Michigan is now in all-time top-10 of 1st round draft picks

Submitted by Human Torpedo on

This rankings graph hasn't been updated since yesterday, so now we've officially passed Florida State in first rounders all-time. By the way, I think we had 43 1st round picks before so this might be a tad inaccurate, but now I guess we at least broke the tie with FSU

http://www.winsipedia.com/ranking/first-round-nfl-draft-picks

UM Fan from Sydney

April 28th, 2017 at 2:16 PM ^

As much as I hate it when great players leave early for the draft, it's good for the program; great recruiting tool.

Human Torpedo

April 28th, 2017 at 2:35 PM ^

7 major poll national titles whereas Michigan only has 2 of those (1948 and 1997). Not to mention their countless Rose Bowl wins, with 6 coming against us. I love U-M football and think we deserve blueblood status, but let's not pretend there aren't programs on equal footing (or better) in prestige as us

ak47

April 28th, 2017 at 2:57 PM ^

Trying to argue with stats from before like 1950 just makes you look like you are trying to hard.  Its great michigan has the most wins and best winnng percentage of all time.  Those are things to be proud of.   But you also have to acknowledge that the vast majority of people aren't going to put a lot of stock in beating glorified high school teams in 1908 when comparing programs, they are going to compare periods where the game was actually somewhat regulated across different regions.

Stringer Bell

April 28th, 2017 at 3:21 PM ^

What are you talking about? USC has been playing football about as long as we have. They obviously have access to an unreal amount of talent, as evidenced by the number of draft picks and first rounders they've had throughout history. It seems like they've underachieved, all things considered. That was my point.

bronxblue

April 28th, 2017 at 4:07 PM ^

Since 1950, USC and UM are almost equal in terms of wins.  USC has a record of 539-225-20 for 68% winning percentage.  Michigan is 525-222-13, for a winning percentage of 69%.  If you factor out the wins USC lost after the most recent sanctions, they have the same number of wins as Michigan.  So, despite having 37 more 1st-rounders than Michigan in the draft era, they haven't done much more with it.  But both teams can take to heart the fact ND has won 506 games since 1950, proving that for every claim Michigan lives in the past, ND says "hold my beer...er, God-fearing Holy Water" and doubles it up.

By comparison, and this hurts, but OSU has won 564 games (sanctions-adjusted).  

doggdetroit

April 28th, 2017 at 6:14 PM ^

Since 1947...



National Titles-

USC: 7

Michigan: 3



Conference Titles-

USC: 28

Michigan: 26



Rose Bowl Record-

USC: 17-8

Michigan: 7-12



Head to Head:

USC leads 6-4 (6-2 in the Rose Bowl)



I'd say that's doing more, since they have the edge in basically every important metric. And if we start the clock at 1950, Michigan loses 2 national titles.



Also, don't be that guy who adjusts for vacated wins. It's pretty lame.

bronxblue

April 28th, 2017 at 9:16 PM ^

So other than national titles, , they are virtual indistinguishable save for Rose Bowls (which USC gets to play at home).  And there isn't a team in the Pac-12 that compares to OSU as a rival for USC, competing for the same conference titles.  So being nearly as close as USC in that metric is pretty impressive.  

And "don't be the guy who adjusts for vacated wins" is incredibly condescending and also factually incorrect.  The NCAA record books certainly adjusts for vacated wins.  That's what happens when you get caught cheating; you lose wins.  And even with those wins, they are just barely ahead of Michigan, and that includes Michigan only recently overcoming what was by far the least successful stretch of their history in 50+ years.  

My larger point was that USC has had a clear talent advantage compared to basically every other major college program since the draft was instantiated and yet isn't statistically much different than Michigan, a team we always hear about as wasting the talent they have.  I think USC is a solid program, but if the point being argued is that they are heads-and-tails above Michigan and that UM's only claim to fame was a bunch of stuff that happened during various World Wars, then it's fair to point out that USC isn't some juggernaut you'd sort of assume given the fact they are an NFL factory.

UM Fan from Sydney

April 28th, 2017 at 3:00 PM ^

Prior to this draft, USC and ND are numbers one and two by far and are about six apart from each other. I think OSU is number three, but they are something like thirty or forty behind ND, so it's quite a difference.

MGoStrength

April 28th, 2017 at 2:47 PM ^

I think that is actually kinda low considering ND has 22 more and OSU has 32 more than UM.  Plus UM only has a few more than Neb, PSU, and MSU.  I wouldn't be too proud of that personally.  Hopefully we can make up some ground in the next decade.

blueblueblue

April 28th, 2017 at 3:05 PM ^

Wow, the disparity between UM and OSU is surprisingly large, just as the disparity between UM and MSU is surprisingly small. 

Either this ranking means a lot, or it means very little. I can't figure out which. 

LSAClassOf2000

April 28th, 2017 at 3:51 PM ^

It's interesting to see that we're sixth in number of picks regardless of round though, with USC Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Nebraska sitting ahead of us. Actually the drop is significant between third and fourth place in that particulae metric. 

chatster

April 28th, 2017 at 4:01 PM ^

Just go back four years to the 2013 NFL Draft and see what happened to the first ten players selected (I've used four seasons, because we usually judge a college football player's career based on four seasons of possible playing time, so I've judged the NFL player's career based on his first four seasons.)
  1. Eric Fisher (Western Michigan; Chiefs OT) - starter at left tackle after shaky first season
  2. Luke Joeckel (Texas A & M; Jaguars OT) - missed most of two seasons with injuries; signed as free agent with Seahawks for 2017
  3. Dion Jordan (Oregon; Dolphins DE) - missed six games in 2014 and all of 2015 due to drug suspensions; signed as free agent with Seahawks for 2017
  4. Lane Johnson (Oklahoma; Eagles OT) - Pro Football Focus All Pro in 2014 after missing four games due to drug suspension; ten-game drug suspension in 2016 
  5. Ezekiel Ansah (BYU; Lions DE) - made Pro Bowl in 2015
  6. Barkevious Mingo (LSU; Browns LB) - traded to Super Bowl winning Patriots in 2016; signed as free agent with Colts for 2017
  7. Jonathan Cooper (North Carolina; Cardinals G) - missed most of first three seasons with injuries; traded to Patriots in 2016, then picked up on waivers by Browns and played in only three games; signed as free agent with Cowboys for 2017
  8. Tavon Austin (West Virginia; Rams WR/PR) - 181 receptions for 12 TDs and averaging 8.9 yards per punt return with three TDs in four seasons; 98-yard punt return was among the top plays of 2013
  9. Dee Milliner (Alabama; Jets CB) - missed most of four seasons with assorted injuries; released in September 2016 and not signed for 2017
  10. Chance Warmack (Alabama; Titans G) - started every game in first two seasons; missed all but two games in 2016 due to injury; signed as free agent with Eagles for 2017

One of those players is on his third team (Barkevious Mingo), one’s on his fourth team (Jonathan Cooper) and one’s out of the NFL (Dee Milliner). Of the 32 players selected in that first round, only ten (including the Lions’ Zeke Ansah), have made a Pro Bowl team in their first four seasons.

Look at the ten NFL Drafts before 2016 and see how many first roiund picks have made a Pro Bowl team:

  • 2006 - 16 of 32
  • 2007 - 17 of 32
  • 2008 - 12 of 31 (the Patriots lost their pick due to “Spygate.”)
  • 2009 - 11 of 32  
  • 2010 - 16 of 32  
  • 2011 - 15 of 32
  • 2012 - 12 of 32
  • 2013 - 10 of 32
  • 2014 - 13 of 32
  • 2015 - 8 of 32

Reader71

April 28th, 2017 at 6:06 PM ^

I think a lot of this comes from the Bo ethos. You'll play for this, you'll play for that, you'll play for a contract, but you'll never play for the team again.

For many years, we didn't have much to offer the NFL in terms of QB and WR. Even our TE were more blockers than receivers. We sent a lot of linemen and defenders into the league, though.

Lloyd was pretty damn good at putting guys in the league. 3 Hall of Famers (Brady, Woodson, Hutchinson) in his 12 years.

AmayzNblue

April 28th, 2017 at 8:52 PM ^

Based on the youth of FSU's team that beat us in the bowl game, they'll be winning that spot back in 1-2 years.