Some colleges are simply better at producing professional level athletes than others. David Kenyon of Bleacher Report compiled a list of the top 10 colleges for sending athletes to the big four professional sports in America; football, baseball, basketball, and hockey. To no surprise the list is dominated by the NFL, with over 50 percent of the athletes listed being NFL players. All hail 63-man rosters.
Alabama, Florida, LSU, Ohio State, Miami, Michigan, Notre Dame, Florida State, USC, Texas and North Carolina, the latter two tied for 10th, are the pro sports factories. Why not take this list a step forward and into the Dallas Cowboys stratosphere by taking a deeper look at schools new head coach Mike McCarthy, and new defensive coach Mike Nolan, have preferred over the years.
Coaching changes in the NFL can sometimes create more questions than answers for fans. This is especially true around the time of the draft. Front offices and fans can get accustomed to their coach’s tendencies on positions, attitudes, colleges, upside vs risk; all these things and many more are trackable factors, and potentially predictive for future drafts.
For instance, Cowboys fans could cross multiple players off their hopeful draft boards because they knew the player would not have fit Jason Garrett’s “right kind of guy” mold. With McCarthy now at the wheel, Cowboys fans are not yet sure what to expect this April.
Mike McCarthy and Mike Nolan’s draft history
Searching through all of their draft selections made as head coaches (and also defensive coordinator for Nolan) the group isn’t exactly who one would expect after reading Bleacher Report’s article. Here are the findings.
T-4th – North Carolina (3)
Ryan Taylor (TE)
Kentwan Balmer (DT)
Tommy Thigpen (LB)
T-4th – Florida (3)
Ray McDonald (DE)
Joe Cohen (DE)
DeShawn Wynn (RB)
T-4th – Ohio State (3)
Austin Spliter (LB)
Larry Grant (LB)
Corey Linsey (OL)
3rd – Miami (4)
Ed Reed (S)
Twan Russell( LB)
Kenard Lang (DE)
Jessie Armstead (LB)
2nd – LSU (5)
Melvin Oliver (DE)
Rodney Young (S)
Quinn Johnson (FB)
Matt Flynn (QB)
Malachi Dupree (WR)
1st – Notre Dame (6)
Anthony Weaver (DE)
Gerome Sapp (S)
David Burton (S)
Zeke Motta (S)
Prince Shembo (LB)
Equanimeous St. Brown (WR)
What does all this mean? Now, it very well could mean little and we see the Cowboys select no players from these six schools. However, coaches develop relationships with colleges and their coaches and more often than not we see these tendencies and relationships become a factor in the draft process. The best example is the clear connection the Cowboys last regime had with the Boise State Broncos that proved true, and beneficial, year after year.
With all this in mind, here are some prospects from each of the schools mentioned that Cowboys fans should keep in mind.
Players like Joe Burrow and Chase Young that are pipe-dreams for teams drafting where Dallas is were not included. The overall and position rankings were provided by Dane Brugler of The Athletic’s Top 100.
Notre Dame
Khalid Kareem, DE-5, 6-foot-4, 265 pounds (39th overall)
Cole Kmet, TE-1, 6-foot-5, 250 pounds (41st overall)
Julian Okwara, DE-7, 6-foot-5, 242 pounds (44th overall)
Chase Claypool, WR-17, 6-foot-4, 230 pounds (92nd overall)
Troy Pride Jr., CB, 5-foot-11, 193 pounds (Draft analysis provided by Blogging The Boys)
LSU
– Kristian Fulton, CB-3, 6-foot, 194 pounds (20th overall)
– K’Lavon Chaisson, DE-4, 6-foot-3, 240 pounds (26th overall)
– Grant Delpit, S-1, 6-foot-2, 206 pounds (27th overall)
– Justin Jefferson, WR-7, 6-foot-3, 192 pounds (37th overall)
Ohio State
– Damon Arnette, CB-5, 6-foot, 195 pounds (43rd overall)
– Malik Harrison, LB-4, 6-foot-3, 251 pounds (66th overall)
– Davon Hamilton, DT-9, 6-foot-4, 317 pounds(87th overall)
Florida
– CJ Henderson, CB-4, 6-foot-1, 196 pounds (24th overall)
– Jonathan Greenard, DE-8, 6-foot-3, 265 pounds(54th overall)
– Jabari Zuniga, DE-14, 6-foot-3, 256 pounds (80th overall)
North Carolina
– Jason Strowbridge, DE-13, 6-foot-4, 261 pounds (77th overall)
For dedicated football fans the NFL draft isn’t just another weekend in April. To those fans, the draft is about hope. Will that player you love fall to your team’s pick? Can the college stud change your favorite teams fortune in the big leagues the same way he did his college program?
If any fan’s preferred target is on the above list, the likelihood Dallas is interested in them may have just moved up a notch.
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