The first round of the NFL Draft is in the books. I've always approached this event from the college angle, given that's where most of my interest is, and it's far from a perfect measure of how much college talent was on a team though it's probably no better or worse than recruiting rankings in that regard.
So let's take a quick look at this from a Power 5 conference point of view. But first, here's the first round position breakdown.
| Position | Players Selected |
| Defensive Line | 10 |
| Offensive Line | 6 |
| Linebacker | 5 |
| Quarterback | 3 |
| Defensive Back | 3 |
| Tight End | 2 |
| Wide Receiver | 2 |
| Running Back | 1 |
SEC (9 picks): The conference "where it just means more" once again had more first-round picks than any other conference. Three of the five linebackers taken hailed from the SEC. Alabama wasn't the runaway winner this year, however. The Tide tied for the SEC lead with three picks, same as Mississippi State.
ACC (7 picks): 2018 was a bad season for ACC football as a whole, but a great year for Clemson. The first-round of the draft reflected that to some degree as the Tigers had three(!) defensive linemen drafted. Better be pretty good if that was the case and Clemson, of course, was very good. Duke got on the board thanks to quarterback Daniel Jones and North Carolina State had a player go after having seven selected in the first five rounds last year.
Big Ten (7 picks): Not bad first round for the Big Ten. Ohio State, Michigan and Iowa (thanks to its two tight ends) each had two players selected. Maryland had the first defensive back selected in the draft. Safety Darnell Savage went to Green Bay with the 21st pick. None of those seven picks, however, were offensive linemen.
Big 12 (3 picks): It looked for a moment like Oklahoma, which had first pick Kyler Murray and 25th pick Marquise Brown, might account for all of the players selected in the first round from the Big 12. TCU defensive end L.J. Collier went to Seattle with the 29th pick.
Pac-12 (3 picks): In terms of conforming to the current narrative, the Pac-12 did a good job on Thursday night. And that's bad as the current narrative around the strength of the conference isn't great at the moment. The first Pac-12 player didn't come off the board until Washington State offensive tackle Andre Dillard went to Philadelphia with the 22nd pick. Washington tackle Kaleb McGary (Falcons) and Arizona State wide receiver N'keal Henry (Patriots) closed out the first round as the 31st and 32nd picks respectively.
The Grab Bag
- Redshirt freshman defensive back Cam Jones is leaving the program.
- Jacob Padilla breaks down the 2019 Nebraska volleyball schedule.
- Greg Smith looks at the young in-state talent in Nebraska.
- Kyle Kardell previews Nebraska’s weekend series with Illinois.
Today’s Song of Today
Brandon is the Managing Editor for Hail Varsity and has covered Nebraska athletics for the magazine and web since 2012, Hail Varsity’s first season on the scene. His sports writing has also been featured by Fox Sports, The Guardian and CBS Sports.
