NCAAF teams
Dan Murphy, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Big Ten NFL draft deadline winners, losers

Eleven players from nine different Big Ten schools decided to leave a year of college eligibility on the table and enter the NFL draft this spring. There were also some notable decisions accompanied by news conferences and surprise announcements to stay put for at least one more season.

With the window for underclassmen to declare for the NFL draft officially closed (those that did decide to make the jump can still change their minds over the weekend), it’s time to sort through which teams lost the most and which teams can declare victory.

Winners

1. Ohio State
Many of the players who led the Buckeyes to a national title this season are too young to consider NFL riches this year. Ohio State didn’t have a single player with college eligibility remaining declare for the draft this year. The three players that passed up a safe bet to be drafted are Taylor Decker, the cornerstone of a much improved offensive line; defensive lineman Adolphus Washington; and, of course, quarterback Cardale Jones, who held a news conference Thursday afternoon to announce that he would be coming back to finish his degree in Columbus.

The return of that trio ensures that Ohio State will once again be intimidating in the trenches and equipped with unprecedented depth at the quarterback position. Jones will battle with J.T. Barrett and Braxton Miller, who was also eligible to enter the draft, for a starting spot in the fall. Urban Meyer will have a hard time duplicating this retention rate in the next couple of years, but having zero early draft entrants on a national championship team bodes well for the Buckeyes’ immediate future.

2. Michigan State
Before Jones declared his intentions to return, Michigan State was in the running for the best in-house recruiting job of the year. Top players on both sides of the ball, quarterback Connor Cook and defensive end Shilique Calhoun, return to give the Spartans a legitimate shot at a third straight top-5 finish.

Cook can bring consistency to an offense that loses its top rusher and its top receiver this season. Calhoun helps to offset the loss of fellow defensive end Marcus Rush. Their production and leadership should give a new crop of players time to get acclimated. Michigan State will have to replace its No. 1 cornerback in Trae Waynes, who opted to jump to the NFL. Waynes may be the first cornerback taken in draft. He leaves the Spartans with a hole to fill in a crucial position on defense.

3. Rutgers
Beyond the top two programs in the conference, the Scarlet Knights were the only team to retain a sure-thing draft pick in wide receiver Leonte Carroo. As a junior, Carroo led the nation with 19.7 yards per catch and led his team with 10 receiving touchdowns. His decision to stay is even more of a coup when considering that quarterback Gary Nova, who has been throwing passes to Carroo since their high school days at Don Bosco Prep, graduated at the end of the 2014 season.

Carroo will be an important security blanket for whoever takes Nova’s place, especially since tight end Tyler Kroft opted to leave school after his junior season. Kroft caught only 24 passes for 269 yards this season, but his 6-foot-6, 240-pound frame will be missed in Piscataway.

Losers

1. Penn State
The Nittany Lions are sending three underclassmen to the draft this year. No other school in the conference has more than one player leaving early. Tight end Jesse James, defensive end Deion Barnes and offensive tackle Donovan Smith all declared for the draft this year.

Barnes, a Big Ten honorable mention pick, made 12.5 tackles for loss and six sacks this season as a leader of one of the conference’s best front-seven units. James (6-foot-7, 254 pounds) has NFL size, but still ranks behind Kroft and Minnesota’s Maxx Williams as a draft prospect. Smith was easily Penn State’s most experienced offensive lineman. Attrition is to be expected during a coaching change, but James Franklin’s team lost more experience in key areas than any other program in the Big Ten this year.

2. Indiana
While not nearly as surprising as some of Penn State’s departures, the loss of Tevin Coleman at Indiana will be hard to weather. Coleman ran for 2,036 yards against defenses that didn’t need to worry about a passing attack for most of the season. Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon edged Coleman on the postseason award circuit, but few players were more essential to their teams this season than the Hoosiers’ junior running back.

No one else on the roster was a serious candidate to leave for the next level. No one in Bloomington will begrudge Coleman for moving on. Nonetheless, his absence will be felt at Indiana next season.

3. Nebraska
Nebraska defensive end Randy Gregory is expected to be the first Big Ten player off the draft board this season. He's a top-5 pick, according to Mel Kiper's first mock draft this week. While his leap to the NFL appears to be a smart move, he will be missed as a pass-rusher in Lincoln.

Gregory dropped off slightly this season on the stat sheet after winning the Cornhuskers' defensive MVP award as a sophomore. Most of that decline can be attributed to the extra attention he received from opposing offenses all year. He finished the season with seven sacks and 10 tackles for loss. The return of defensive tackle Maliek Collins and defensive end Greg McMullen (both will be juniors in 2015) gives Nebraska experience on the line and helps soften the blow of Gregory's exit.

4. Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Maryland

All four of these schools will lose their most talented player a year early. Wisconsin has the most production to replace with Gordon, but also is in the best shape to replace him with a sturdy offensive line and experienced backup in Corey Clement. Devin Funchess from Michigan has great size but was underwhelming during a down year for the Wolverines. After catching three touchdown passes in the first half of the season opener, Funchess scored only once more the rest of the season. Minnesota and Maryland lose their best receivers too -- Maxx Williams and Stefon Diggs, respectively -- but neither was tied inextricably to his team’s ability to move the ball like Coleman or Gordon were during the past season.

^ Back to Top ^