LSU had nine players selected in the draft, the most of any school, and Tigers coach Les Miles trumpeted that fact during a speaking engagement Wednesday in Houston. He also took a shot at Texas, which had zero draftees.
When talking about LSU's nine draft picks, Miles also said, "Some schools in this state didn't have any."
It was the first time Texas was shut out in the draft since 1937, and given that LSU always recruits a few Texans, it's not surprising Miles wanted to point out to any recruits within earshot that his program puts guys in the NFL and the flagship program in their home state has produced just six picks in the past three drafts.
LSU's nine draftees helped the SEC lead all conferences with 49 selections.
Six of LSU's nine draftees were underclassmen.
"It's becoming a phenomenon for us to have guys put themselves in position to be drafted in three years and out," Miles said at the alumni event in Houston. "Not necessarily what I would like to see, but it's something we are dealing with."
LSU lost 11 underclassmen to the NFL in the 2013 draft.
NFL scouts will trek to Baton Rouge, La., again this fall, and offensive tackle La'el Collins -- whom NFL Media senior analyst Gil Brandt called one of the nation's top senior prospects -- will be a featured attraction. As for Texas, new coach Charlie Strong takes over a program that has some talent, most notably senior cornerback Quandre Diggs. As Strong and his staff showed at Louisville, which had three first-rounders in the 2014 draft, they are used to getting talented players to produce. That wasn't necessarily the case at Texas in the past three seasons under Mack Brown.
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
