis Rams WR Brian Quick, Appalachian State – – 2nd round 33rd overall was the earliest Non-FBS pick. (In 2012 Appalachian State was non FBS – they have moved to the FBS now)
So in the past 4 NFL Draft we see there was at least 1 first round pick from a Non-5 Power conference and in 2013 the first overall pick came from a Non-5 Power conference. In the past 4 NFL draft ever year there has been a 2nd round pick that was from a Non-FBS school.
So just remember if you are in a Power 5 conference there are other guys looking to get drafted just as high as you are and if you are not in a Power 5 conference it doesn’t matter if you can play football the NFL will find you.
