When recruits choose where they want to play university football, most permanent prioritize which program will give them the best path to NFL.
Many coaches have the legs capable of helping to fulfill those dreams, but a few selected bone elite so that their players are recruited in the first round over the years. Upon entering the NFL 2025 draft, the eleven coaches in university soccer chief have at least 20 players selected in the first round.
Kirby Smart of Georgia and Ryan’s Day of the State of Ohio could join that list soon. Smart has seen 16 or his bulldogs to be selected in Round 1 since he became his chief coach in 2016, with the Jalon Walker supporter, Edge Rusher and the Malaki Starks security that is seen as possible first round selections in the NFL 2025 Draft. Day, meanwhile, has trained 10 first round selections since it became Ohio State chief coach in 2019, with the offensive Tackle Josh Simmons, Emeka Egbuka wide and wide, defensive, defensive, defensive, defensive, defensive, defensive, defensive, defensive, defensive, defensive treveyon.
For now, Smart and Day are in the outside appearance. Here are the 10 best coaches to produce first round selections.
The 10 best coaches who have trained most of the First Round NFL teams
T-9. Tom Osborne: 20
When Osborne turned Nebraska into a 25-year-old door (1973-97), he trained many first round talents over the years. The open Irving Fryar receptor was the number 1 general selection in the 1984 NFL draft and one of the seven players that was a selection among the top five that Osborne trained in Nebraska. Neil Smith was possibly the best of the bank, with the defensive wing recording six PRO Bowls professionals after the Chiefs selected him with the second general selection in 1988.
T-9. John Cooper: 20
The Ohio state teams of Cooper in the 1990s were charged with NFL talent and future members of the Hall of Fame. The defensive Tackle Dan Wilkinson (1994) and the offensive Tackle Orlando Pace (1997) were the general selections number 1 in their respective Draft years. Six of Cooper’s most players in Ohio State were selected in the Top 10, including open receptors Joey Galloway and Terry Glenn. The Guard of the Randall McDaniel Hall of Fame also became a first round selection after Cooper trained it in the state of Arizona.
T-9. Larry Coker: 20
Coker trained some of the most unfounded teams with NFL-Talent in university football in Miami. Naturally, a lot of those players became first round selections. While he never trained a player who became NO. 1 General Selection, the first round teams that Coker trained in Miami became the Hall of Fame of Professional Soccer (Andre Johnson, Ed Reed, Devin Hester). Ten players trained by Coker who were selected in the first round also became Pro Bowlers. In the 2004 NFL draft, six Miami players were recruited in the first round, which is tied in most of the times of a school.
8. Lou Holtz: 21
The Holtz coach is mainly associated with Notre Dame, as it helped return Fighting Irish to prominence in the 1980s and 1990s, but the winner of the National Championship trained selections Ronda in three stops. In Arkansas, he helped the Defensive Tackle Dan Hampton became Give me. Thirteen of his former Irish fighting players were first -round selections, and the member of the Tim Brown Hall of Fame was the boss among them.
T-6. John Robinson: 22
In two separate periods as head coach of the USCS, Robinson trained 22 first round selections approximately 12 seasons. Two of them were the general selections number 1 (RB Ricky Bell in 1977, WR Keyshawn Johnson in 1996), with seven of the other Robinson USC players are selected among the top five. The group of players that Robinson selected that they were chosen among the top five include the Hall of Fame Anthony Muñoz and Tony Boselli. The member of the Ronnie Lott Fame was also a first round selection trained by Robinson.
T-6. Mack Brown: 22
Brown trained the first -round selections the duration of their two periods on UNC and their reign in Texas. The former defensive wing of the Dallas Cowboys, Greg Ellis, was the tasks with the eighth general selection in the 1998 NFL draft after playing for Brown, while Drake Maye will probably be the last player trained by Brown to be a first round selection. Among Texas Brown players, Vince Young was also the third team in the Draft, such as Maye. But Ricky Williams, Leonard Davis, Casey Hampton, Roy Williams, Brian Orakpo and Earl Thomas were among the players who played for Brown in Texas who were first round selections and became professional bowling players.
5. Urban Meyer: 23
Meyer made state factories of Florida and Ohio for the perspectives of the NFL lasting his time in each program. With the Gats, he helped to mold Reggie Nelson, Percy Harvin, Joe Haden and the twins Pouncy (Maurkice and Mike) to first round selections. He trained another pair of brothers in the three best teams in Ohio State, with Joey and Nick Bosa, each of the first three in their years of respect. Ryan Shazier, Ezekiel Elliott, Taylor Decker, Denzel Ward, Chase Young and Joe Burrow are also among the group of players who became first -round teams after Meyer trained them in Osu.
4. Woody Hayes: 27
Possibly no school has developed NFL talent better than the state of Ohio, so it is not surprising to see three Ohio state coaches on this list. Tom Cousineau was the only former Hayes player to be selected with the general selection number 1, since the Buffalo Bills wrote the supporter first in 1979. There were four years in the 1970s when multiple Ohio State players were selected in the first round.
3. Bobby Bowden: 32
Bowden enjoyed a great duration of success in his time in the state of Florida, winning two national titles when the seminols became perennial contenders of about 25 years to the helm. But he also received some help from Marquee Nfl along the way. Deion Sanders was the most prominent player with Bowden who became a first round selection, but the member of the Fame Derrick Brooks and Walter Jones and Walter Jones and the three times Pro Bowler Warrick Dunn are the others on that list.
2. Joe Paterno: 33
Like Bowden, Paterno trained many first round selections at a stop while making his program an almost perennial contender. Franco Harris became a member of the Hall of Fame after the Pittsburgh Steelers selected him with the 13th General Selection in the NFL Draft of 1973. Mike Munchak also became a member of the Hall of Fame after the Houston Oilers took him with the eighth general selection in 1982. Once other former players of Nittany Lions that were First round selections became Pro Bowlers after playing to paternal, but none of them were Ki-Jana Carter and Courtney Brown, who are the only former Penn State players in tasks with the first general selection.
1. Nick Saban: 52
Saban is the only coach who could legitimately form a complete team of players who became first round selections after playing university football for him. He trained Plaxic Burress to become a first round by collecting his time in Michigan State, with three of his former Spartans players becoming first round selections. Dwayne Bowe was the most notable player who Saban trained in LSU who later became a first round selection. Or of course, Saban’s time in Alabama is where most people will be associated with him. Twenty Saban players trained in Alabama, who were first round selections, also became Pro Bowlers, and that does not include people like Devonta Smith or Jaylen Waddle. They were part of the NFL 2021 draft, with Alabama linking the record of most first round selections in a single Draft class that year with six.
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