September 20, 2022 • 31 mins
Have you ever wondered which colleges produce the most NFL players? On this episode of the NFL explained podcast, Mike Yam and Michael Robinson answer that question and explore some other factors that make certain colleges unique in the eyes of future NFL players.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
NFL explained is a production of the NFL in partnership
with I Heart Radio. Oh. It is a brand new
edition of NFL explained Mike m joined as always by
a super Bowl champion. Ever, I'm ready to go. I
usually don't like doing this starting off shows pop Quiz?
(00:27):
Is it okay? Let's do it all right, Let's go
back into the memory palace six. What happened for m
rob on that day, memorable day, That was the day
I got drafted to the San Francisco forty Niners. That
back in those days, I feel like it was forever ago.
But back in those days, what happened was the draft.
(00:47):
You had the first night that was the first three rounds,
and then you had the second day and that was
rounds four through seven, and the fourth round started the day.
And I had a party in State College in Pennsylvania.
It pends. That's why I went to school at penn State.
Because I thought I was going in the third round. Mike,
I really did, man, I had the Pittsburgh Steelers called me.
They said, hey, we have two picks in the third round.
(01:09):
We're gonna get you with one of these picks. I waited,
I bought a car the day before I drove my
two thousand and At that time, it was it two
thousand and seven Tahoe Chevy time. And that's when they
first changed the body. I drove a right off the
showroom flow. I thought I was doing it. I thought
I was a big time And third round happened. Pittsburgh
(01:30):
Steelers picked. They picked the returner, uh Willie read I
remember the guy they picked out of Florida State who
we ended up beating in the Orange Bowl just a
few months earlier. They picked Willie Reid. And then they
picked the quarterback from Bowling Green, I think in the
third round in the in the end of the third round,
and I was crushed. I did not think I was
gonna get drafted. So did you try to return the top?
(01:51):
I thought about it, I really did. I I turned
to my mom and I said, Mom, look, I gotta
take this truck back, like I don't know if I'm
gonna get it, if I'm gonna be able to pay
for it. And I remember my agent called me, Joel Seagull.
I remember him calling me saying, dude, relax, You're gonna
be able to pay for your truck. Well, things worked
out okay for you, and as you made reference too,
part of that Penn State team, you were actually one
(02:12):
of six Nily Lions actually taken that day, which actually
leads us to our topic today here on NFL explained
which colleges send the most players to the league. You
got schools like l s U saying that their DBU.
By the way, we always throw out these phrases because
I've had you Dove so Washington Pro Day the last
few years, and I go up there to Seattle and
(02:32):
I keep saying that they're dB So we're gonna We're
gonna put all this step and maybe I've been wrong,
maybe some other fan bases have been wrong. Peters exactly,
Marcus Peters, who was there when I was covering the
Pack twelve for a long period of time there. But
when we're what we're gonna do is do some quick
dives into the number. See which schools can actually say,
you know what we are NFL. You obviously some schools
(02:54):
have better resources than others, But is there anything else
that you can point to for maybe your time at
Penn State, m Rob that says, hey, this is the
reason why school X has more players than other universities
in the NFL. Well, to me, I think it obviously
comes down to who you have coaching the team. I mean,
let's be honest, guys. You know a lot of our
high school players, a lot of our collegiate players, they're
(03:16):
playing the game of football in college so that they
can have an opportunity to play in the National Football
League and have an opportunity to support their families for
a very long time. So we we can't be novice
to to that fact. But I know, for me, a
big reason why I chose Penn State was one I
always played the long game. Like I mean, I've always
played the long game, and so I'm not gonna be
(03:36):
playing football in my entire life. There will be an
opportunity or a chance for me to get employment someway
somehow by dipping into this alumni base. So that's a
big reason why I went to Penn State number one,
number two. When I went on to visit there, obviously
I was in the College of Communications. They had this
big set up for me, man pray, you know, the
drum major and all of that type of of set
(03:58):
up with my jersey and just how you're gonna look
and I act like I was sick, and I sent
everybody home and I went back to my hotel and
then my me and my parents, my brother, we walked
over by ourselves to the College of Communications and I
had what sold me on Penn State. And I know
this has nothing to do with football, and we work
at a national football and there's a football podcast. But
(04:19):
what sold me on Penn State was an undergrad, a
young lady. I can't remember her name right now. She
was a sophomore. She literally walked me through the entire program,
the entire building. She walked me through how to use
Final Cup pro she I mean everything, And I told myself,
I want to know communications. I want to learn communications
(04:39):
at a level where I can do that. And quite frankly,
I remember calling Joe Paterno at the time and saying,
I'm sorry, old man, you didn't sell me. You didn't
convince me. This young lady did. And that's why I
went to Penn State. So when you're in the league,
and I know for a fact that there's a lot
of pride that NFL players have and where they went
to school and the conversations that are happening within games,
(05:00):
but I don't know, if I've ever heard of a
player pretending that they were sick on a recruiting DA
said that they could do their own thing on campus
and really learned. Have you heard, like your teammates in
the NFL, anyone else ever tell you a similar story. No,
nobody has ever told me that. You know, I advised
a lot of young people coming out of high school,
and some of these guys are starting to, you know,
filter into the National Football League. And I always tell
(05:22):
a lot of these guys, look, this is one of
the biggest decisions that you're gonna make in your entire life.
I was never This is before the transfer portals, so
we didn't have free agency or college free agency as
I like to say it now. We didn't have that
back in those days. So I knew that this, this
decision was gonna affect me for the rest of my life.
And and and at the end of the day, guys,
I'm proud that my school, Penn State. I'm proud of
(05:43):
my school because we've had three hundred and seventy five
players drafted all time, and our seventh most of any school.
So I have a lot of pride about Penn State. Well,
Emrod how about the Irish Yere Notre Dame. They actually
lead the way with five hundred and twenty two picks. Overall.
Part of me feels like that's because they were good
really before face masks, right, like a million nears dinosaurs
(06:06):
were out there and you got noted Dame helmets and logos,
you know, fighting off like pterodactyls and the whole thing.
Number two, by the way, is actually one of their
rivals in USC, so I know, writting a lot right now,
is smiling somewhere. And William mc ginnis, who are gonna
be working with the total you know, throwing up yes,
which is still weird to say. In speaking of the
Big ten, I'll throw Ohio State into them. Makes they
(06:27):
actually sit at number three all time. The Buckeyes do.
They can flex a little bit. The most first rounders
with eighty seven, which is obviously a huge total. But
let's like a look at the construction of current NFL
rosters as of July this year. It's no surprise Alabama's
got the most rostered players with seventy three. That's just
over two Obama players per squad. They're followed by another
(06:50):
SEC rival. You're right, it is crazy l s U
with sixty nine. Ohio State, Georgia, Michigan round out the
top five this year Bulldogs. I mean, it felt like
I was covering the draft on NFL dot Com. It
felt like every other pick was one of Kirby Smarts guys.
But they set a record in the seven rounds AFT
Model fifteen players taken. But I think we should focus
in on quarterbacks like we usually do on NFL rosters
(07:12):
because this one is a little bit of a surprise
to me. Cal actually has the most quarterbacks on a roster.
So there's something in the water in Berkeley, right. Aaron Rodgers,
Jared Goff certainly comes to mind. Davis Webb chased yeah, yeah,
man getting a little burned with it with the Giants,
and then Garbage now in Vegas but tied for number two.
Explain this one to me. North Dakota State, the Bison
(07:33):
really three du It's exactly Trey Lance Carson Wentz Eastern Stick.
That's the one that I didn't really know about. Explain
to me how a school like that has three quarterbacks
in the NFL. Well, I think, especially when you look
at North Dakota State, it has to be the construction
of their offense. Right, they have a very very QB
friendly style of an offense, an offense that's a matchup base,
(07:57):
an offense that spreads you wide open and allows the
quarterback to have a lot of different tools to use
at his disposal to beat any defense. And I think
started with Carson Wentz. Carson Wentz, I think opened up
a lot of people's eyes to what's going down out
there in North Dakota. But our listeners have to understand
the style of offense makes a difference. When I was
getting recruited to Penn State, one of the biggest knocks
(08:20):
on Penn State that a lot of opposing school said
was they don't have a pro style offense. And I
didn't say it out loud, Mike, but I kept on
asking about, saying to myself, what the hell does that mean?
What does that mean that? What is having a pro
style offense? We're still just throwing the ball and catching
the ball, running the ball, trying to score a touchdown.
Like I didn't quite get it. And then I got
(08:40):
the Penn State And this is no knock on on
my school or anything on the coaching there at the time.
It was just it just was what it was. So
I got I'll give you an example of a play
when I was at Penn State, UM Rocky Pistol hot
red ninety one. Okay, I'm having a flashback to once
again my Netflix password from my cousin and our play
offensive play Calling episode. So tell me about very different
(09:04):
Rocky than the one I'm thinking of. It was again,
it was just basically, you know, the formation and in
ninety one was the protection, but it was also the route, quick,
easy right. They were trying to make it as simplified
as possible for the collegiate athlete. Same play in the
National Football League is double wing right, quick case right
(09:25):
to twelve a flat. I mean, it's telling every single
person what to do, right. And so guys that go
to Alabama, people that go to North Dakota State, these
quarterbacks are for four and five years actively saying the
vernacular that most of the National Football League is using.
So to me, that's what gets the guys ready. And
that's why you can go down to North Dakota State,
you can go to Kyle and say, man, it's something
(09:46):
in the water, because these quarterbacks come out a lot
more ready than other quarterbacks. It's funny because at the
top of the show you made reference to coaches, and
Justin Wilcons is now the head coach at Cal defensive
minded guy. But yet Chase Garber's was his quarterback that
now finds his way to the NFL. And yes, there's
been a little bit of a revolving door in terms
of offensive coordinators. But they did bring and a guy
in Bill Musgrave who is their o C NFL experience,
(10:09):
and I think it speaks to what you're talking about
with the verbage that some of these players are are
practicing on a regular basis. I also mentioned Alabama most
rostered players in the NFL. They also have a ton
of resources that always helps. Um. They are cornerbacks coaches
and safety coaches making at least eight hundred k year
sign me up director football recruiting, by the way, which
(10:32):
is probably more my skill set making a D sixty
five k dude coach. Can we get this dude to
raise please? Tied currently the most running backs and dbs
in the NFL, tied for the second most wide outs
and d lineman, and they have the fourth most linebackers.
They are a football factory. They're also a national championship
winning factory. Obama actually has the most first round draft
(10:56):
picks in the league by a margin of to fifteen
over Ohio State with the buck Eyes. No question, no
slatches when it comes to the wide receiver spot in
the league's second most line backers and D lineman. L
s U may not exactly have the most dbs in league,
trailing Alabama seventeen to fourteen, but they are tied for
the second most wideouts and tied for the number one
(11:17):
D lineman. So I know there's a lot there, and
you made reference to it. Your your old squad, Penn
State ninth most players on a roster. But there's a
lot of love for Nick Saban's crew. Yeah, it's a
lot of love for Nick Saban's crew. And not only
does the talent in college football kind of follow Nick
Saban and kind of is funnel to Alabama. Look at coaching, alright,
(11:38):
look at some of the x NFL coaches. Whether you
talk about Bill O'Brien he was a coach at Penn State,
whether you talk about Kiffen was there tea with the thousand,
All of these guys kind of going to hiding or
so to speak, down there in Alabama. And to me,
that's what sets down Alabama part the coaching. I mean,
(11:58):
if your position coach to have some of the experiences
some of those coaches have down in Alabama, it's a
recruiting tool. And I've been saying this for a while now.
With the n i L now being prevalent in collegiate sports,
with guys being able to make real salaries and be
able to make real money, I no longer think that
recruits go to college to win a national title anymore.
(12:21):
See when I was in school, that was big to me.
Do we have an opportunity to win a national championship?
I don't think that's the case anymore. I think now
kids are picking and choosing a school based off first
and foremost, how can this financially help my situation at home?
Number one? Number two, how can this training help me
(12:42):
to be ready to build my resume for the National
Football League? And that's I think winning a championship comes
a little bit later in the recruits thinking and development.
And so when you look at the team like Alabama,
that's why they get all the bigger recruits, that's why
they get the best players, they get all the five
star recruits or how State. I know Larry Johnson senior,
(13:03):
he used to be at Penn State. He's the big,
big time d Lina there. The reason why they dominate
and recruiting is because of the great coaching that both
of those schools have. You bring up an interesting point
on N I L. I'm wondering now if college football
the talent disperses a little bit, not only because of
N I L, but knocking on the door of an
expanded playoffs, all of a sudden, some more more people
(13:23):
get to sit at that table and go and eat.
And I'm just wondering, like, does that hurt teams like
Ohio State in Alabama? Well, I think it should. In theory,
it should hurt those teams, But um, I think and
I may get in trouble for saying this, but you
know we're on the podcast. It doesn't matter. I don't.
I think the big reason why Nick Saban was upset
early on when he made those comments about you know,
(13:44):
other schools paying players and and things like that, because
when there's rules set in place, that's the fence right
that you can operate in. And when schools and people
that know that that's the fence that you can operate in.
You also know what's the out of bounds, what are
the things you can do to give you an advantage.
And with n IL is doing now, with schools and
(14:07):
companies being able to pay real money to these kids,
is there's no longer that fence around the field anymore.
You know, there's no longer that out of bounds. And
I think that's why you have so many of those
big time coaches complaining player development, whether you're getting players
from n I L or just feuding with other programs.
And Nick Savan and Jimbo Fisher probably not on each
other's Christmas cards list, I would imagine. Just because you
(14:29):
go when you play for a particular school does not
guarantee success at the next level. In fact, Alabama hasn't
exactly done great at quarterbacks. People are gonna be at me.
I'm just telling you, like the numbers speak for themselves.
In fact, a few of the top colleges have really
struggled at the position. In Alabama, not the team that
I'm referencing here, there's one squad that hasn't had a
(14:51):
quarterback win a game in the NFL in its last
twenty four tries. Really Yeah, really, that's right. Oh in
twenty four find out who that is? Cot up backs
NFL explained. Welcome back to NFL, explained my cam m
(15:13):
rob with us all right, before the break, we said
that there was one university at hadn't had a quarterback
get a win in the NFL and its last twenty
four tries. You had a couple of moments to to
rack your brain. You got a guess for me, um,
why why? Don't know? Why do the Tennessee volunteers keep
popping up in my head? I don't know why. I
know that's probably not the answer, but I'm gonna go
(15:34):
with Tennis. Okay, I know why because they haven't won
a whole lot of football games at the college level
for a significant period of time. Not an awful guest,
Tennessee fast man. I am not making friends in the SEC.
I know that. Notre Dame. How about the Irish? Here?
All right? Brady Quinn, Jimmy Clastum, Shawn kaiser Ian book.
You almost feel bad saying that, just because sometimes it's situationals, right,
(15:57):
Notre Dame quarterbacks. Those wins combined at sixteen and sixty
four since two thousand. Wow, that even hurts me saying
that not to be outdone. You've got schools like a
high state in Alabama, they've also had some struggles. Buck
Eys quarterback seventeen and thirty four since two thousand tied,
so just three games under five hundred. So m robs.
(16:18):
What is it about the larger schools that doesn't always
equal quarterback success? Man, it's crazy hearing that list of
Notre Dame quarterbacks. Brady Quinn, we both were Haisman finalists
and two thousand five we both scored six touchdowns on
the same day. I mean, it's crazy. It was an
n C double A record. It was crazy. Um, I
(16:39):
digress a little bit. I'm like, I'd be puffing checked
out if I could say something like that. But you know,
it's a double as sword when you talk about quarterbacks
at these bigger schools, because on the one end, yes,
you're playing against the best of the best talent, so
you're able to show an NFL scout like, look what
(17:00):
I can do versus the Alabamas, Look what I can
do versus the l s Us. But on the other
side of that sword is you also play with a
lot of talent. On your side of the football as well,
with all the five star recruits that these schools get,
the four star recruits and so oftentimes a lot of
the quarterbacks and some of these bigger schools, the wide
(17:21):
receivers are running wide open. They have dominant defenses, they
have offensive lines that out of five blockers in front
of them, three four of them are first rounders. So
when you're playing with that much talent, to me, it's
hard to truly evaluate the quarterback position when you have
so many ferraris around you. That's why I think you
get a school like a North Dakota State, or you
(17:42):
get you know, some of the smaller, big, big, you know,
big time schools still but just smaller. You get those
quarterbacks sticking out a little bit more because they do
more with less. To me, they're the reason why their
team is so good, and so I think that's why
they stick out amongst the rest. Okay, so this is
probably a little old school, right. Bill Parcels had a
rule when it came to drafting quarterbacks had to be
(18:04):
how to have thirty star arts, at least twenty three
wins and a college degree. Now things have changed dramatically
in the college game. We're talking about freshman. If you
don't start when you get to a campus, you're like,
oh my god, I gotta go into the portal and
do the whole deal. So things have changed a little bit.
But is there something that you would point to in
that philosophy that does make sense where if you were
a GM you would point to a couple of those categories. Yeah.
(18:27):
For me, first and foremost, you have to pass the
common sense I tests, like I have to be able
to look on tape and clearly you're the best player
on the football field. Clearly you have all the movement skills.
And then obviously accuracy. I mean the number one job
of the quarterback is to throw the ball accurately to
(18:48):
the ball carriers, to throw the ball accurately to the
playmakers and let those guys go do work. But for me,
also it's the leadership skills. It's the soft skills, It's
how do you command to huddle, It's your communication skills. Right,
And at the end of the day, I would in
a perfect world, I would like you to have two
years of experience. Big knock on me as to why
I didn't get an opportunity to play quarterback, will get
(19:09):
an opportunity to try to play quarterback in the National
Football League was in. A general manager told me this.
The other quarterbacks in this draft, which was Matt Liner
J Cutler, guys like that, Mike, they have about ten
thousand more game reps than you do at the position,
and that was important for it does make sense. And
while you were talking, I was looking up trying to
find my notes from the year Trey Lance was drafted.
(19:31):
One of my good buddies, Evan Moore's tight end in
the NFL, played at Stanford. We had worked together for
years and he used to say, Hey, if you go
through and I don't have the exact numbers, but the
last like that was my guy. Man, I've heard a
couple of those stories. That's for another edition of the
podcast that's not called NFL Explained. Um, that's like NFL
(19:54):
after Dark it is. It's probably for that show. But
he he'd always said this, and I don't have the
exact numbers, but it was like, Hey, the last fifteen
Super Bowl winning quarterbacks had that two year or so
threshold of some of those starts, and that's what sometimes
that conversation about Trey Lands made things really interesting at
number three deciding to go up and draft him because
of the lack of experience, which by the way, is
(20:15):
going to be on full display this entire season. We'll
find out what Trey has from a Niners perspective, but
we have established that quarterbacks that have the most accolades
don't always thrive in the NFL. Got another quick quarterback
staff for you. There's been three instances where four quarterbacks
from the same school found themselves starting on the same week.
This is wild NC State, right, Philip Rivers, Jacobi percent
(20:38):
Mike Lennon, Russell Wilson. Remember, yeah, you're gonna count that
one who transfer to Wisconsin. Of course, Michigan State, and
this is if we're gonna count Russell. We actually can
find a fourth name here Michigan State. Kirk Cousins, Brian Hoyer,
Drew Stanton, and Nick Foles, who I always think about
it as an Arizona Wildcat, so but obviously spent one
year at Michigan State. And then sc you just talked
(21:01):
about Liner, Mark Sanchez, Matt Castle, Carson Palm are all
starting on the same week, which is to me kind
of cool. A couple of those universities getting some dudes
out there is super cos I've got a staff for you.
The only Power five teams that haven't logged, and he
starts in the NFL since two thousand, Arkansas, Minnesota, Georgia Tech,
(21:22):
and Nebraska. For all the success Nebraska has had historically,
they haven't had one guy take a snap. That's a
pretty shocking step. Welcome back to NFL, explains Mike m
and m ROB with you, Rob, Look, there is a
(21:44):
color that is meaningful, yellow yellow jackets, and you just
dropped Georgia Tech. I'm no, I'm not not talking about
those dudes. I'm talking about Hall of Famers schools with
the most Hall of Famers sc checking in at fourteen.
They got some dudes. Notre Dame eleven. Miami actually has nine,
and there was a hey, damn, maybe we're getting back
(22:04):
to that hey day with Mario Cristo Baul out there.
Uh Pitt also with not and then you've got three
teams m ROB with eight, Alabama, Michigan and Ohio State Syracuse,
who I always think of as a basketball school. Yeah,
they got seven dudes. And then l s U Yeah yeah, yeah,
we got yeah, we got my school up on there.
You gotta have pens. They gotta talk a little bit
(22:24):
sc which doesn't not super shocking, right when you think
about some of the guy I know a second time
on reference Ronnie Lot, but they've had a ton of
dudes come through that program as well. And I'll throw
this year way like, I think Willie is going to
be kind of adding to that list will beginners. I
think Willie will get in at some point, I mean
to be the NFL playoff sack leader. I mean when
(22:47):
the game was the biggest, Willie showed up. Now. But look, yeah,
I got another one for you. Okay, Look, the schools
that have had the most number one draft picks is
definitely the familiar teams, right Notre Dame, USC, Oklahoma, Georgia
all have had five. Okay, not shocking because their dudes.
They got crazy programs. You ronicled what makes a successful
(23:08):
college program, player development, and coaching. How about the little
guys though, I mean this one sort of surprised me.
The Nonpower five teams that have had a number one
overall pick two Lane Tennessee State, Tampa, SMU Rice comes
to mind, pen Pen, Yeah, Louisiana Tech, by the way,
(23:29):
Terry Bradshaw, They're one of our guys. We're not surprised, right,
David Carr's out there, He's like, Yo, make sure you
include me in your show. Fresno State, I got you,
I got you, Colorado State, Chicago and then Central Michigan,
Eric fisherback in. So some familiar names that are out
there as well. And if we're gonna talk a little
bit about the really really little guys, there are four
(23:51):
draftees from Division three, two of them from Wisconsin Whitewater. What. Yeah,
you know they always say like, if you're good, the
NFL will find you will and like I used to
say that, but like not really believe it. I give
a stat like that, I'm like, actually it's kind of true.
Well they will, And like again, I tell a lot
of young football players in college, they go to small schools.
(24:14):
You want to get noticed. First of all, put yourself
in the scout shoes. They show up to your game,
they're watching the game. You have to clearly be the
best player on the field and just proceed to go
out there and break every single record that the school has.
That will definitely get you noticed. Okay, So I'm gonna
throw something and this we're gonna call an audible here
because you and I did not discuss this before coming
(24:36):
out here for the show. But I think you're uniquely
qualified because you mentioned it a little bit with some
of that, and I'll use air quotes around little guy,
but the resources, and I think Dion Sandras is sort
of changing this narrative. But the other week on NFL
Network we had the Black College Hall of Fame Classics.
So you've got to HBCUs squads squaring off and all
of a sudden we're seeing an influx of talent deciding
(24:56):
to go down that path. How much do you think HBCUs,
who have by the way, already had success finding guys
in the Michael straighthand rights like, there's just significant list.
How do you think that's changing the game. Yeah, it's
changing the game for the better and it's powerful. And
shout out to Prime Dion Sanders, one of my big homies,
one of my mentors, a guy that we all in
(25:18):
this game, especially in youth sports. We look up to
him as to how much he affects young people and
he has the cool factor to so Prime definitely understands
what he's doing. But yes, the n I L whole
situation is spreading the resources out. And I also think
today's young person, especially today's black player, I'm just gonna
be frank with you, they have access to a lot
(25:40):
of because of the Internet, because of you know, social
media and all those things. They have access to so
much information, and they're learning about the guys that came
before them. They're learning even more than my generation. They're
learning more about the people from black colleges that came
before them that paved the way. And so when I
talk to young people, what I'm hearing is they feel
(26:01):
kind of indebted. They kind of feel like they have
to go back to continue you the legacy, to continue
to allow resources to be headed towards the schools that
definitely needed. You started this show talking about coaches. Prime
for me was one of the coolest dudes. And then
you know, I think we've seen the documentaries. He's the
one guy that I think started to get other former
players right, like Eddie George is another guy. Do you
(26:23):
think we'll see more former NFL players of that caliber
start taking over HBCUs and pulling because of n I
L being able to pull more talent, oh, you know,
five star recruits. I mean, Prime is able to get
one of those dudes. The game needs us to do that.
We have to be that football at a PhD level
(26:44):
is us being all pros, us winning super Bowls. And
it's our duty as gladiators, as our duty as football
players to go back into the well and teach what
we know. And again we also come when I talk
about what we talk talking about former players, we come
with their street credibility. Right. Players know they've watched us,
they've seen us, they know we've gone through exactly what
(27:05):
we're telling them, and it goes along way in the
locker room. All right, before you wrap up here, you're
on the football field, you're playing used to wear the
Penn State uniform. Older guy that you didn't play with,
younger guy that you didn't play with, you know they
went to Penn State. What's that interaction before or after
the game? Oh man, it's you know, it's especially the
older guys, right because we all played for one yeah,
(27:29):
for one coach, the same story. It unites us all
I remember, you know, playing against a bunch of different
Penn Staters and we all give the your paternal voice.
We see each other, we take pictures and we go right,
said what do you do and stand up? I mean
we all do the same voice. So yeah, man, it's
(27:52):
a pretty special feeling. And again because we all played
for the same coach, it kind of brings us closer together.
It's pretty cool. Yeah, it is really cool. You know,
it was a thrill from me. I was hosting Total
Access and it doesn't happen that often. Now. I went
to Fordham University in the Bronx and I had to
tell you on the shortlist. And I've been pretty fortunate
here since I started to be able to interview a
lot of like really talented current NFL players. I could
(28:13):
not have been more excited to talk to Chase Edmonds
really like I get him and I'm like, dude, Arthur Avenue,
Pugsley's chicken rolling. It's but it's like those moments that
you know, like not for nothing, like Chas isn't. There's
not a lot of a lot of Fordham dudes, right,
And there's only thirty two players from NFL drafted, twenty
nine of those coming from nine or sooner. You got
(28:34):
John Skelton, the quarterback who was actually with Arizona for
a little bit. Yeah. Um, and I obviously made reference
to Chase Edmonds who's now with the Dolphins, and then
think zakel who got drafted by the Niners. I was
doing the draft for NFL dot Com. I see Fordham
six round, dude, I went crazy in the break and
everyone's looking at me. I'm like, guys, Fordham, there's not
(28:54):
many Can we just own it a little bit? And
I think that's one of the coolest things. People always
ask me, Hey, what's the difference between, you know, covering
in the college game and covering the pro game. And
it's those moments, right, like the paternal voice that for
turn right, Like those little subtle things from being on
that campus. I think is always cool. But you go
into any NFL city and to see the jerseys of
all all those teams, I mean, you know, you experience
(29:15):
it like being on the field is pretty bad as
it is, it's cool. And again like the jersey swaps,
I mean, like most of the pens, they guys that
I've played against, I mean I get their jersey afterwards.
You you know, you get to exchange ideas and not
only seeing them after you play them in the National
Football League, playing against them in the National Football League,
and then seeing them when you go back to college
(29:36):
is even bigger treatment. Yeah, it's uh, it's pretty wild man.
And to see these dudes celebrate. I was at the
Rose Bowl. Actually it was USC Penn State. Barkley was there.
It was Kwan's year at the Rolls. But that wasn't
great for yours. It was to remind me. Yeah, I'm
on the sideline and it's Ronnie lot Liner, Sanchez, Lynn Swat,
like those dudes are celebrating like their college kids on
(29:57):
the sideline. It's it's it's kind of awesome to see
some of that because the legends it does. It does
all right, final thing here before you let everyone going NFL,
You like, is there one program or you just say,
you know what, like this squad's got the bragging rights,
because yeah, you could go most drafted, Notre Dame, you
could go most you know, Hall of famers that see
most first round pick. You know, we we've chronicled a
(30:18):
lot of it. I would have to go, at least
in the modern times. It has to be Alabama. Yeah,
I mean, it just has to be. I mean, I
don't know if there's been another program that's dominated for
so long with athletes being able to go almost anywhere
in the country. I mean, they've just dominated for a decade,
almost two decades. It's pretty wild. It's that saving guy
who apparently is pretty good NFL you. It has been
(30:43):
awesome to go through some of these teams. Perfect job
by you as always. Man, having a blast doing this podcast.
Of course, you can find us on social media at
Mike Underscore Yeah, and I know you're you're kind of
a social media yeah, on my Twitter at real mic Rob,
Instagram at Real Underscore, Mike Underscore Rob. I gotta say
all Mike Yeah. If there's a topic that you'd like
us to cover, or a question you just don't know
(31:04):
an answer to, you can add us and I prompise
it will make one of our NFL Explained episodes. Thanks
so much for listening.
NFL explained is a production of the NFL in partnership
with I Heart Radio. Oh. It is a brand new
edition of NFL explained Mike m joined as always by
a super Bowl champion. Ever, I'm ready to go. I
usually don't like doing this starting off shows pop Quiz?
(00:27):
Is it okay? Let's do it all right, Let's go
back into the memory palace six. What happened for m
rob on that day, memorable day, That was the day
I got drafted to the San Francisco forty Niners. That
back in those days, I feel like it was forever ago.
But back in those days, what happened was the draft.
(00:47):
You had the first night that was the first three rounds,
and then you had the second day and that was
rounds four through seven, and the fourth round started the day.
And I had a party in State College in Pennsylvania.
It pends. That's why I went to school at penn State.
Because I thought I was going in the third round. Mike,
I really did, man, I had the Pittsburgh Steelers called me.
They said, hey, we have two picks in the third round.
(01:09):
We're gonna get you with one of these picks. I waited,
I bought a car the day before I drove my
two thousand and At that time, it was it two
thousand and seven Tahoe Chevy time. And that's when they
first changed the body. I drove a right off the
showroom flow. I thought I was doing it. I thought
I was a big time And third round happened. Pittsburgh
(01:30):
Steelers picked. They picked the returner, uh Willie read I
remember the guy they picked out of Florida State who
we ended up beating in the Orange Bowl just a
few months earlier. They picked Willie Reid. And then they
picked the quarterback from Bowling Green, I think in the
third round in the in the end of the third round,
and I was crushed. I did not think I was
gonna get drafted. So did you try to return the top?
(01:51):
I thought about it, I really did. I I turned
to my mom and I said, Mom, look, I gotta
take this truck back, like I don't know if I'm
gonna get it, if I'm gonna be able to pay
for it. And I remember my agent called me, Joel Seagull.
I remember him calling me saying, dude, relax, You're gonna
be able to pay for your truck. Well, things worked
out okay for you, and as you made reference too,
part of that Penn State team, you were actually one
(02:12):
of six Nily Lions actually taken that day, which actually
leads us to our topic today here on NFL explained
which colleges send the most players to the league. You
got schools like l s U saying that their DBU.
By the way, we always throw out these phrases because
I've had you Dove so Washington Pro Day the last
few years, and I go up there to Seattle and
(02:32):
I keep saying that they're dB So we're gonna We're
gonna put all this step and maybe I've been wrong,
maybe some other fan bases have been wrong. Peters exactly,
Marcus Peters, who was there when I was covering the
Pack twelve for a long period of time there. But
when we're what we're gonna do is do some quick
dives into the number. See which schools can actually say,
you know what we are NFL. You obviously some schools
(02:54):
have better resources than others, But is there anything else
that you can point to for maybe your time at
Penn State, m Rob that says, hey, this is the
reason why school X has more players than other universities
in the NFL. Well, to me, I think it obviously
comes down to who you have coaching the team. I mean,
let's be honest, guys. You know a lot of our
high school players, a lot of our collegiate players, they're
(03:16):
playing the game of football in college so that they
can have an opportunity to play in the National Football
League and have an opportunity to support their families for
a very long time. So we we can't be novice
to to that fact. But I know, for me, a
big reason why I chose Penn State was one I
always played the long game. Like I mean, I've always
played the long game, and so I'm not gonna be
(03:36):
playing football in my entire life. There will be an
opportunity or a chance for me to get employment someway
somehow by dipping into this alumni base. So that's a
big reason why I went to Penn State number one,
number two. When I went on to visit there, obviously
I was in the College of Communications. They had this
big set up for me, man pray, you know, the
drum major and all of that type of of set
(03:58):
up with my jersey and just how you're gonna look
and I act like I was sick, and I sent
everybody home and I went back to my hotel and
then my me and my parents, my brother, we walked
over by ourselves to the College of Communications and I
had what sold me on Penn State. And I know
this has nothing to do with football, and we work
at a national football and there's a football podcast. But
(04:19):
what sold me on Penn State was an undergrad, a
young lady. I can't remember her name right now. She
was a sophomore. She literally walked me through the entire program,
the entire building. She walked me through how to use
Final Cup pro she I mean everything, And I told myself,
I want to know communications. I want to learn communications
(04:39):
at a level where I can do that. And quite frankly,
I remember calling Joe Paterno at the time and saying,
I'm sorry, old man, you didn't sell me. You didn't
convince me. This young lady did. And that's why I
went to Penn State. So when you're in the league,
and I know for a fact that there's a lot
of pride that NFL players have and where they went
to school and the conversations that are happening within games,
(05:00):
but I don't know, if I've ever heard of a
player pretending that they were sick on a recruiting DA
said that they could do their own thing on campus
and really learned. Have you heard, like your teammates in
the NFL, anyone else ever tell you a similar story. No,
nobody has ever told me that. You know, I advised
a lot of young people coming out of high school,
and some of these guys are starting to, you know,
filter into the National Football League. And I always tell
(05:22):
a lot of these guys, look, this is one of
the biggest decisions that you're gonna make in your entire life.
I was never This is before the transfer portals, so
we didn't have free agency or college free agency as
I like to say it now. We didn't have that
back in those days. So I knew that this, this
decision was gonna affect me for the rest of my life.
And and and at the end of the day, guys,
I'm proud that my school, Penn State. I'm proud of
(05:43):
my school because we've had three hundred and seventy five
players drafted all time, and our seventh most of any school.
So I have a lot of pride about Penn State. Well,
Emrod how about the Irish Yere Notre Dame. They actually
lead the way with five hundred and twenty two picks. Overall.
Part of me feels like that's because they were good
really before face masks, right, like a million nears dinosaurs
(06:06):
were out there and you got noted Dame helmets and logos,
you know, fighting off like pterodactyls and the whole thing.
Number two, by the way, is actually one of their
rivals in USC, so I know, writting a lot right now,
is smiling somewhere. And William mc ginnis, who are gonna
be working with the total you know, throwing up yes,
which is still weird to say. In speaking of the
Big ten, I'll throw Ohio State into them. Makes they
(06:27):
actually sit at number three all time. The Buckeyes do.
They can flex a little bit. The most first rounders
with eighty seven, which is obviously a huge total. But
let's like a look at the construction of current NFL
rosters as of July this year. It's no surprise Alabama's
got the most rostered players with seventy three. That's just
over two Obama players per squad. They're followed by another
(06:50):
SEC rival. You're right, it is crazy l s U
with sixty nine. Ohio State, Georgia, Michigan round out the
top five this year Bulldogs. I mean, it felt like
I was covering the draft on NFL dot Com. It
felt like every other pick was one of Kirby Smarts guys.
But they set a record in the seven rounds AFT
Model fifteen players taken. But I think we should focus
in on quarterbacks like we usually do on NFL rosters
(07:12):
because this one is a little bit of a surprise
to me. Cal actually has the most quarterbacks on a roster.
So there's something in the water in Berkeley, right. Aaron Rodgers,
Jared Goff certainly comes to mind. Davis Webb chased yeah, yeah,
man getting a little burned with it with the Giants,
and then Garbage now in Vegas but tied for number two.
Explain this one to me. North Dakota State, the Bison
(07:33):
really three du It's exactly Trey Lance Carson Wentz Eastern Stick.
That's the one that I didn't really know about. Explain
to me how a school like that has three quarterbacks
in the NFL. Well, I think, especially when you look
at North Dakota State, it has to be the construction
of their offense. Right, they have a very very QB
friendly style of an offense, an offense that's a matchup base,
(07:57):
an offense that spreads you wide open and allows the
quarterback to have a lot of different tools to use
at his disposal to beat any defense. And I think
started with Carson Wentz. Carson Wentz, I think opened up
a lot of people's eyes to what's going down out
there in North Dakota. But our listeners have to understand
the style of offense makes a difference. When I was
getting recruited to Penn State, one of the biggest knocks
(08:20):
on Penn State that a lot of opposing school said
was they don't have a pro style offense. And I
didn't say it out loud, Mike, but I kept on
asking about, saying to myself, what the hell does that mean?
What does that mean that? What is having a pro
style offense? We're still just throwing the ball and catching
the ball, running the ball, trying to score a touchdown.
Like I didn't quite get it. And then I got
(08:40):
the Penn State And this is no knock on on
my school or anything on the coaching there at the time.
It was just it just was what it was. So
I got I'll give you an example of a play
when I was at Penn State, UM Rocky Pistol hot
red ninety one. Okay, I'm having a flashback to once
again my Netflix password from my cousin and our play
offensive play Calling episode. So tell me about very different
(09:04):
Rocky than the one I'm thinking of. It was again,
it was just basically, you know, the formation and in
ninety one was the protection, but it was also the route, quick,
easy right. They were trying to make it as simplified
as possible for the collegiate athlete. Same play in the
National Football League is double wing right, quick case right
(09:25):
to twelve a flat. I mean, it's telling every single
person what to do, right. And so guys that go
to Alabama, people that go to North Dakota State, these
quarterbacks are for four and five years actively saying the
vernacular that most of the National Football League is using.
So to me, that's what gets the guys ready. And
that's why you can go down to North Dakota State,
you can go to Kyle and say, man, it's something
(09:46):
in the water, because these quarterbacks come out a lot
more ready than other quarterbacks. It's funny because at the
top of the show you made reference to coaches, and
Justin Wilcons is now the head coach at Cal defensive
minded guy. But yet Chase Garber's was his quarterback that
now finds his way to the NFL. And yes, there's
been a little bit of a revolving door in terms
of offensive coordinators. But they did bring and a guy
in Bill Musgrave who is their o C NFL experience,
(10:09):
and I think it speaks to what you're talking about
with the verbage that some of these players are are
practicing on a regular basis. I also mentioned Alabama most
rostered players in the NFL. They also have a ton
of resources that always helps. Um. They are cornerbacks coaches
and safety coaches making at least eight hundred k year
sign me up director football recruiting, by the way, which
(10:32):
is probably more my skill set making a D sixty
five k dude coach. Can we get this dude to
raise please? Tied currently the most running backs and dbs
in the NFL, tied for the second most wide outs
and d lineman, and they have the fourth most linebackers.
They are a football factory. They're also a national championship
winning factory. Obama actually has the most first round draft
(10:56):
picks in the league by a margin of to fifteen
over Ohio State with the buck Eyes. No question, no
slatches when it comes to the wide receiver spot in
the league's second most line backers and D lineman. L
s U may not exactly have the most dbs in league,
trailing Alabama seventeen to fourteen, but they are tied for
the second most wideouts and tied for the number one
(11:17):
D lineman. So I know there's a lot there, and
you made reference to it. Your your old squad, Penn
State ninth most players on a roster. But there's a
lot of love for Nick Saban's crew. Yeah, it's a
lot of love for Nick Saban's crew. And not only
does the talent in college football kind of follow Nick
Saban and kind of is funnel to Alabama. Look at coaching, alright,
(11:38):
look at some of the x NFL coaches. Whether you
talk about Bill O'Brien he was a coach at Penn State,
whether you talk about Kiffen was there tea with the thousand,
All of these guys kind of going to hiding or
so to speak, down there in Alabama. And to me,
that's what sets down Alabama part the coaching. I mean,
(11:58):
if your position coach to have some of the experiences
some of those coaches have down in Alabama, it's a
recruiting tool. And I've been saying this for a while now.
With the n i L now being prevalent in collegiate sports,
with guys being able to make real salaries and be
able to make real money, I no longer think that
recruits go to college to win a national title anymore.
(12:21):
See when I was in school, that was big to me.
Do we have an opportunity to win a national championship?
I don't think that's the case anymore. I think now
kids are picking and choosing a school based off first
and foremost, how can this financially help my situation at home?
Number one? Number two, how can this training help me
(12:42):
to be ready to build my resume for the National
Football League? And that's I think winning a championship comes
a little bit later in the recruits thinking and development.
And so when you look at the team like Alabama,
that's why they get all the bigger recruits, that's why
they get the best players, they get all the five
star recruits or how State. I know Larry Johnson senior,
(13:03):
he used to be at Penn State. He's the big,
big time d Lina there. The reason why they dominate
and recruiting is because of the great coaching that both
of those schools have. You bring up an interesting point
on N I L. I'm wondering now if college football
the talent disperses a little bit, not only because of
N I L, but knocking on the door of an
expanded playoffs, all of a sudden, some more more people
(13:23):
get to sit at that table and go and eat.
And I'm just wondering, like, does that hurt teams like
Ohio State in Alabama? Well, I think it should. In theory,
it should hurt those teams, But um, I think and
I may get in trouble for saying this, but you
know we're on the podcast. It doesn't matter. I don't.
I think the big reason why Nick Saban was upset
early on when he made those comments about you know,
(13:44):
other schools paying players and and things like that, because
when there's rules set in place, that's the fence right
that you can operate in. And when schools and people
that know that that's the fence that you can operate in.
You also know what's the out of bounds, what are
the things you can do to give you an advantage.
And with n IL is doing now, with schools and
(14:07):
companies being able to pay real money to these kids,
is there's no longer that fence around the field anymore.
You know, there's no longer that out of bounds. And
I think that's why you have so many of those
big time coaches complaining player development, whether you're getting players
from n I L or just feuding with other programs.
And Nick Savan and Jimbo Fisher probably not on each
other's Christmas cards list, I would imagine. Just because you
(14:29):
go when you play for a particular school does not
guarantee success at the next level. In fact, Alabama hasn't
exactly done great at quarterbacks. People are gonna be at me.
I'm just telling you, like the numbers speak for themselves.
In fact, a few of the top colleges have really
struggled at the position. In Alabama, not the team that
I'm referencing here, there's one squad that hasn't had a
(14:51):
quarterback win a game in the NFL in its last
twenty four tries. Really Yeah, really, that's right. Oh in
twenty four find out who that is? Cot up backs
NFL explained. Welcome back to NFL, explained my cam m
(15:13):
rob with us all right, before the break, we said
that there was one university at hadn't had a quarterback
get a win in the NFL and its last twenty
four tries. You had a couple of moments to to
rack your brain. You got a guess for me, um,
why why? Don't know? Why do the Tennessee volunteers keep
popping up in my head? I don't know why. I
know that's probably not the answer, but I'm gonna go
(15:34):
with Tennis. Okay, I know why because they haven't won
a whole lot of football games at the college level
for a significant period of time. Not an awful guest,
Tennessee fast man. I am not making friends in the SEC.
I know that. Notre Dame. How about the Irish? Here?
All right? Brady Quinn, Jimmy Clastum, Shawn kaiser Ian book.
You almost feel bad saying that, just because sometimes it's situationals, right,
(15:57):
Notre Dame quarterbacks. Those wins combined at sixteen and sixty
four since two thousand. Wow, that even hurts me saying
that not to be outdone. You've got schools like a
high state in Alabama, they've also had some struggles. Buck
Eys quarterback seventeen and thirty four since two thousand tied,
so just three games under five hundred. So m robs.
(16:18):
What is it about the larger schools that doesn't always
equal quarterback success? Man, it's crazy hearing that list of
Notre Dame quarterbacks. Brady Quinn, we both were Haisman finalists
and two thousand five we both scored six touchdowns on
the same day. I mean, it's crazy. It was an
n C double A record. It was crazy. Um, I
(16:39):
digress a little bit. I'm like, I'd be puffing checked
out if I could say something like that. But you know,
it's a double as sword when you talk about quarterbacks
at these bigger schools, because on the one end, yes,
you're playing against the best of the best talent, so
you're able to show an NFL scout like, look what
(17:00):
I can do versus the Alabamas, Look what I can
do versus the l s Us. But on the other
side of that sword is you also play with a
lot of talent. On your side of the football as well,
with all the five star recruits that these schools get,
the four star recruits and so oftentimes a lot of
the quarterbacks and some of these bigger schools, the wide
(17:21):
receivers are running wide open. They have dominant defenses, they
have offensive lines that out of five blockers in front
of them, three four of them are first rounders. So
when you're playing with that much talent, to me, it's
hard to truly evaluate the quarterback position when you have
so many ferraris around you. That's why I think you
get a school like a North Dakota State, or you
(17:42):
get you know, some of the smaller, big, big, you know,
big time schools still but just smaller. You get those
quarterbacks sticking out a little bit more because they do
more with less. To me, they're the reason why their
team is so good, and so I think that's why
they stick out amongst the rest. Okay, so this is
probably a little old school, right. Bill Parcels had a
rule when it came to drafting quarterbacks had to be
(18:04):
how to have thirty star arts, at least twenty three
wins and a college degree. Now things have changed dramatically
in the college game. We're talking about freshman. If you
don't start when you get to a campus, you're like,
oh my god, I gotta go into the portal and
do the whole deal. So things have changed a little bit.
But is there something that you would point to in
that philosophy that does make sense where if you were
a GM you would point to a couple of those categories. Yeah.
(18:27):
For me, first and foremost, you have to pass the
common sense I tests, like I have to be able
to look on tape and clearly you're the best player
on the football field. Clearly you have all the movement skills.
And then obviously accuracy. I mean the number one job
of the quarterback is to throw the ball accurately to
(18:48):
the ball carriers, to throw the ball accurately to the
playmakers and let those guys go do work. But for me,
also it's the leadership skills. It's the soft skills, It's
how do you command to huddle, It's your communication skills. Right,
And at the end of the day, I would in
a perfect world, I would like you to have two
years of experience. Big knock on me as to why
I didn't get an opportunity to play quarterback, will get
(19:09):
an opportunity to try to play quarterback in the National
Football League was in. A general manager told me this.
The other quarterbacks in this draft, which was Matt Liner
J Cutler, guys like that, Mike, they have about ten
thousand more game reps than you do at the position,
and that was important for it does make sense. And
while you were talking, I was looking up trying to
find my notes from the year Trey Lance was drafted.
(19:31):
One of my good buddies, Evan Moore's tight end in
the NFL, played at Stanford. We had worked together for
years and he used to say, Hey, if you go
through and I don't have the exact numbers, but the
last like that was my guy. Man, I've heard a
couple of those stories. That's for another edition of the
podcast that's not called NFL Explained. Um, that's like NFL
(19:54):
after Dark it is. It's probably for that show. But
he he'd always said this, and I don't have the
exact numbers, but it was like, Hey, the last fifteen
Super Bowl winning quarterbacks had that two year or so
threshold of some of those starts, and that's what sometimes
that conversation about Trey Lands made things really interesting at
number three deciding to go up and draft him because
of the lack of experience, which by the way, is
(20:15):
going to be on full display this entire season. We'll
find out what Trey has from a Niners perspective, but
we have established that quarterbacks that have the most accolades
don't always thrive in the NFL. Got another quick quarterback
staff for you. There's been three instances where four quarterbacks
from the same school found themselves starting on the same week.
This is wild NC State, right, Philip Rivers, Jacobi percent
(20:38):
Mike Lennon, Russell Wilson. Remember, yeah, you're gonna count that
one who transfer to Wisconsin. Of course, Michigan State, and
this is if we're gonna count Russell. We actually can
find a fourth name here Michigan State. Kirk Cousins, Brian Hoyer,
Drew Stanton, and Nick Foles, who I always think about
it as an Arizona Wildcat, so but obviously spent one
year at Michigan State. And then sc you just talked
(21:01):
about Liner, Mark Sanchez, Matt Castle, Carson Palm are all
starting on the same week, which is to me kind
of cool. A couple of those universities getting some dudes
out there is super cos I've got a staff for you.
The only Power five teams that haven't logged, and he
starts in the NFL since two thousand, Arkansas, Minnesota, Georgia Tech,
(21:22):
and Nebraska. For all the success Nebraska has had historically,
they haven't had one guy take a snap. That's a
pretty shocking step. Welcome back to NFL, explains Mike m
and m ROB with you, Rob, Look, there is a
(21:44):
color that is meaningful, yellow yellow jackets, and you just
dropped Georgia Tech. I'm no, I'm not not talking about
those dudes. I'm talking about Hall of Famers schools with
the most Hall of Famers sc checking in at fourteen.
They got some dudes. Notre Dame eleven. Miami actually has nine,
and there was a hey, damn, maybe we're getting back
(22:04):
to that hey day with Mario Cristo Baul out there.
Uh Pitt also with not and then you've got three
teams m ROB with eight, Alabama, Michigan and Ohio State Syracuse,
who I always think of as a basketball school. Yeah,
they got seven dudes. And then l s U Yeah yeah, yeah,
we got yeah, we got my school up on there.
You gotta have pens. They gotta talk a little bit
(22:24):
sc which doesn't not super shocking, right when you think
about some of the guy I know a second time
on reference Ronnie Lot, but they've had a ton of
dudes come through that program as well. And I'll throw
this year way like, I think Willie is going to
be kind of adding to that list will beginners. I
think Willie will get in at some point, I mean
to be the NFL playoff sack leader. I mean when
(22:47):
the game was the biggest, Willie showed up. Now. But look, yeah,
I got another one for you. Okay, Look, the schools
that have had the most number one draft picks is
definitely the familiar teams, right Notre Dame, USC, Oklahoma, Georgia
all have had five. Okay, not shocking because their dudes.
They got crazy programs. You ronicled what makes a successful
(23:08):
college program, player development, and coaching. How about the little
guys though, I mean this one sort of surprised me.
The Nonpower five teams that have had a number one
overall pick two Lane Tennessee State, Tampa, SMU Rice comes
to mind, pen Pen, Yeah, Louisiana Tech, by the way,
(23:29):
Terry Bradshaw, They're one of our guys. We're not surprised, right,
David Carr's out there, He's like, Yo, make sure you
include me in your show. Fresno State, I got you,
I got you, Colorado State, Chicago and then Central Michigan,
Eric fisherback in. So some familiar names that are out
there as well. And if we're gonna talk a little
bit about the really really little guys, there are four
(23:51):
draftees from Division three, two of them from Wisconsin Whitewater. What. Yeah,
you know they always say like, if you're good, the
NFL will find you will and like I used to
say that, but like not really believe it. I give
a stat like that, I'm like, actually it's kind of true.
Well they will, And like again, I tell a lot
of young football players in college, they go to small schools.
(24:14):
You want to get noticed. First of all, put yourself
in the scout shoes. They show up to your game,
they're watching the game. You have to clearly be the
best player on the field and just proceed to go
out there and break every single record that the school has.
That will definitely get you noticed. Okay, So I'm gonna
throw something and this we're gonna call an audible here
because you and I did not discuss this before coming
(24:36):
out here for the show. But I think you're uniquely
qualified because you mentioned it a little bit with some
of that, and I'll use air quotes around little guy,
but the resources, and I think Dion Sandras is sort
of changing this narrative. But the other week on NFL
Network we had the Black College Hall of Fame Classics.
So you've got to HBCUs squads squaring off and all
of a sudden we're seeing an influx of talent deciding
(24:56):
to go down that path. How much do you think HBCUs,
who have by the way, already had success finding guys
in the Michael straighthand rights like, there's just significant list.
How do you think that's changing the game. Yeah, it's
changing the game for the better and it's powerful. And
shout out to Prime Dion Sanders, one of my big homies,
one of my mentors, a guy that we all in
(25:18):
this game, especially in youth sports. We look up to
him as to how much he affects young people and
he has the cool factor to so Prime definitely understands
what he's doing. But yes, the n I L whole
situation is spreading the resources out. And I also think
today's young person, especially today's black player, I'm just gonna
be frank with you, they have access to a lot
(25:40):
of because of the Internet, because of you know, social
media and all those things. They have access to so
much information, and they're learning about the guys that came
before them. They're learning even more than my generation. They're
learning more about the people from black colleges that came
before them that paved the way. And so when I
talk to young people, what I'm hearing is they feel
(26:01):
kind of indebted. They kind of feel like they have
to go back to continue you the legacy, to continue
to allow resources to be headed towards the schools that
definitely needed. You started this show talking about coaches. Prime
for me was one of the coolest dudes. And then
you know, I think we've seen the documentaries. He's the
one guy that I think started to get other former
players right, like Eddie George is another guy. Do you
(26:23):
think we'll see more former NFL players of that caliber
start taking over HBCUs and pulling because of n I
L being able to pull more talent, oh, you know,
five star recruits. I mean, Prime is able to get
one of those dudes. The game needs us to do that.
We have to be that football at a PhD level
(26:44):
is us being all pros, us winning super Bowls. And
it's our duty as gladiators, as our duty as football
players to go back into the well and teach what
we know. And again we also come when I talk
about what we talk talking about former players, we come
with their street credibility. Right. Players know they've watched us,
they've seen us, they know we've gone through exactly what
(27:05):
we're telling them, and it goes along way in the
locker room. All right, before you wrap up here, you're
on the football field, you're playing used to wear the
Penn State uniform. Older guy that you didn't play with,
younger guy that you didn't play with, you know they
went to Penn State. What's that interaction before or after
the game? Oh man, it's you know, it's especially the
older guys, right because we all played for one yeah,
(27:29):
for one coach, the same story. It unites us all
I remember, you know, playing against a bunch of different
Penn Staters and we all give the your paternal voice.
We see each other, we take pictures and we go right,
said what do you do and stand up? I mean
we all do the same voice. So yeah, man, it's
(27:52):
a pretty special feeling. And again because we all played
for the same coach, it kind of brings us closer together.
It's pretty cool. Yeah, it is really cool. You know,
it was a thrill from me. I was hosting Total
Access and it doesn't happen that often. Now. I went
to Fordham University in the Bronx and I had to
tell you on the shortlist. And I've been pretty fortunate
here since I started to be able to interview a
lot of like really talented current NFL players. I could
(28:13):
not have been more excited to talk to Chase Edmonds
really like I get him and I'm like, dude, Arthur Avenue,
Pugsley's chicken rolling. It's but it's like those moments that
you know, like not for nothing, like Chas isn't. There's
not a lot of a lot of Fordham dudes, right,
And there's only thirty two players from NFL drafted, twenty
nine of those coming from nine or sooner. You got
(28:34):
John Skelton, the quarterback who was actually with Arizona for
a little bit. Yeah. Um, and I obviously made reference
to Chase Edmonds who's now with the Dolphins, and then
think zakel who got drafted by the Niners. I was
doing the draft for NFL dot Com. I see Fordham
six round, dude, I went crazy in the break and
everyone's looking at me. I'm like, guys, Fordham, there's not
(28:54):
many Can we just own it a little bit? And
I think that's one of the coolest things. People always
ask me, Hey, what's the difference between, you know, covering
in the college game and covering the pro game. And
it's those moments, right, like the paternal voice that for
turn right, Like those little subtle things from being on
that campus. I think is always cool. But you go
into any NFL city and to see the jerseys of
all all those teams, I mean, you know, you experience
(29:15):
it like being on the field is pretty bad as
it is, it's cool. And again like the jersey swaps,
I mean, like most of the pens, they guys that
I've played against, I mean I get their jersey afterwards.
You you know, you get to exchange ideas and not
only seeing them after you play them in the National
Football League, playing against them in the National Football League,
and then seeing them when you go back to college
(29:36):
is even bigger treatment. Yeah, it's uh, it's pretty wild man.
And to see these dudes celebrate. I was at the
Rose Bowl. Actually it was USC Penn State. Barkley was there.
It was Kwan's year at the Rolls. But that wasn't
great for yours. It was to remind me. Yeah, I'm
on the sideline and it's Ronnie lot Liner, Sanchez, Lynn Swat,
like those dudes are celebrating like their college kids on
(29:57):
the sideline. It's it's it's kind of awesome to see
some of that because the legends it does. It does
all right, final thing here before you let everyone going NFL,
You like, is there one program or you just say,
you know what, like this squad's got the bragging rights,
because yeah, you could go most drafted, Notre Dame, you
could go most you know, Hall of famers that see
most first round pick. You know, we we've chronicled a
(30:18):
lot of it. I would have to go, at least
in the modern times. It has to be Alabama. Yeah,
I mean, it just has to be. I mean, I
don't know if there's been another program that's dominated for
so long with athletes being able to go almost anywhere
in the country. I mean, they've just dominated for a decade,
almost two decades. It's pretty wild. It's that saving guy
who apparently is pretty good NFL you. It has been
(30:43):
awesome to go through some of these teams. Perfect job
by you as always. Man, having a blast doing this podcast.
Of course, you can find us on social media at
Mike Underscore Yeah, and I know you're you're kind of
a social media yeah, on my Twitter at real mic Rob,
Instagram at Real Underscore, Mike Underscore Rob. I gotta say
all Mike Yeah. If there's a topic that you'd like
us to cover, or a question you just don't know
(31:04):
an answer to, you can add us and I prompise
it will make one of our NFL Explained episodes. Thanks
so much for listening.
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