Miami's 14-year first-round NFL draft streak about to end

NFLU2009
CORAL GABLES — For the first time in 14 years, the University of Miami will not have anyone selected in the first round of this weekend's NFL Draft.

No Hurricane will go in the second or third round, either ... or, maybe, at all.

"I would say, yeah, Miami is off the map right now," said Mike Mayock, an NFL Network draft analyst.

That's a crash of Wall Street-sized proportions for UM, which has owned the NFL Draft this decade. Since 1999, the Hurricanes have produced 27 first-round selections, which is more No. 1s than most Division I-A schools have generated in their history.

In second place? Ohio State, with 17 first-rounders in the past 10 years.

Miami's NFL-record run of developing a first-round selection reached 14 years last April, when the New York Giants took Kenny Phillips with the final pick of the opening round.

The streak began in 1995 after Tampa Bay chose Warren Sapp with the 12th overall pick and was capped in 2004 when six Hurricanes - another NFL Draft record - were plucked in the first round.

But as Miami's football fortunes have sagged, so has its reputation with NFL talent scouts.

In 2006, nine UM players were drafted. That number fell to five in 2007 and three last April. The only Hurricane with a realistic chance of being drafted this weekend is cornerback Bruce Johnson, who could go anywhere from the fifth to seventh round.

But Johnson's stock has fallen since he ran a slow 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine in February, raising the specter that Miami might not have a player drafted for the first time since 1974.

UM's talent drain was apparent during the school's Pro Day on Feb. 27, when just 10 NFL teams and approximately 25 scouts showed up on campus to test the Hurricanes' draft-eligible players.

That was the same number of NFL clubs that were at FAU's Pro Day the following week, according to NFL.com's Gil Brandt.

The highest-ranking official to attend UM's workout was Chris Mara, the Giants' vice president of player evaluation. Compare that to the dozens of head coaches, general managers and other NFL royalty that used to regularly show up.

"Up to around three years ago, Miami would get 105 to 115 people at Pro Day," said Brandt, the Dallas Cowboys' chief talent scout from 1960 to 1988. "Miami was the place to be."

Miami isn't the only football factory to see its production line of top NFL talent - and on-field success - wane recently.
Notre Dame, whose 61 first-round picks are second all-time to USC's 66, has produced just two No. 1s this decade. Nebraska, sixth all-time with 328 NFL draft choices, also has two first-rounders since 2000 and did not have a player taken until the fifth round (142nd overall) last year. Michigan, just ahead of Nebraska with 330 draftees, will likely have only one player picked this weekend.

All four schools have suffered from similar maladies that include coaching changes, poor recruiting and the increasing parity in college football.

Non-BCS schools like BYU (20), Utah (19), Fresno State (17) and Hawaii (17) have churned out more NFL picks since 2000 then many of its major conference counterparts.

In last year's draft, smaller fries like Troy, Delaware, Boise State and Tennessee State produced first-rounders while old-school powers including Georgia, Oklahoma, Texas and Penn State did not.

But most draft experts say the premier players are still playing for the premier programs, and the numbers prove their point. Since 2000, no school outside the six BCS conferences has developed more than two No. 1 picks.

"The elite programs are getting the top talent," ESPN's Mel Kiper said. "It is spread out to a certain extent, but (USC coach) Pete Carroll is still getting his first-round picks every year."

The real debate might be whether any school - big or small - will ever come close to matching Miami's run of a first rounder for 14 consecutive years.

It's not going to be easy. LSU's current string of five straight No. 1 picks is second to the Hurricanes. Florida (1983-91) is believed to have the second-longest all-time streak at nine years.

"I think that record is going to be safe for a while," Brandt said. "Look at teams like Texas, USC, Oklahoma - teams that recruit pretty good - and they haven't come close to that record."

Butch Davis, who recruited 22 first rounders during his six-year tenure as UM's coach, thinks Miami's mark is attainable, but wonders if any school can ever match the 19 No. 1 picks generated by the Hurricanes from 2001-04. That's more top selections than North Carolina, where Davis now coaches, has cultivated in its history.

"Can you get three or four guys in the first round?" Davis said. "That may be extraordinarily difficult. But to have one guy, it's conceivable that a school could get on a run with the right coaching staff and evaluations."

Draft experts say the most likely candidate to dethrone Miami is USC.

But that's going to take a while. The Trojans' "streak" is at one.

(palmbeachpost.com)
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