Nothing reveals where a college football program is talent-wise wise than the NFL draft. In this year’s NFL draft, the ACC had 42 players drafted by their 17 teams. That would be 2.48 players drafted per team. That is well behind the SEC’s 4.9 players drafted per team, and the Big 10’s 3.94, but a good bit ahead of the Big 12’s 1.94 players drafted per team, landing the ACC third.
The draft results make sense since the ACC had 2 teams in the playoff, which was also the third most for a conference.
These are the results for the ACC with each school’s draft results.
Miami – 7
Virginia Tech – 5
Cal – 4
Syracuse – 4
BC – 3
Clemson – 3
Louisville – 3
Pitt – 3
SMU – 2
Georgia Tech – 2
FSU – 2
UNC – 1
Stanford – 1
NC State – 1
Virginia – 1
Miami, with 7 players drafted, proves the amount of talent the Hurricanes have accumulated. They were, after all a top 5 team in November of last year before limping home as losers of 3 of the last 4 games. That again illustrates Mario Cristobal’s inability to get Miami to play at a high level consistently, given their talent level. He’s got to overcome that if Miami is going to become the program they have the potential to be.
The criticisms of Brent Pry at Virginia Tech are deserved. With 5 players drafted, the Hokies were arguably the ACC’s most underachieving ACC team outside Florida State.
The Noles, with only 2 players drafted, matched their 2024 win total. There should never be a year where Florida State only has 2 players drafted. Everything about FSU was a trainwreck in 2024, from coaching to talent level.
Syracuse with 4 drafted players landing them 3rd in the ACC matches their finish as one of the ACC top 3 or 4 teams. Fran Brown is certainly a coach to watch.
The talent drain at Clemson is very real. While the Tigers remain near or at the top of the ACC, their fall from the nation’s elite programs is illustrated by recent drafts. They had only 2 players drafted in 2022, and just 3 this year. For comparison, Georgia had 13 players drafted, Ohio State 14, Oregon 10, and Texas 12. If Clemson wants to get back among the nation’s best programs, it must elevate their talent level. I suspect in future years, Clemson will be better, but you have to see what the actual results will be.
SMU made the playoffs with just 2 players drafted. Now in the ACC and the ability to recruit at a higher level, what is Rhett Lashlee going to do when the talent level is even higher at SMU?
