Miami blows away every other school at producing pros

Miami is unranked this week in college football. The Hurricanes haven't been to a bowl since 2006. They haven't finished a season in the national polls since 2005. The Hurricanes haven't won a national title since 2001.

But Miami remains the first stop for NFL talent evaluators looking to build championship teams. The Hurricanes placed 44 players on NFL rosters in September, tops in the league by a wide margin. Florida State was next with 37.

Miami safety Kenny Phillips was a first-round draft pick by the Super Bowl champion New York Giants last April. It marked the 14th consecutive draft that a Hurricane has been taken in the first round. The next-longest current streak is five consecutive drafts by LSU.

Miami has had 26 players selected in the first round this decade. Ohio State is next with 14 first-rounders. There are Hurricanes on 22 of the NFL's 32 rosters. Fourteen Hurricanes have been to the Pro Bowl, including six last season.

Of the 44 Hurricanes on NFL rosters, 22 started last weekend. That group includes four halfbacks (Frank Gore of San Francisco, Edgerrin James of Arizona, Willis McGahee of Baltimore and Clinton Portis of Washington) and four middle linebackers (Jon Beason of Carolina, Ray Lewis of Baltimore, Jonathan Vilma of New Orleans and Nate Webster of Denver).

Four Hurricanes play for the Giants. Four also play for the Texans. Surprisingly, none play for the Cowboys, who once used first-round draft picks on Michael Irvin and Russell Maryland. Both won Super Bowl rings with the Cowboys, as did fellow Hurricanes Bernie Kosar, Jimmie Jones, Darrin Smith and Kevin Williams.

In fact, the Cowboys have not drafted a Hurricane since selecting Smith in the second-round in 1993. The Cowboys also haven't won a playoff game since Smith left in free agency after the 1996 season.

Here are some other roster/school tidbits:

Ten schools have 30-plus players on NFL rosters, and three are from the state of Florida - Miami (44), Florida State (37) and Florida (30).
Cal (27) has more players on NFL rosters than traditional powers Alabama (18), Arkansas (16), Oklahoma (18) and Penn State (22).
Fresno State (17) has more players on NFL rosters than Ole Miss, Pitt, Syracuse or Washington - all with 14.

Hawaii (15) has more players on NFL rosters than Clemson (13).

Here's a list of all the schools of the top schools with NFL opening-day rosters in 2008:
Miami (Fla.); 44
Florida State; 37
Georgia; 36
Michigan; 36
Ohio State; 36
LSU; 35
Tennessee; 34
Texas; 34
Southern Cal; 32
Florida; 30
Notre Dame; 28
Auburn; 27
Cal; 27
Virginia Tech; 25
Nebraska; 24
Maryland; 23
Boston College; 22

(sportsline.com)