You’ve heard the saying before: “The SEC, it just means more.” We think we’ve finally cracked the code as to what ‘it’ is.
College football’s juggernaut conference has done it again. 65 SEC football players heard their names called at some point during the 2021 NFL Draft. Believe it or not, that’s a new record, a record previously held by (you guessed it) the SEC. The conference had 63 players drafted last year. The previous record of 64 was set by the conference in 2019.
This is the 15th year in a row the SEC has led all conferences in draft selections. Perhaps even more impressive is the fact each SEC school sent a player to the NFL this weekend.
There’s a reason the Southeastern Conference is so highly respected. It’s an NFL-producing machine.
The SEC got off to a strong start in the first round this past Thursday. 12 players from the conference heard their names called that evening, which began with Kyle Pitts at No. 4 and followed by Ja’Marr Chase at No. 5 and Jaylen Waddle at No. 6. Three straight SEC players came off the board again just one pick later (Jaycee Horn at eight, Patrick Surtain at nine and DeVonta Smith at 10).
Alabama, once again, dominated the 2021 NFL Draft. Six former Crimson Tide players were off the board by the end of the first round. All-in-all, 10 Alabama players were drafted this weekend.
There’s a direct correlation between the SEC’s college football success and its ability to produce NFL players. The conference deserves the respect it’s consistently given.
[
SHOCKING! The SEC led all conferences in draft selections for the 15th straight year. The 65 picks out of the SEC were the most by a conference in a single draft. All 14 SEC schools had at least 1 player selected, the only conference that had every school with a pick.
— Pat Smith (@patsmithradio) May 2, 2021
“>Pat Smith]