NFL Draft: Breaking down the Big Ten selections
The NFL Draft is in the books and now it’s time to review what happened over a busy three-day period. Here is a look at how the Big Ten teams played out.
MORE NFL DRAFT: Gorney's takeaways | Where the first-rounders ranked in high school
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MICHIGAN (13)
Drafted players: J.J. McCarthy, Kris Jenkins, Mike Sainristil, Junior Colson, Blake Corum, Roman Wilson, Zak Zinter, AJ Barner, Trevor Keegan, Michael Barrett, LaDarius Henderson, Jaylen Harrell, Cornelius Johnson
Overview: Who has it better than Michigan? Nobody. The Wolverines won the national championship and now they’ve had 13 players drafted and while they didn’t beat Georgia’s record of 15, it’s still an incredible haul for Michigan.
McCarthy was the lone first-rounder but the Wolverines were well-represented across the board on both sides of the ball, including three offensive linemen, and that should only help recruiting even more.
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PENN STATE (8)
Drafted players: Olu Fashanu, Chop Robinson, Caedan Wallace, Adisa Isaac, Theo Johnson, Hunter Nourzad, Daequan Hardy, Kalen King
Overview: Penn State had a phenomenal haul in the NFL Draft, represented through all three days of the picks and the Nittany Lions were the only program in the Big Ten that had two first-rounders taken in Fashanu and Robinson.
What’s even more impressive is that at least two – Isaac and Johnson – had a real argument to be picked even higher after going in the third and fourth rounds, respectively.
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ILLINOIS (4)
Drafted players: Jer’Zhan Newton, Isaiah Adams, Tip Reiman, Casey Washington
Overview: Considering that Illinois has had just one winning season in the last dozen, the Illini had an admirable draft led by Newton, who was super productive in Champaign, and had some first-round talk around him at defensive tackle.
Newton led the way and then had two second-day picks in Adams and Reiman before Washington closed it out for Illinois.
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IOWA (4)
Drafted players: Cooper DeJean, Erick All, Tory Taylor, Logan Lee
Overview: There was a lot of discussion about DeJean possibly going in the first round and he definitely had the talent and impact on the college level to be picked that early. There might have been some questions whether he can play corner or safety in the NFL as DeJean went early in the second round. All, Taylor and Lee were all third-day selections.
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OHIO STATE (4)
Drafted players: Marvin Harrison Jr., Michael Hall Jr., Cade Stover, Tommy Eichenberg
Overview: There was so much talk about Harrison during the pre-draft process and so much discussion about Ohio State’s loaded receiver room that all of that cannot hurt coach Ryan Day and position coach Brian Hartline in recruiting.
Harrison went fourth overall and was the first non-quarterback off the board. Hall, a four-star defensive tackle from Streetsboro, Ohio, was a second-round selection and then Stover and Eichenberg were picked on Saturday.
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WISCONSIN (2)
Drafted players: Tanor Bortolini, Braelon Allen
Overview: It was a surprisingly quiet draft for Wisconsin, which had no picks until the last day when Bortolini and Allen went in the fourth round. Allen could be one of the sleepers of the draft as he just turned 20 years old and is one of the more physically impressive running backs in the draft.
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MARYLAND (2)
Drafted players: Delmar Glaze, Tarheeb Still
Overview: One player on each side of the ball for Maryland were selected as Glaze was a little bit of a surprise that early in the third round and then Still was a fifth-round pick.
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PURDUE (2)
Drafted players: Tyrone Tracy Jr., Sanoussi Kane
Overview: After rushing for 716 yards and eight touchdowns this past season, Tracy worked his way into a fifth-round selection and Kane rounded out the two for Purdue as the safety was a late seventh-round pick.
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MICHIGAN STATE (1)
Drafted player: Nick Samac
Overview: The Spartans were almost shut out of the NFL Draft until Samac, Michigan State’s center, was picked in the seventh round.
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RUTGERS (1)
Drafted player: Max Melton
Overview: Melton was the only player taken from Rutgers but it might not hurt defensive back recruiting since the former in-state three-star was a second-round pick. Prospects considering the Scarlet Knights – especially defensive backs – watching the draft had to be impressed with that pick.
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MINNESOTA (1)
Drafted player: Tyler Nubin
Overview: Landing the four-star Nubin in the 2019 class was a big win for Minnesota at the time and he delivered for the Golden Gophers before the defensive back became a second-round selection. This past season, Nubin totaled 53 tackles and five interceptions.
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Note: Northwestern, Nebraska and Indiana did not have a player selected in the 2024 NFL Draft.