College Football

2013 NFL Draft picks by conference, recruit rating, state

SEC dominates draft day, while the usual suspects churn out NFL talent.

By Patrick Vint Apr 28, 2013, 10:51am EDT

With the 2013 NFL Draft complete, bragging rights go to the SEC and California.

DRAFT PICKS BY CONFERENCE

Final "conference" draft picks: SEC East 32, SEC West 31, ACC 31, Pac-12 28, Big 12 22, Big Ten 22. bit.ly/Y57kuf
— Jon Solomon (@jonsol) April 27, 2013

The SEC dominated Thursday night's first round, accounting for 12 of the first 31 picks (as opposed to just one for the Big Ten and Big East). The league's dominance continued through all three days, with its 63 draft picks setting a new record for most from one conference and doubling the total of any other league. The vast majority of those selections came from the SEC's four premiere programs: Alabama, Georgia, Florida and LSU. Those four teams accounted for more draft picks than any league.

The ACC recorded 31 picks, including six in the first round. It was a disappointing draft for the Big Ten and Big 12, which only got 22 selections each.

DRAFT PICKS BY STATE

NFL Draft HS By State: 1. CA (28) 2. FL (27) 3. TX (25) 4. GA (19) 5. SC (13) 6. LA (11); OH (11) 8. PA (9) 9. AL (8) 10. NJ, VA, NC (7)
— Texas HS Football (@texashsfootball) April 28, 2013

Texas dominated Thursday's first round, with four selections coming from the Lone Star State. California and Florida caught up on Friday and Saturday, eventually taking top honors. More intriguing than the raw data is the density of NFL talent: South Carolina (1 NFL draft pick in 363,000), Louisiana (1 in 418,000) and Georgia (1 in 522,000) are generating pros at a far higher rate than any other states. In fact, if the same percentage of Californians were NFL picks, the state would have produced 105 draft picks this weekend.

DRAFT PICKS BY RECRUITING RANKING

2013#NFL Draft Recruiting Rankings 5-Star:194-Star:843-Star:742-Star:47Not Rated: 30"
— UnderTheRadar (@_UnderTheRadar_) April 28, 2013

After an underwhelming start, the recruiting services had a good weekend. The average Rivals rating of a 2013 first round draft pick was 3.53, despite the fourth pick being an unheralded high school quarterback turned offensive tackle and the fifth pick was a basketball player from Ghana. Two-star tackles might occasionally fall through the cracks, but it remains true that five- and four-star players have a much better chance of making the NFL than their two-star counterparts.