Players taken in the NFL draft by conference

Bet you didn’t know:

• USC Trojans accounted for 11 of the 32 Pac-10 players drafted including 3 of the 4 1st rounders.
• BCS Conference/non-conference with the lowest number of picks was Notre Dame (Independent) with just 1.
• Big Ten’s 28 picks equaled last seasons’ 28 players taken in the 2008 Draft.
• Big Ten’s 4 1st-rounders is equal to last season’s 4 players taken in the 1st-round of the 2008 Draft.
• SEC’s 8 1st-round picks is tied for second (1999) for the highest number of selections in the first round.
• 6 different SEC schools had at least 1 first rounder selected. (Georgia, LSU, Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, Ole Miss)

Big Ten Conference

Taking a look at the Big Ten specifically, here are some notable numbers:

• DE Aaron Maybin was the 1st Big Ten player to be selected (with the 11th pick) in this year’s draft by the Buffalo Bills.
• Maybin becomes the 7th first-rounder in 6 years for the Nittany Lions.
• Penn State’s 5 drafted players is 3 more than the 2 selected in the 2008 Draft.
• With 5 Penn State players selected in the 2009 Draft, 239 players have now been coached and selected under Joe Paterno.
• Heading into the 2009 Draft, Ohio State led the nation with 42 players chosen in the past 6 years followed by USC at 40. With the conclusion of this year’s draft, Ohio State drops to the second spot (49) behind USC (now at 51) for players drafted in the last 7 years.
• 1 year after having the 2008 Draft’s first overall pick in Jack Long and 6 overall draft picks, Michigan only had 2 players selected in 2009 tied for 6th in the Big Ten with Purdue.

Congratulations to Aaron Maybin, Derrick Williams, Deon Butler, Rich Ohrnberger, AQ Shipley and Jordan Norwood.