Most amazing numbers from the 2022 NFL Draft and a big fail

Moving beyond what player got drafted when, by which NFL team, there are some amazing numbers from the 2022 NFL Draft.

Most attention will be garnered by the massive Draft haul from former Georgia Bulldogs. Has any team ever followed even a similar NFL exodus with repeat on-field success? We’ll leave that answer to any Dawgs who want to chirp in.

As is the norm, the SEC (led by Georgia) dominated the 2022 NFL Draft, with 65 players selected. The Big Ten was next with 48 players, followed by 25 each from the Big 12 and Pac 12 and 21 from the ACC.

The AAC, led by nine Cincinnati Bearcats was next with 19 players selected. The other Group of Fives were the Mountain West with 11 and the MAC, Sun Belt and Conference USA with six each. FCS schools had a total of 20 players drafted.

That FCS number may seem high and it is for recent years, but it was no record bounty for the FCS. In 1996 and 1997, 30 FCS players were drafted each year. Farther down the ladder among the nation’s college football programs, five Division II players were drafted. The five came from little-known programs, Fayetteville State, Valdosta State, Northwest Missouri State, Lenior-Rhyne and Ouachita Baptist.

Vanderbilt was the only SEC school to not have a player drafted. Given the challenges long faced by the Commodores football program, getting shut out in the 2022 NFL Draft is more disappointing than embarrassing.

One SEC school owns the biggest embarrassment, not just among SEC schools but across the FBS division. That distinction belongs to the Auburn Tigers. How badly did Auburn fail in the 2022 NFL Draft?

The Tigers had one player drafted; Roger McCreary was chosen in the second round at No. 35. Putting that meager output into perspective, the FCS Montana State Bobcats had two players drafted. Adding insult to the Auburn Tigers is that two FCS players were drafted higher than McCreary.

Hold on, it gets worse for Auburn. Among FBS programs, 44 teams had more players drafted than Auburn. So did 13, Group of Five teams.

Some influential Auburn boosters may try to pin blame on Bryan Harsin. Harsin is not blameless, but Auburn’s weakness in developing football players goes back many years. Gus Malzahn’s tunnel-vision is one reason why and his quirky offense resembling nothing in the NFL is another.

It is hard to understand why so many talented football players, with NFL dreams, keep becoming Auburn Tigers.