West Virginia Football is Producing More NFL Talent Than Ever Before

Reddit can be a wonderful thing. The College Football thread portion of Reddit posted the number of NFL players, both draft picks and undrafted free agents who signed with a team, by school. The list encompasses the 2013 through 2017 NFL Draft (or 2012-2016 NCAA seasons).

It should come as no surprise that Alabama has surpassed everyone with 65 players since 2013. LSU and Florida are close behind with 61 and 60. With 51 players, the Clemson Tigers are tied with their Auburn brethren and the Oklahoma Sooners. As you continue down the list, you continue to find college blue bloods: Michigan, Miami, Southern California, Georgia, and Notre Dame.

In 20th position are the West Virginia Mountaineers, with 36 players either drafted or signed since 2013. They are tied with Stanford and Missouri. The timeframe of the thread is curious as it is the date of the last major realignment by the conferences. Also notable is that despite a 36-28 record in the Big 12, West Virginia has produced the second most NFL talent of all the Big 12 teams.

The Mountaineers have produced 3 of the 8 Big 12 players selected in the first round: Tavon Austin, Kevin White and Karl Joseph. TCU is the only other Big 12 school to produce multiple first round selections during that span.