Every Penn State football player ever drafted in the first round of the NFL draft in school history.
In the history of the NFL draft, only a handful of schools have had more players drafted by NFL franchises than Penn State. The Nittany Lions have sent over 360 players through the NFL draft over the years, and that number continues to climb every year. And when it comes to first-round picks, Penn State has had a solid number of those as well, including some top draft picks.
Lenny Moore, arguably the best player in Penn State football history, is appropriately the first player in program history to be selected by an NFL franchise in the NFL draft. Since then, Penn State players have been selected in the first round numerous times through the decades with players like Shane Conlan, Blair Thomas, Ki-Jana Carter, LaVar Arrington, Saquon Barkley, and Micah Parsons.
Here is a look at every first-round NFL draft pick in Penn State history, starting with the first.
Our guy @joshkeatley16 did the hard work and found the highest-rated Browns in Madden video game history #Browns #Madden
It was recently announced that Myles Garrett was going to be joining the 99 club for the upcoming Madden 23 game and he deserves it, but it had me thinking, what other Cleveland Browns were rated this high?
A couple of things to keep in mind when going through this list. I am only using release ratings. I felt it was only fair to use the ratings that were used during the release of the game as players like Jamir Miller, Tre Johnson, and Courtney Brown didn’t get the benefit of the fancy online mid-season updates.
It is also important to note that even though the Madden game has been released every year since 1988, I only used the ratings from 1999 and sooner. There are a few reasons for this as the first is anything before that year is very hard to find, honestly, Madden 2000 ratings were almost impossible to find online, but the second reason is early game ratings were wild. Players didn’t have an overall, they just had a few traits and they only went up to 15. For reference, Bernie Kosar did not have an overall but did have an 11 in passing range and 12 in passing accuracy.
Also keep in mind that the Madden games are named for the year when the season is complete, so Madden 23 is actually for the 2022 season. The following are the 11 highest-rated Cleveland Browns in Madden video game history, I will only name each player once based on their highest rating, so Joe Thomas despite being rated high for his entire career will only be listed once:
Fun fact before we start, the Browns have never had a quarterback hit the 90 overall range since coming back.
From LaVar Arrington and Kerry Collins to Saquon Barkley and Micah Parsons, Penn State has had some big names drafted in the first round by NFL teams over the years.
After seeing two players be selected in the first round of the 2021 NFL draft, with [autotag]Micah Parsons[/autotag] and [autotag]Odafe Oweh[/autotag], Penn State is hoping to see at least one more player go in the first round of the 2022 NFL draft. And there is a good chance a Nittany Lion will be selected in the first round with wide receiver [autotag]Jahan Dotson[/autotag] and defensive end [autotag]Arnold Ebiketie[/autotag] each being viewed as potential first-round selections.
Penn State has a history of developing NFL talent at all positions, but the school may not have quite as many first-round draft picks as you might have originally thought. Since joining the Big Ten in 1993, Penn State has had 19 players drafted in the first round of the NFL draft. Three players highlighted the top 10 of the 1995 draft following Penn State’s undefeated 1994 season. In 2003, Penn State players were selected with four first-round picks by NFL teams.
A Penn State player has been selected with the top overall pick twice in the Big Ten era of the program. Running back [autotag]Ki-Jana Carter[/autotag] was the first pick of the 1995 draft by the Cincinnati Bengals, who traded up to make the move. In 2003, Penn State’s massive defensive lineman [autotag]Courtney Brown[/autotag] was the first pick of the draft by the Cleveland Browns. His teammate, linebacker [autotag]LaVar Arrington[/autotag], followed as the No. 2 pick of Washington.
Here is a look at each first-round draft pick out of Penn State since the Nittany Lions joined the Big Ten.
Penn State Bowl History: LaVar Arrington and Courtney Brown spoil the college finale of Kentucky QB Tim Couch in the 1999 Outback Bowl
The headlining story of the 1999 Outback Bowl was Kentucky quarterback Tim Couch. The consensus All-American and the SEC Player of the Year in 1998 was on his way to being the No. 1 overall draft pick in the 1999 NFL draft, but Penn State’s defense made sure Couch didn’t go out of the college game a winner. Penn State’s defense was dominant against the Wildcats on their way to a 26-14 victory in the 1999 Outback Bowl.
The 1999 Outback Bowl was the first New Years Day bowl game for Kentucky in 48 years, so it was a big deal for the Kentucky program and the perfect opportunity for the school’s best quarterback of all time to go out with a curtain call. But this was old hat for Penn State, and for the second time in four years the Nittany Lions came out on top of the Outback Bowl against an SEC opponent.
Kentucky did hold a 14-3 lead on Penn State in the first quarter, but Penn State shut things down for the Wildcats and their air raid offense for the rest of the game. And who else to lead that dominant defensive effort than the duo of LaVar Arrington and Courtney Brown?
Kentucky quarterback Tim Couch looks for an open receiver during the Outback Bowl against Penn State. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)
Little did we know at the time, but the 1999 Outback Bowl ended up having back-to-back No. 1 NFL draft picks going against each other. Couch was the top pick in the 1999 NFL draft and Brown was the first pick of the 2000 NFL draft, both going to the Cleveland Browns. And, of course, Arrington would be the No. 2 pick in the 2000 NFL draft.
Brown, who was named the game’s MVP, came up huge for the Penn State defense with back-to-back sacks of his future teammate in Cleveland to thwart Kentucky’s 17-play drive that reached the Penn State seven-yard line in the fourth quarter, with Kentucky threatening to cut Penn State’s lead to just five points.
Kentucky’s quarterback did set the Outback Bowl record with 336 passing yards but Penn State sacked the SEC Player of the Year six times and picked him off twice. Anthony King was responsible for both interceptions for the Penn State defense.
“A couple of things we did confused him,” Paterno said after the game. “We thought if we could make him think a little, we could get the rush to him. You don’t get any better than they were on their first couple of drives. We made some changes. Some of the things we did early in the game just didn’t seem right, and we cut them out.”
Penn State kicker Travis Forney connected on an Outback Bowl-record four field goals in the victory, as Penn State’s offense struggled to finish off too many drives in the end zone. Kevin Thompson did connect with Joe Nastasi on a 56-yard touchdown pass.
Penn State ended the 1999 season with a record of 9-3 with the victory in the Outback Bowl, ending the season in the final AP Top 25 poll at No. 17, four spots lower than their preseason ranking. It was a season in which Penn State proved to be a pretty good team overall but had their obvious shortcomings against superior opponents. Penn State had been unable to hang with No. 1 Ohio State in a road game (28-9) and the Nittany Lions were blanked by No. 22 Michigan in a stunning upset for the No. 9 Nittany Lions (27-0). Penn State also came up small on the road against No. 13 Wisconsin (24-3). While Kentucky was unranked for the bowl matchup, it was still considered a bit of a confidence boost for the Nittany Lions heading into the 2000 season.
Penn State opened the 2000 season with high expectations with a No. 3 AP Top 25 preseason ranking, and the Nittany Lions climbed to No. 2 for the majority of the regular season after thumping No. 4 Arizona in the Pigskin Classic to open the season at home. The 2000 season crumbled with a three-game losing streak to end the regular season, starting with a stunning loss to Minnesota, followed by losses to Michigan and Michigan State to close out the regular season before ending the year with a shutout of Texas A&M in the Alamo Bowl.
