In many ways, the NFL Draft serves as the ultimate finish line in recruiting.

It provides a final tale of the tape in determining which programs delivered on their promise of helping these athletes fulfill their professional dreams.

NIL, the transfer portal and conference realignment have altered the state of college football quite a bit over the last few years. But recruits still typically prioritize getting to the NFL when making their decisions.

So, who has done the best job of that in recent years? We studied the last five years of the draft — all 1,294 picks and where those players came from — to try to figure it out.

Here is a collection of thoughts on various subjects.

Note: All recruiting rankings are from the 247Sports Composite.

Stars still matter

People love to criticize recruiting services, especially when players such as Cam Ward — an unranked prospect coming out of high school in south Texas — become the first pick in the NFL draft.

But the reality is that blue-chip recruits (four- and five-stars) still dominate the draft. Ward is the anomaly.

In the last five years, only seven players who were not ranked at all in the 247Sports Composite (4.3 percent) were among the 160 players taken in the first round of the draft. An overwhelming majority (80.1 percent) of the players drafted overall (not just in the first round) were ranked as three-stars or better.

On average, there are roughly 32 five-star recruits and somewhere between 300 to 400 four-stars among the thousands of high school prospects per cycle.

In the recent five-year draft window, 65 percent of the first-round picks (104 of 160) and 52 percent of the players taken in the first three rounds (267 of 514) were blue-chip recruits coming out of high school.

State supremacy

Texas, Florida, Georgia and California have long been considered the biggest hotbeds for football talent, and nothing has changed.

Those four states continue to be the biggest producers of NFL players, with Georgia (20) taking a small lead over Texas (19) for first-round selections.

Here’s a look at the top 10 NFL talent producers over the last five years by state, including how many of those total selections were blue-chip recruits.

Years in school

One outside factor you have to consider when looking at all data is how the COVID-19 pandemic affected recruiting and draft results. The NCAA granted an extra year of eligibility to all players who participated in the 2020 season.

That certainly didn’t stop the best players in college football from making a quick exit for the draft if they could. Nearly one in five draft picks over the last five years still made the jump to the pros after only three seasons in school.

Here’s a look at where players were drafted by the amount of time they spent in college.

Big schools vs. small schools

Playing for a Power 4 program — there are currently 69 — still gives a player the best odds of getting drafted.

Just under 84 percent of the NFL Draft picks over the last five years played their last college game for a school that was in a Power 4 league (or Notre Dame) at the time.

The transfer portal has affected those numbers, with many of the Power 4 players drafted having started their careers at a lower level. In all, nearly a quarter of the players drafted over the last five years (26.4 percent) signed with a junior college, FCS, Division II or Group of 5 program out of high school.

Portal powering up

The reality, however, is that three-fourths of the players taken in the draft over the last five years played for only one college program.

That number, however, is decreasing as the number of transfers increases every year.

Of the 257 players selected in this year’s draft, 96 transferred at least once. That’s 37 percent. In 2021, only 10 percent of the draft picks (27 of the 259) were transfers.

Only two first-round picks in both 2021 and 2022 were transfers — quarterback Justin Fields and edge rusher Jaelen Phillips in 2021 and receiver Jameson Williams and guard Zion Johnson in 2022. That number jumped to five in 2023, peaked at nine in 2024 and dipped to seven this year.

Top schools

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the top 50 programs in terms of producing NFL Draft picks over the last five years reside in Power 4 conferences. It also shouldn’t come as a surprise that the four programs that won national titles over the last five years top that list.

The last five drafts include players from the 2015 through the 2022 recruiting cycles. Only one of the top 15 programs in terms of producing NFL talent over the last five years ranked outside of the top 25 when it came to average recruiting class rankings: South Carolina, which still ranked in the top 30.

What’s far more impressive from a development standpoint are the Power 4 programs that ranked outside of the top 40 in recruiting rankings yet produced NFL talent at a top-40 level.

The Pitt Panthers top the list among those schools with 20 draft picks over the last five years, including two first-rounders — second most in the ACC behind Clemson (22). Of those 20 picks, only three were transfers, and among the 17 homegrown talents, only one was a blue-chip recruit coming out of high school (safety Damar Hamlin).

Before he left for Wisconsin in November 2022, Luke Fickel did an equally impressive job stocking the shelves with NFL talent at Cincinnati — and did so before the program joined a Power 4 conference. The Bearcats have had 18 players drafted over the last five years. Four were transfers, including the only three blue-chippers to get drafted from Cincinnati. The rest were rated three-stars or lower, including top-five pick Sauce Gardner, who was the No. 1,605 prospect in the 2019 cycle.

Kansas State, Iowa State, Illinois, Purdue and Minnesota all ranked in the top 40 of NFL talent producers with 13 picks each despite ranking outside of the top 50 in the recruiting rankings.

These are the top non-Power 4 talent producers over the last five years. (Oregon State and Washington State are not on this list since they were both P4 programs during the recruiting cycles. Neither are BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF since they are now in a P4 league.)

Positional U

Schools love to claim they’re the best at producing talent by position.

We’ve gone ahead and done the homework to end the argument, at least for recent history.

Quarterback: Alabama, Florida and Ohio State all have the right to call themselves the best at producing pro talent at the moment, with three draft picks each at the position over the last five years. We’d give the slight edge to the Buckeyes, considering Fields and C.J. Stroud were first-rounders and Stroud is an entrenched NFL starter.

Running back: Michigan and Texas lead the way with five draft picks each over the last five years, with Alabama, Georgia and North Carolina not far behind with four each. You could make the argument that Pro Bowler Bijan Robinson gives Texas the edge with how he’s performed early in his pro career.

Receiver: Ohio State has produced five first-round picks at the position over the last five years, including top-10 picks in Marvin Harrison and Garrett Wilson. And Jeremiah Smith could be the No. 1 pick in the 2027 draft. But don’t forget about LSU. The Tigers have had six receivers taken in the last five years and have stars Ja’Marr Chase, Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr. doing damage in the league now.

Tight end: Nobody has produced more draft picks in the last five years at tight end than Penn State with four, and that includes 2025 first-rounder Tyler Warren. But it’s hard to ignore the impact of Georgia’s Brock Bowers, and the Bulldogs are one of a handful of programs (Miami, Michigan and Ohio State are the others) to have three tight ends drafted since 2021.

Offensive line: Georgia leads with 11 picks, but only two were first-rounders. Ohio State is next with nine, including three first-rounders. LSU and Michigan have produced eight, with Will Campbell representing the Tigers in Round 1. No O-linemen from Michigan, meanwhile, have been drafted in the first two rounds.

Defensive line: Georgia has had 11 defensive linemen drafted since 2021, including seven first-rounders. LSU, with 10, ranks second, but none of the Tigers have gone in the first round. Alabama, Michigan and Ohio State are next with nine picks each, with the Wolverines boasting five first-rounders — most notably Aidan Hutchinson.

Linebackers: Only nine players classified as linebackers have been taken in the first round in the last five years, and Penn State’s Micah Parsons is one of them. Georgia’s Quay Walker is another and is among the six from the Bulldogs. Clemson, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Washington and Penn State are next, each with four linebackers drafted.

Defensive backs: Why has Georgia been so good? Probably because it keeps producing the most NFL talent at every defensive position. The Bulldogs have had 13 defensive backs picked, including three first-rounders in Lewis Cline, Malaki Starks and Eric Stokes. Alabama is next with nine, followed by Penn State with eight.

Top recruiters

Recruiting sites do a fine job of highlighting the coaches who sign the most high-end prospects, but how much does this really tell us? You mean an assistant coach at Georgia is good at signing top talent? Shocking!

Here are a few recruiters who have done good work at some programs that don’t sign top-10 classes on a consistent basis — and we acknowledge that this can be a bit cloudy considering not every prospect has a clearly defined lead recruiter.

Fresno State head coach Matt Entz: The two-time FCS Coach of the Year had three players from his North Dakota State teams drafted in the last few years, including 2025 first-round pick Grey Zabel and second-rounders Dillon Radunz and Cody Mauch. All three players were either two-star or unranked recruits.

Idaho defensive coordinator Cort Dennison: The former Louisville and Oregon assistant did a fine job plucking quality three-star recruits out of the Southeast, including quarterback Jordan Travis, receiver Tutu Atwell and defensive lineman Brandon Dorlus. Five of his former three-stars were drafted over the last five years.

Kentucky tight ends coach Vince Marrow: The longtime assistant has been the lead recruiter for five Kentucky players who have been drafted in the last five years.

Washington defensive coordinator Ryan Walters: In his time at Missouri, Walters was the lead recruiter for six players who were eventually drafted. All of them were three-star recruits, and four ranked in the 1,000s.

West Virginia special teams coach Chris Haering: The former longtime Wisconsin assistant recruited six Badgers who were drafted, including Super Bowl-winning linebacker Leo Chenal.

(Photo of Bo Nix: Christian Petersen / Getty Images)