Not surprisingly, national champion Michigan and runner-up Washington had the most players invited to next week’s NFL Combine.
The Wolverines had a record 18 players invited, the most from one school, while the Huskies had 13.
Besides Michigan and Washington, five other schools had at least 10 players invited — Florida State had 12, Georgia had 11, Texas had 11, Penn State had 10 and Alabama had 10.
The seven schools with the most players invited to the NFL Combine included all four College Football Playoff teams. Of the 13 schools with the most invites only one — USC with eight players — was not ranked in the final AP Poll.
The 13 schools with the most invites and their final AP Poll ranking:
- No. 1 Michigan, 18
- No. 2 Washington, 13
- No. 6 (tie) Florida State, 12
- No. 4 Georgia, 11
- No. 3 Texas, 11
- No. 13 Penn State, 10
- No. 5 Alabama, 10
- Not ranked USC, 8
- No. 12 LSU, 8
- No. 8 Missouri, 8
- No. 14 Notre Dame, 8
- No. 10 Ohio State, 8
- No. 6 (tie) Oregon, 7
Of the remaining 13 teams that finished in the final AP Poll, No. 16 Oklahoma State, No. 21 NC State and No. 22 SMU were the only programs in the Top 25 that had no NFL Combine invites. So much for the cliché, “It’s not the X’s and the O’s, it’s the Jimmy and the Joes.”
Although, some schools' invitees were impacted by NFL-caliber players deciding to return for another season.
With that, let's take a look at the AP Top 25 schools that accomplished the most with the least NFL Combine talent. These ranked programs had the fewest players invited to the combine:
- No. 16 Oklahoma State, 0
- No. 21 NC State, 0
- No. 22 SMU, 0
- No. 25 Liberty, 1
- No. 23 Kansas, 2
- No. 9 Ole Miss, 3
- No. 11 Arizona, 3
- No. 15 Oklahoma, 3
- No. 17 Tennessee, 3
- No. 24 Iowa, 3
- No. 18 Kansas State, 4
- No. 19 Louisville, 4
- No. 20 Clemson, 6
Of the 31 schools with the most NFL Combine invites, 13 finished 2023 unranked in the final AP Poll.
- 6 players each: Illinois, Kentucky, TCU and Utah
- 5 players each: Arkansas, Auburn, Miami, South Carolina and Texas A&M
- 4 players each: Maryland, Mississippi State, North Carolina and Oregon State
Of the 31 schools with the most NFL Combine invites, only five schools were not bowl-eligible in 2023: Illinois, TCU, Arkansas, South Carolina and Mississippi State.
The schools that did the least with the most potential NFL talent were Illinois, Arkansas and South Carolina. The Illini and Razorbacks had more players invited to the NFL Combine than wins in 2023.
Illinois had six invitees and only five wins, while Arkansas had five invitees and only four wins. South Carolina had five invitees and five wins.
In all, there were 321 players invited from 93 schools. Here’s the breakdown by 2024 conference membership:
Big Ten (90 players, 16 schools)
Michigan 18, Washington 13, Penn State 10, Ohio State 8, USC 8, Oregon 7, Illinois 6, Iowa 4, Maryland 4, Wisconsin 3, UCLA 3, Minnesota 2, Indiana 1, Michigan State 1, Purdue 1, Rutgers 1
SEC (89 players, 15 schools)
Georgia 11, Texas 11, Alabama 10, Missouri 8, LSU 8, Kentucky 6, Arkansas 5, Auburn 5, South Carolina 5, Texas A&M 5, Mississippi State 4, Oklahoma 3, Ole Miss 3, Tennessee 3, Florida 2
ACC (47 players, 14 schools)
Florida State 12, Clemson 6, Miami 5, Louisville 4, UNC 4, Duke 3, Pitt 3, Boston College 2, NC State 2, Wake Forest 2, Cal 1, Stanford 1, Syracuse 1, Virginia 1
Big 12 (38 players, 14 schools)
TCU 6, Utah 6, Arizona 4, Kansas State 4, BYU 3, Houston 3, Texas Tech 3, Kansas 2, UCF 2, Arizona State 1, Baylor 1, Colorado 1, Iowa State 1, West Virginia 1
FBS Independents (10 players, 2 schools)
Notre Dame 8, UConn 2
Sun Belt (7 players, 5 schools)
Marshall 2, Troy 2, Georgia State 1, Louisiana 1, Southern Miss 1
Pac-12 (7 players, 2 schools)
Oregon State 4, Washington State 3
AAC (6 players, 4 schools)
Tulane 3, Charlotte 1, Rice 1, Temple 1
Mountain West (6 players, 4 schools)
Colorado State, 2, Wyoming 2, Boise State 1, Fresno State 1
CUSA (4 players, 3 schools)
Western Kentucky 2, Liberty 1, UTEP 1
MAC (2 players, 2 schools)
Toledo 1, Western Michigan 1
Non-FBS (15 players, 12 schools)
South Dakota State 3, Holy Cross 2, Eastern Kentucky 1, Houston Christian 1, Howard 1, Monmouth 1, New Hampshire 1, North Dakota State 1, South Dakota 1, Southeast Missouri 1, Virginia State 1, Yale 1
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