Another year, another 256 college football players have been selected in the 2026 NFL draft.
Seventy-five different colleges had at least one player picked in the draft, with Ohio State leading all schools with 11, including four of the first 11 picks with Carnell Tate and Arvell Reese rounding out the top five. The Buckeyes topped last year's draft with 14 players taken across seven rounds.
👉 NFL DRAFT: Four FCS players taken in the 2026 NFL Draft
Reigning Heisman trophy winner Fernando Mendoza was the first name off the board to the Las Vegas Raiders and was just the 13th first round pick in program history, before wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr. made became the 14th, going 30th overall pick to the Jets. In total, the national champion Hoosiers had eight players selected, a new program high.
The SEC had a slower first round by its standards with seven first rounders — three behind the Big Ten (10) — marking just the second time in the last 16 years the SEC didn't lead after the first day. Despite the slower start, the SEC still finished with the most picks with 87, setting a new record for the most draft picks from one conference in NFL Draft history. Alabama and Texas A&M each finished just behind Ohio State with 10 players heading to the NFL.
For the ACC, Clemson and national runner up Miami each led the conference with nine, matching Texas Tech, which led all Big 12 schools.
Draft picks by school in the 2026 NFL draft
During the 2026 NFL draft, 256 players were drafted from 75 different colleges around the country.
Ohio State leads the way with 11 players, four off of Georgia's record of 15 in 2022. National Champion Indiana had eight, a new program high. Here is a full list of how many players were selected from each of the schools:
| NO. OF PLAYERS | COLLEGE |
|---|---|
| 11 | Ohio State |
| 10 | Alabama, Texas A&M |
| 9 | Clemson, Miami, Texas Tech |
| 8 | Georgia, Indiana, Penn State |
| 7 | Iowa, LSU, Oregon, Washington, Florida, Oklahoma |
| 6 | Michigan, Missouri, Notre Dame, Texas |
| 5 | Auburn, Tennessee |
| 4 | Arizona, Arizona State, Arkansas, Boston College, Cincinnati, Kentucky |
| 3 | Duke, Illinois, South Carolina, TCU, USC, Utah |
| 2 | Baylor, BYU, Georgia Tech, Kansas, Kansas State, Michigan State, Mississippi State, NC State, Navy, North Dakota State, Northwestern, Ole Miss, Stanford, Toledo, Wake Forest |
| 1 | Boise State, Buffalo, Cal, East Carolina, Georgia State, Houston, Iowa State, Louisville, Louisiana, Maryland, Memphis, Miami (OH), Middle Tennessee, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, Pitt, Rutgers, Florida State, San Diego State, SMU, Southeastern Louisiana, Stephen F. Austin, UConn, UCF, Vanderbilt |
Draft picks by conference
| NO. OF PLAYERS | CONFERENCE |
|---|---|
| 87 | SEC |
| 68 | Big Ten |
| 38 | ACC |
| 38 | Big 12 |
| 7 | Independent |
| 4 | American, FCS, MAC |
| 3 | MWC |
| 2 | Sun Belt |
| 1 | C-USA |
