OUInsider - Owen Field

I noticed a poster on this board felt that Clemson has more talent than OU among defensive players. In context, the statement was intended to speak to recent overall defensive talent.

Now, it's true that if you only consider the last 5 years, and you look at defensive players drafted in the top-60 (his/her criteria), Clemson bests Oklahoma with 5 players to 2 players. But let's look a little deeper...

The above criteria (2007 to 2011 NFL defensive draft picks among top 60 picks) makes the most of Clemson's 2011 draft in which they had 3 defensive players taken in the second round. The last time Clemson had 3 players taken in the top-60 was... NEVER -- it's only happened once in the history of Clemson football. (Meanwhile, Oklahoma's best year by those standards was 1984 -- 5 defensive Sooners were taken in the top-60.)

But the usual cutting point you see bantered about is "First Round", not top-60. You might wonder how Clemson stacks up if you look at First Round picks or Overall picks. And given the unusual 2011 season for Clemson, what happens if you include a few more years to get a larger sample size...

Looking back over the last 10 years, Clemson has had 21 defensive players drafted and two First Round picks. Oklahoma has had 25 defensive players drafted and 4 First Round picks. If you go back further, things become much more lopsided in Oklahoma's favor.

Bottom line, Clemson has a fine tradition of producing talent. But unless you carefully pick your criteria (include 2011 and limit at top-60), they come in second to Oklahoma...