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Hokies, ACC Good in the NFL Draft
by Chris Coleman, TechSideline.com

The ACC generally does very well in April's NFL Draft, and this year was no exception. The conference had 33 players selected in the draft, which featured a total of 252 picks. The Hokies led the way in the ACC with eight players chosen.

In fact, if you believe the NFL Draft numbers, Virginia Tech was clearly the most talented team in the ACC last year, and it's not even close.

No one else in the conference had more than three selections. Florida State and Miami, who were once major factors in the NFL Draft, especially in the first round, let the conference down this year. Each team had just three players drafted.

Florida State had a third round pick, a fifth round pick and a sixth round pick. Other seniors like Shannon Boatman, Jacky Claude, De'Cody Fagg, Roger Williams and David Overmyer were not selected. No wonder the Hokies beat the 'Noles by 19 points last year; the talent just wasn't there for FSU.

Miami had players drafted in the first, second and third rounds. They had a few star quality players, but not the depth. Seniors such as Kyle Wright, Glenn Sharpe, Derrick Morse, Teraz McCray, Darnell Jenkins and Andrew Bain were not drafted. The Hokies totally outclassed the 'Canes on the field last year. In the past Tech beat Miami because they had better coaching and more discipline. In 2007, you can add "better players" to that list as well.

The ACC, mostly thanks to the Hokies, held up well against the other BCS conferences in the draft.

The ACC finished third, just behind the SEC and Pac-10. USC was to the Pac-10 what the Hokies were to the ACC. The Trojans had 11 players taken in the draft, nearly a third of the total of the entire conference.

Things get even more interesting when we look at the trends of the past three years.

Thanks to their amazing weekend in the 2006 NFL Draft, the ACC has had more players selected than any other BCS conference over the last three years. In 2006, the ACC had 51 players drafted, including an amazing 12 in the first round.

The total number of draft picks has slipped in the last couple of years, but it was still good enough to tie for second in 2007, and to finish third in 2008. There is definitely talent in the ACC.

Which brings us to the question: why has ACC football been arguably the worst of any BCS conference over the past couple of years? Well, it wasn't in 2005, when it featured 51 2006 Draft picks, plus future picks in 2007 and 2008. Think about it. In 2005, the ACC had 115 future NFL Draft picks playing on its teams, more than any other conference. 2005 was a good year for the league.

2006 and 2007, not so much. It's understandable, because losing 51 draft picks from the 2005 season is quite a bit. In fact, the second highest total of draftees from one conference over the past year is 41. That's how far ahead of the pack the ACC's NFL talent level was during the 2005 season. There has to be some dropoff.

However, what's discouraging is that the dropoff looks like it will continue. On paper, 2008 ACC football is going to be very bad. The Hokies will be the clear choice to win the Coastal Division, despite losing so many excellent seniors. That's how watered down the rest of the Coastal Division is.

When ACC expansion took place, most people expected the new conference to be hitting its peak right about now. Instead, it's been going backwards. Contrast that to the Big East, which everyone expected to drop off the map. Although the Big East still doesn't have the overall talent of the ACC, its number of draft picks has steadily increased each year.