Brett Vito UNT’s NFL Draft drought continues — quick thoughts

[Eagle1855]

Doesn't the number of players drafted provide a snapshot of a program's recruiting success and failure some 3-4 years ago rather than the state of a program at present? Sure, Texas didn't have any players drafted, but their head coach had 3 taken in the first round, so if I'm a UT alum, I'm optimistic about the present and the future - and I'm moving on from the past. Similarly, as a UNT alum, I'll be more disappointed if we don't see some guys go in next year's and that of 2016, than I am regarding this year's draft.

Our momentum is upward, we are moving forward. That projects positively for the future, which will be reflected in the level of talent across the board, as well as subsequent NFL drafts.

[casual fan]

Doesn't the number of players drafted provide a snapshot of a program's recruiting success and failure some 3-4 years ago rather than the state of a program at present? Sure, Texas didn't have any players drafted, but their head coach had 3 taken in the first round, so if I'm a UT alum, I'm optimistic about the present and the future - and I'm moving on from the past. Similarly, as a UNT alum, I'll be more disappointed if we don't see some guys go in next year's and that of 2016, than I am regarding this year's draft.

Our momentum is upward, we are moving forward. That projects positively for the future, which will be reflected in the level of talent across the board, as well as subsequent NFL drafts.

Yes sir. 100%

[Harry]

Doesn't the number of players drafted provide a snapshot of a program's recruiting success and failure some 3-4 years ago rather than the state of a program at present? Sure, Texas didn't have any players drafted, but their head coach had 3 taken in the first round, so if I'm a UT alum, I'm optimistic about the present and the future - and I'm moving on from the past. Similarly, as a UNT alum, I'll be more disappointed if we don't see some guys go in next year's and that of 2016, than I am regarding this year's draft.

Our momentum is upward, we are moving forward. That projects positively for the future, which will be reflected in the level of talent across the board, as well as subsequent NFL drafts.

Like the attitude!

[untcampbell]

Doesn't the number of players drafted provide a snapshot of a program's recruiting success and failure some 3-4 years ago rather than the state of a program at present? Sure, Texas didn't have any players drafted, but their head coach had 3 taken in the first round, so if I'm a UT alum, I'm optimistic about the present and the future - and I'm moving on from the past. Similarly, as a UNT alum, I'll be more disappointed if we don't see some guys go in next year's and that of 2016, than I am regarding this year's draft.

Our momentum is upward, we are moving forward. That projects positively for the future, which will be reflected in the level of talent across the board, as well as subsequent NFL drafts.

What a party killer...thank you.

GMG

[UNT90]

Doesn't the number of players drafted provide a snapshot of a program's recruiting success and failure some 3-4 years ago rather than the state of a program at present? Sure, Texas didn't have any players drafted, but their head coach had 3 taken in the first round, so if I'm a UT alum, I'm optimistic about the present and the future - and I'm moving on from the past. Similarly, as a UNT alum, I'll be more disappointed if we don't see some guys go in next year's and that of 2016, than I am regarding this year's draft.

Our momentum is upward, we are moving forward. That projects positively for the future, which will be reflected in the level of talent across the board, as well as subsequent NFL drafts.

So we have sucked at recruiting the past 17 years?

[Eagle1855]

So we have sucked at recruiting the past 17 years?

I didn't say that. But it's worth looking at our winning percentage over that time period:

We won an average of just over 3 games a year (3.16), from 1996-2000.

We won an average of just under 3 games a year (2.75), from 2005-2012.

That's 14 years of winning ~3 games per year. That's not very good. And it's not like we were playing in the Big 12 (or even C-USA). So blame it on whatever you want, but I think some of it has to be attributed to recruiting.

As for our "dominance" of the Sunbelt Conference from 2001-2004 (the time period that holds some of my favorite memories of NT football), how did that translate to out of conference play? How many marquee out of conference wins did we manage over that time? How many D-1 Texas teams did we beat out for talent? Or even on the field of play?

We still only averaged about 7 wins a year in that four-year time period and managed just a single bowl win.

Patrick Cobbs was a fine player, but he was also undersized, slower than many other RB's that came out. Same for Booger, Thomas, et al. Seems to me, when it comes to the NFL, size -- measurables -- matter more than any other time in a player's career, right or wrong. And that isn't applied only to the "small schools." I figure if Manziel was the same size as Blake Bortles (6'4", 230), he'd have gone #1 overall.

All this said, I am surprised Chancellor wasn't picked up in the 7th round.

Edited May 12, 2014 by Eagle1855

[UNT90]

And you expect it to magically turn around next season?

[Eagle1855]

And you expect it to magically turn around next season?

I didn't say that either.

I assume there's more to it than magic.

But what do I know?

Edited May 12, 2014 by Eagle1855

[gksmith]

So the bad news is no UNT players selected.

Good news is a lot of them are invited to mini-camps. I don't have who is going where in front of me but there will be many opportunities to cheer for Mean Greeners in the preseason at least.

[casual fan]

A little historical perspective. The NFL draft at one time had over 30 rounds. The draft now has 7 rounds.

Here are some regional teams with their total number of picks in the first 7 rounds.

63 - Tulsa

61 - Grambling

47 - UTEP

35 - Texas A&M Kingsville (Texas A&I)

33 - L. Tech

27 - West Texas A&M

26 - Northwestern State (Louisiana)

25 - UNT

22 - Texas Southern

17 - Texas State

15 - Stephen F Austin

The old SWC teams had huge numbers as did the old Big 8.

[CMJ]

The draft may have had 30 rounds, but in most of the later rounds not every team drafted. Sometimes not even every round happened. Obviously I am not sure of how it worked back then, but take 1950 for example.

Thirty official rounds - BUT no picks in Rounds 27 & 28. The only round where all fourteen teams drafted was the first. Some rounds only had one team select.

Edited May 14, 2014 by CMJ

[JesseMartin]

The draft may have had 30 rounds, but in most of the later rounds not every team drafted. Sometimes not even every round happened. Obviously I am not sure of how it worked back then, but take 1950 for example.

Thirty official rounds - BUT no picks in Rounds 27 & 28. The only round where all fourteen teams drafted was the first. Some rounds only had one team select.

That's really funny. I would love to have been a journalist back then. "In hopes of ending their playoff drought, the Browns kept the draft going long after all of the other teams were finished. The lights stayed on long into the night as Cleveland obtained 16 consecutive picks from rounds 14 to 30."