The First Round of the 2023 NFL Draft saw six players from Big 12 schools selected, meaning 19% of the First Round picks came from the Big 12.
In the past 10 years, Big 12 schools (including newcomers UCF, Houston, BYU and Cincinnati) have had 31 First Round picks with Oklahoma State having one of those selections — Justin Gilbert in 2014. That puts OSU in a tie for eighth in the 14-team league in First Round picks across the past decade. If you prefer to look at the glass half empty, that also puts the Cowboys in a tie for 13th.
Here is a look at each team’s number of First Round picks and their win total across the past 10 years with some takeaways to follow.
School | First Round Picks | Wins |
Oklahoma | 6 | 103 |
TCU | 6 | 80 |
UCF | 3 | 86* |
Houston | 3 | 80* |
Texas Tech | 3 | 58 |
Texas | 2 | 69 |
West Virginia | 2 | 66 |
Oklahoma State | 1 | 89 |
BYU | 1 | 81* |
Baylor | 1 | 78 |
Kansas State | 1 | 75 |
Cincinnati | 1 | 75* |
Iowa State | 1 | 54 |
Kansas | 0 | 23 |
Starting with Oklahoma State because that’s what we do here, the Cowboys are one of six teams with one First Round pick over the past decade. However, among those one-pick teams, OSU’s 89 wins reigns supreme. In fact, those 89 wins trail only Oklahoma — a team with six First Round picks — in the league.
The spooky part is if the Cowboys don’t produce a First Rounder next year, they’ll join the Jayhawks at zero because Gilbert’s selection would’ve been 11 years ago at that point (we’re all getting old). With that being said, I think most OSU fans would prefer to rank higher in the win total than the picks total.
It shocked me that TCU was able to tie OU in the number of First Round selections. The Horned Frogs picks are as followed: Quentin Johnston (2023), Jalen Reagor (2020), Jeff Gladney (2020), L.J. Collier (2019), Josh Doctson (2016) and Jason Verrett (2014).
And how about UCF and Houston, two newcomers that each developed a trio of First Round picks despite being at the Group of Five level while doing it.
Lastly, this is another opportunity to sit back and laugh at “big,” “bad” Texas. Despite having all that talent come through the building over the past decade, Texas is hanging out with West Virginia in the number of First Round picks, all while ranking 10th among those schools in wins.
Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog.