SEC reclaims top dog title with most picks at 2026 draft … After being edged by the Big Ten for the most picks in this year’s opening round, the SEC bounced back over the next couple of days to once again lead all conferences in the total number of players selected this weekend. By the dust had settled on last evening’s 7th round, 87 players from SEC teams had been selected versus 68 from the Big 10. In fact, the number of SEC players selected was actually up somewhat from 80 the previous year, while the Big 10 was down a couple. At the same time, the ACC and Big XII tied for third, albeit a somewhat distant third, with 38 picks apiece. That was up from 31 in 2025 for the Big 12, but down slightly (from 42) for the ACC.
However, while the SEC took the overall crown, for the second year in a row, Ohio State led all schools with 11 players selected this weekend with 11, followed by Alabama and Texas A&M with 10 each; Miami and Clemson with 9 apiece; and Georgia, Penn State and national champion Indiana with 8 each. And while their total was well down the overall list, it was a remarkable weekend for Navy, which had a couple of players selected – DT Landon Robinson and RB/WR Eli Heidenreich in the the round – to become the first academy since 1969 to have more than one player selected in a single draft.
In many ways, though, the real story here is the growing dominance of the power conferences when it comes to the draft. Indeed, 92% of all players selected this past weekend were from one of the SEC, Big 10, ACC or Big XII (or Notre Dame). In fact, 60% of the players drafted this year were from the SEC or BIG TEN alone, up a couple of percentage points from the previous year, but way up from just around 40% in 2024, although needless to say part of that growth is explained by the expansion of the two conferences over the past few years, especially the fact that the SEC added Texas and Oklahoma to its lineup, while the BIG TEN added the 4 west coast PAC-12 teams.
At the same time, 14 players were selected from the non-power 5 FBS conferences including 4 from both the American and Mid-American leagues, 3 from the Mountain West, 2 from the Sun Belt, and one from Conference USA, although that total was down from 17 the precious year. sadly, the real losers in all of this as the FCS programs. This year, for example, just 4 players (2 of which were from North Dakota State) ere selected from the FCS schools this year, down from 8 last year, and 11 the year before. In contrast, earlier in the century as many as 30-35 players were selected from FCS schools on an annual basis.
