Thoughts on the NFL Draft and the talent gap between the Big Ten and top football conferences
Who is the last Big Ten quarterback selected in the first round of the NFL Draft?
That was the question posed to me this morning during a radio spot with Matt Schick and Nick Bahe on Omaha's "The Zone." on 1620 AM. I'll confess that I drew a blank at first. Then stammered. Then thought, "Could it be ..."
It was a shot in the dark, but I gave it my best guess. As it turns out, I was right. Who holds the distinction of being the last Big Ten QB chosen in the first round?
Kerry Collins. The former Penn State QB was chosen fifth overall by the Carolina Panthers in 1995. Before him, Jeff George was the Big Ten's last first-round pick in 1990.
The question came amid a good discussion on the show about the challenges facing the Big Ten in its battle with the SEC for competitive balance in college football. Here's a link to the audio from this morning.
Of course, let's also give the Big Ten its due. They may not have been selected in the first round, but Drew Brees (second round, San Diego in 2001) and Tom Brady (sixth round, New England, 2000) both turned into pretty good pro quarterbacks.
Here's links to two earlier articles that sparked the discussion:
Comments
Macabre Sunset
Fri, Apr 29, 2011 : 7:03 p.m.
You're completely focused on small measures and not looking at the big picture. The BCS is structured to place the winner of a championship game in the championship. The Big Ten does not have a championship game. The SEC is on a nice run, and can claim a small measure of superiority right now, but it's not exactly huge. If Watt had gone one pick earlier yesterday, would your mind be changed? Or if Brees had gone one pick earlier in 2001? It's not like elite players in this area are choosing the SEC over the Big Ten with regularity - if you look at the birthplaces of NFL players, you'll notice a concentration in the southeast - Florida and Louisiana in particular are heavily represented (Michigan is neutral, combining population with NFL representation). Kids tend to look at the local universities first. It is a natural that the SEC will get a few more stars - especially in the skill positions. When you look at linemen, for example, the birthplaces become more evenly distributed amongst the population. At the start of last season, the Big Ten had 231 players on NFL rosters (21 per school). The SEC had 292 (24 per school). The Pac Ten had 191 (19 per school). The Big XII had 200 (17 per school). The ACC had 247 (21 per school). And the Big East had 111 (14 per school). When Big Ten schools start having trouble cleaning up on the top talent in the Midwest, we can talk. I have no trouble saying the SEC is on top right now. But this "gap" assertion is enhanced by a few carefully tailored statistics with very small sample sizes. I would expect this type of argument from Rah Rah Charlie in Gainesville, not from you.
Pete Bigelow
Fri, Apr 29, 2011 : 6:27 p.m.
Macabre, I always enjoy your thoughts here, but I think you're wrong on this one. The gap is not small. SEC teams have won five straight national championships. The Big Ten has won 1 in the past 13 years. From 1991 to 2000: The Big Ten had 21 top-ten draft picks. From 2001 to 2010, the conference had 11. Including last night, the Big Ten has gone 34 consecutive picks without a top-ten selection. The last one was Vernon Gholston going No. 6 in '08. In that span, the SEC has had 13 top-ten picks, the Big 12 has had 10. There's no question the Big Ten is losing the elite players to points elsewhere. Some good news for the conference too (see my second link).
Macabre Sunset
Fri, Apr 29, 2011 : 6:09 p.m.
Yet the Big Ten holds its own on the national stage and has more BCS at-large invitations than any other conference. I'm not saying the SEC doesn't have a good claim to being the "top" conference right now, but the lead is rather small, and referring to a "gap" is rather silly given the number of players in the NFL.