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B1Gest NFL Draft Busts By School - No Michigan Grads Here!

Which school produced the most over-rated NFL picks ever? cough-Buckeyes-cough

Denver Broncos Training Camp Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images

The Biggest NFL Draft Busts of the B1G

In the spirit of Off Tackle Empire, I addressed the NFL draft by reviewing the biggest busts produced by Big Ten Teams.

This required me to slog through a million listicles of the lowest quality ever. You are welcome.

The following players live in infamy in NFL history. They cost teams millions of wasted dollars and often lost coaches their jobs.

And while we have our share of bombs...Jeff George...I think we can all breath a sigh of relief that neither Brian Boswell nor Jamarcus Russell had the grades to attend a B1G school…amirite?

That said, we produced some bad pro players.

What’s notable are the teams that did not have a high-profile draft bust. For example, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota put a combined 900 kids into the NFL via the draft…and produced zero top-50 busts. Mediocrity, in this case, is a good thing.

Over the years, we the B1G put 3,739 players into the NFL via the draft. Just out of curiousity, I ranked the B1G by NFL drafted players...because why not give us something to fight about.

Here’s what I learned

It’s one thing that Purdue does better than Wisconsin...Indiana has to thank Rutgers for coming in last...and the Nerds are too smart to go to the NFL:

  1. Ohio State - 437
  2. Michigan - 362
  3. Nebraska - 358
  4. Penn State - 344
  5. Michigan State - 310
  6. Purdue - 279
  7. Wisconsin - 273
  8. Minnesota - 265
  9. Iowa - 250
  10. Illinois - 245
  11. Maryland - 212
  12. Northwestern - 179
  13. Indiana - 166
  14. Rutgers - 59

You can fight about this at your leisure. It’s important to match those ranking with what I’m about to show you. Remember who put the most players into the draft and who does not have a single major draft bust.

I define draft bust by those players who were picked high in the first round and went on to suck. Doesn’t matter whether the player got hurt or killed someone (I’m looking at you Nebraska). If they failed to live up to their high draft pick, they made the list.

/sobs...I’m sorry Todd Blackledge...I’m so sorry.

Without further ado - your worst NFL Draft Picks of the B1G:

  1. Ohio State - Vernon Gholston, Maurice Clarett, Archie Griffin, Art Schlichter, Bobby Carpenter, and Eric Kumerow
  2. Penn State - Curtis Enis, Ki-Jana Carter, Aaron Maybin, Todd Blackledge, Courtney Brown, and Blair Thomas
  3. Nebraska - Bruce Pickens, Lawrence Phillips, and Trev Alberts
  4. Michigan State - Tony Mandarich, Charles Rogers, and Dimitrius Underwood
  5. Illinois - Jeff George
  6. Purdue - Jeff George
  7. Indiana - Kevin Allen

That’s it. Those are your B1G draft busts of all time. You may debate the WORST of them in the comments.

Your Friend,

Townie

Poll

Who was the B1Gest Draft Bust Ever?

This poll is closed

  • 10%
    Maurice Clarett
    (35 votes)
  • 8%
    Ki-Jana Carter
    (28 votes)
  • 8%
    Lawrence Phillips
    (27 votes)
  • 5%
    Vernon Gholston
    (17 votes)
  • 28%
    Tony Mandarich
    (93 votes)
  • 1%
    Todd Blackledge
    (5 votes)
  • 3%
    Charles Rogers
    (13 votes)
  • 1%
    Dimitrius Underwood
    (6 votes)
  • 8%
    Jeff George
    (27 votes)
  • 23%
    Jim Harbaugh
    (78 votes)
329 votes total Vote Now