Penn State Football Tied For Seventh-Most All-Time NFL Draft Picks
After a strong performance on day three of the 2020 NFL Draft, Penn State football tied Nebraska for the seventh-most draft picks of all-time.
Entering this year’s draft, the Nittany Lions trailed Nebraska 359 to 356. But, after Penn State had five players drafted this year compared to the Cornhuskers’ two, it tied them on the list and now has 361 total draft picks.
Penn State got things going during Friday night’s second round when the Carolina Panthers took Yetur Gross-Matos with the No. 38 overall pick and the Denver Broncos took KJ Hamler just eight picks later. While Gross-Matos was expected by many to be a first round pick, Matt Rhule’s team squad capitalized on the talented defensive end sliding to the second round.
After Friday night’s success, the Nittany Lions had three more players drafted on the third and final day of the draft. Former Penn State head coach Bill O’Brien and the Houston Texans spent their fourth round pick on cornerback John Reid, while Cam Brown and Rob Windsor both went in the sixth round. Brown was scooped up by the New York Giants and Windsor is now headed to the Indianapolis Colts.
Former Penn State football “Lion” Tommy Stevens was also selected by the New Orleans Saints in the seventh round, but that pick will count for Mississippi State. He played his last season of NCAA eligibility at quarterback for the Bulldogs.
Along with passing Nebraska on the all-time list, this also makes the third-consecutive year that the Nittany Lions have at least five draft picks. In fact, 26 Penn State players have been drafted since James Franklin’s arrival to Happy Valley, and 17 of them have occurred in the last three years.
Some of the most notable Nittany Lions to be drafted over the past three years include Saquon Barkley (No. 2 overall to the New York Giants), Mike Gesicki (No. 42 overall to the Miami Dolphins), and Miles Sanders (No. 53 overall to the Philadelphia Eagles), among may others.
Penn State now ties for the third-most draft picks among Big Ten teams, behind Ohio State and Michigan.
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