ACC, Pac-12 end SEC's reign at NFL Draft

Leonard Williams was one of two Pac-12 players selected in the top six of this year’s draft. (USATSI)

After having 23 players selected in the first round of the NFL draft over the last two events, the SEC lost its spot on the throne on Thursday when the ACC and Pac-12 each saw nine of their players selected among the first 32 picks in Chicago.

The SEC has led the way in first-round selections in each of the last four drafts, an honor the neither the ACC nor Pac-12 has been able to claim since 2007 and 2003, respectively.

Here’s how the picks broke down by conference this year:

ACC — 9

Pac-12 — 9

SEC — 7

Big Ten — 3

Big 12 — 2

AAC — 2

The nine selections set a league record for the Pac-12, which led the way with eight players picked in 2013.

The SEC’s seven picks were its fewest since 2008 (six), while the Big Ten and Big 12 are used to having their players overlooked. The Big Ten only had one first-round selection as recently as 2013 (its worst first round ever), while the Big 12 has not seen more than five players picked in the first 32 slots since 2011.

Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston was the ACC’s first No. 1 overall pick since 2006 (Mario Williams, NC State).

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.