[h=1]Best NFL-producing programs[/h][h=3]USC, Notre Dame among colleges with strong professional track record[/h]By Brad Edwards | ESPN Insider
Not so long ago, Penn State was widely known as "Linebacker U."
Under Joe Paterno, the Nittany Lions produced a cavalcade of top-notch linebackers -- bone-crushers such as Jack Ham, Greg Buttle, Shane Conlan, Andre Collins, LaVar Arrington and Paul Posluszny, just to name a few -- and many of them went on to have outstanding NFL careers, as well.
Around the same time, perhaps a little earlier, USC was being referred to as "Tailback U" because of Heisman Trophy winners Mike Garrett, O.J. Simpson, Charles White and Marcus Allen -- not to mention a few other All-American running backs who didn't take home the bronze statue.
That got me to thinking about which colleges are currently the best at producing NFL difference-makers within a specific position group. I looked at draft picks, number of players to start games and number of players to make the Pro Bowl in recent seasons, which helped me compile a short list. It doesn't include the offensive glamour spots -- quarterback, running back and wide receiver -- because aside from Georgia Tech having two of the most freakishly talented wideouts in the league (Calvin Johnson and Demaryius Thomas), not much is there for one school to brag about.
With that said, here are the biggest college pipelines of NFL talent at specific positions. These eight groups stood out to me in this order.
1. Offensive line -- USC Trojans
This might not be the first position group that people associate with USC, but it's the spot where the Trojans are making their biggest impression in the league currently. It starts with All-Pro center Ryan Kalil, but the most noteworthy thing about this crop of USC linemen is the number of successful offensive tackles. Sam Baker, Charles Brown, Winston Justice, Matt Kalil and Tyron Smith each has started at least 12 NFL games at tackle in the past two seasons. That's some serious value.
Who's next: Mel Kiper ranks USC's Marcus Martin as the best center in this year's draft.
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2. Defensive backs -- LSU Tigers
LSU grabbed my attention with this note from the Elias Sports Bureau: In the past five seasons, 15 former LSU players have started at least one game in an NFL secondary. The Tigers began regularly churning out pro defensive backs when Nick Saban was in charge, and it hasn't slowed down one bit under Les Miles. Eric Reid and Tyrann Mathieu made an immediate impact from last year's draft class, and Patrick Peterson is one of the best in the league. LaRon Landry and Ryan Clark also have been named to the Pro Bowl within the past three years.
Who's next: Todd McShay ranks LSU's Craig Loston as the sixth-best safety in this year's draft.
3. Defensive backs -- Texas Longhorns
Mack Brown had an impressive haul of defensive backs during his years as coach, and many of them have enjoyed success in the NFL -- most recently Kenny Vaccaro, Aaron Williams and Earl Thomas. According to Elias, eight Longhorns started at least one game at DB in the NFL last season, and nine defensive backs from Texas have made at least eight starts in a single season during the past three years. That's impressive depth.
4. Linebackers -- USC Trojans
If there's a current "Linebacker U" in the NFL, it would be USC, which is the college home of Clay Matthews, Brian Cushing, Rey Maualuga, Keith Rivers and Super Bowl XLVIII MVP Malcolm Smith. The first four of that group entered the league on the heels of Lofa Tatupu, making for an impressive run of Pete Carroll linebacker recruits. Smith, however, is the only standout who has made his NFL debut within the past five years, and he wasn't really known until 2013. It makes you wonder if the pipeline may be running dry.
5. Offensive line -- Wisconsin Badgers
On the college level, great offensive line play is much more a part of Wisconsin's identity than USC's, and the Badgers are starting to see that reputation extend to the NFL. Joe Thomas is the most acclaimed of this group, but in the past three years, guys like Kraig Urbik, Peter Konz, Kevin Zeitler and Travis Frederick have also shown their worth. All five of these players started 11 or more games for their respective teams in 2013. Throw in Gabe Carimi (who has struggled mightily in his brief career), and you've got two tackles, two guards and two centers from Wisconsin with a lot of recent starting experience in the league.
6. Linebackers -- Georgia Bulldogs
As much as you might not associate Georgia with excellent linebacking, it's right up there with USC in terms of current NFL production at the position. Last season, Thomas Davis, Alec Ogletree and Dannell Ellerbe each had more than 100 tackles, Justin Houston had 11 sacks and Akeem Dent and Jarvis Jones also had productive seasons. If you're surprised by this, also consider that UGA has had a league-high 13 different players start on NFL defensive lines during the last five seasons (according to Elias), making the Dawgs arguably the program that has the biggest current impact on NFL defensive front sevens.
7. Tight end -- Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Since 2000, Miami has been "Tight End U" in the NFL, boasting Bubba Franks, Jeremy Shockey, Kellen Winslow, Greg Olsen and Jimmy Graham. But most of those guys (with the exception of Graham) are either retired or on the back end of their careers, opening the door for a changing of the guard at this position. Notre Dame has four tight ends in the league right now -- Anthony Fasano, John Carlson, Kyle Rudolph and Tyler Eifert -- and all are productive. Fasano was the only member of this quartet to not have at least 30 receptions last season, and he had 23 in just nine games due to injuries (ankle, concussion).
Who's next: Notre Dame TE Troy Niklas ranks 66th on Kiper's list of Top 100 draft prospects.
8. Defensive backs - South Carolina Gamecocks
I didn't really want to add a third school for defensive backs, but South Carolina's talent has been too good to ignore. NFL fans probably know these names better than SEC fans do from having watched them play in college in the past decade-plus: Sheldon Brown, Dunta Robinson, Johnathan Joseph, Captain Munnerlyn, Chris Culliver, Antonio Allen, Stephon Gilmore and D.J. Swearinger are the ones who jumped out at me. And there's enough young talent in this group for them to possibly surpass LSU and Texas in a few years.
Other observations:
• Cal fans have every right to be disappointed about the mediocrity their program has endured since the very early years of the Jeff Tedford era. While Cal isn't loaded in any one area, it does have at least one impact NFL player at almost every position. If there had been enough linemen to go along with Alex Mack, you could've put together a Pro Bowl offense from Cal alone. Think about Aaron Rodgers at quarterback, Marshawn Lynch at running back, DeSean Jackson and Keenan Allen at wide receiver, and maybe even bring Tony Gonzalez out of retirement to play tight end. And the defense wouldn't be too shabby, either.
• I was surprised to see the number of recent Pro Bowlers from Utah, especially when you consider that these players were all recruited to compete in the Mountain West Conference. This group is not a product of the school's recent move to the Pac-12: Steve Smith, Jordan Gross, Zane Beadles, Eric Weddle and Paul Soliai. That's just the Pro Bowl guys from the past three seasons. The Utes have several more good players in the league on top of that.
Not so long ago, Penn State was widely known as "Linebacker U."
Under Joe Paterno, the Nittany Lions produced a cavalcade of top-notch linebackers -- bone-crushers such as Jack Ham, Greg Buttle, Shane Conlan, Andre Collins, LaVar Arrington and Paul Posluszny, just to name a few -- and many of them went on to have outstanding NFL careers, as well.
Around the same time, perhaps a little earlier, USC was being referred to as "Tailback U" because of Heisman Trophy winners Mike Garrett, O.J. Simpson, Charles White and Marcus Allen -- not to mention a few other All-American running backs who didn't take home the bronze statue.
That got me to thinking about which colleges are currently the best at producing NFL difference-makers within a specific position group. I looked at draft picks, number of players to start games and number of players to make the Pro Bowl in recent seasons, which helped me compile a short list. It doesn't include the offensive glamour spots -- quarterback, running back and wide receiver -- because aside from Georgia Tech having two of the most freakishly talented wideouts in the league (Calvin Johnson and Demaryius Thomas), not much is there for one school to brag about.
With that said, here are the biggest college pipelines of NFL talent at specific positions. These eight groups stood out to me in this order.
1. Offensive line -- USC Trojans
This might not be the first position group that people associate with USC, but it's the spot where the Trojans are making their biggest impression in the league currently. It starts with All-Pro center Ryan Kalil, but the most noteworthy thing about this crop of USC linemen is the number of successful offensive tackles. Sam Baker, Charles Brown, Winston Justice, Matt Kalil and Tyron Smith each has started at least 12 NFL games at tackle in the past two seasons. That's some serious value.
Who's next: Mel Kiper ranks USC's Marcus Martin as the best center in this year's draft.
<OFFER></OFFER>
2. Defensive backs -- LSU Tigers
LSU grabbed my attention with this note from the Elias Sports Bureau: In the past five seasons, 15 former LSU players have started at least one game in an NFL secondary. The Tigers began regularly churning out pro defensive backs when Nick Saban was in charge, and it hasn't slowed down one bit under Les Miles. Eric Reid and Tyrann Mathieu made an immediate impact from last year's draft class, and Patrick Peterson is one of the best in the league. LaRon Landry and Ryan Clark also have been named to the Pro Bowl within the past three years.
Who's next: Todd McShay ranks LSU's Craig Loston as the sixth-best safety in this year's draft.
3. Defensive backs -- Texas Longhorns
Mack Brown had an impressive haul of defensive backs during his years as coach, and many of them have enjoyed success in the NFL -- most recently Kenny Vaccaro, Aaron Williams and Earl Thomas. According to Elias, eight Longhorns started at least one game at DB in the NFL last season, and nine defensive backs from Texas have made at least eight starts in a single season during the past three years. That's impressive depth.
4. Linebackers -- USC Trojans
If there's a current "Linebacker U" in the NFL, it would be USC, which is the college home of Clay Matthews, Brian Cushing, Rey Maualuga, Keith Rivers and Super Bowl XLVIII MVP Malcolm Smith. The first four of that group entered the league on the heels of Lofa Tatupu, making for an impressive run of Pete Carroll linebacker recruits. Smith, however, is the only standout who has made his NFL debut within the past five years, and he wasn't really known until 2013. It makes you wonder if the pipeline may be running dry.
5. Offensive line -- Wisconsin Badgers
On the college level, great offensive line play is much more a part of Wisconsin's identity than USC's, and the Badgers are starting to see that reputation extend to the NFL. Joe Thomas is the most acclaimed of this group, but in the past three years, guys like Kraig Urbik, Peter Konz, Kevin Zeitler and Travis Frederick have also shown their worth. All five of these players started 11 or more games for their respective teams in 2013. Throw in Gabe Carimi (who has struggled mightily in his brief career), and you've got two tackles, two guards and two centers from Wisconsin with a lot of recent starting experience in the league.
6. Linebackers -- Georgia Bulldogs
As much as you might not associate Georgia with excellent linebacking, it's right up there with USC in terms of current NFL production at the position. Last season, Thomas Davis, Alec Ogletree and Dannell Ellerbe each had more than 100 tackles, Justin Houston had 11 sacks and Akeem Dent and Jarvis Jones also had productive seasons. If you're surprised by this, also consider that UGA has had a league-high 13 different players start on NFL defensive lines during the last five seasons (according to Elias), making the Dawgs arguably the program that has the biggest current impact on NFL defensive front sevens.
7. Tight end -- Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Since 2000, Miami has been "Tight End U" in the NFL, boasting Bubba Franks, Jeremy Shockey, Kellen Winslow, Greg Olsen and Jimmy Graham. But most of those guys (with the exception of Graham) are either retired or on the back end of their careers, opening the door for a changing of the guard at this position. Notre Dame has four tight ends in the league right now -- Anthony Fasano, John Carlson, Kyle Rudolph and Tyler Eifert -- and all are productive. Fasano was the only member of this quartet to not have at least 30 receptions last season, and he had 23 in just nine games due to injuries (ankle, concussion).
Who's next: Notre Dame TE Troy Niklas ranks 66th on Kiper's list of Top 100 draft prospects.
8. Defensive backs - South Carolina Gamecocks
I didn't really want to add a third school for defensive backs, but South Carolina's talent has been too good to ignore. NFL fans probably know these names better than SEC fans do from having watched them play in college in the past decade-plus: Sheldon Brown, Dunta Robinson, Johnathan Joseph, Captain Munnerlyn, Chris Culliver, Antonio Allen, Stephon Gilmore and D.J. Swearinger are the ones who jumped out at me. And there's enough young talent in this group for them to possibly surpass LSU and Texas in a few years.
• Cal fans have every right to be disappointed about the mediocrity their program has endured since the very early years of the Jeff Tedford era. While Cal isn't loaded in any one area, it does have at least one impact NFL player at almost every position. If there had been enough linemen to go along with Alex Mack, you could've put together a Pro Bowl offense from Cal alone. Think about Aaron Rodgers at quarterback, Marshawn Lynch at running back, DeSean Jackson and Keenan Allen at wide receiver, and maybe even bring Tony Gonzalez out of retirement to play tight end. And the defense wouldn't be too shabby, either.
• I was surprised to see the number of recent Pro Bowlers from Utah, especially when you consider that these players were all recruited to compete in the Mountain West Conference. This group is not a product of the school's recent move to the Pac-12: Steve Smith, Jordan Gross, Zane Beadles, Eric Weddle and Paul Soliai. That's just the Pro Bowl guys from the past three seasons. The Utes have several more good players in the league on top of that.
