College Football

Prepping for the NFL: How college football coaches compare at developing O-linemen

Updated Jul. 14, 2023 4:54 p.m. ET

Editor's note: This is part of an ongoing series on how college coaches fare at developing players for the NFL. Check out previous stories on SEC offensive players, SEC defensive players, ACC offensive players, ACC defensive players, Big 12 defensive players, Big 12 offensive players, Pac-12 offensive players, Pac-12 defensive players, Big Ten offensive players, Big Ten defensive players, quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers/tight ends.

Following the 2023 NFL Draft, FOX Sports pulled decades worth of recruiting data and looked at how productive (or not) each active Power 5 coach was at both recruiting and developing players when it came to the ultimate eye in the sky of the NFL.

Across nearly a dozen parts this summer, we’ve looked at every Power 5 league to see who the best coaches within each conference are at developing players across every position group. But when looking at the picture nationally, just how do coaches stack up against each other when it comes to finding all of those good players and, well, coaching them up?

To sort it all out, FOX Sports utilized a points system that rewarded development and applied it to every active Power 5 coach’s draft class. Every drafted quarterback received a certain number based on what round he was drafted and what kind of recruit he was coming out of high school. An unrated offensive lineman coming out of high school going in the first round would be at the very highest end of the scale, while a former five-star sneaking into the seventh round of the draft would be at the lowest end.

To get a better picture of just how effective coaches were, this cumulative score was then divided by the number of seasons coached at the Division I level to get an overall rating.

As a result, here’s a look at how every active Power 5 coach in the country does when it comes to producing offensive linemen for the next level:

The Best: Ryan Day (Ohio State)

As much as offensive skill positions get the attention when it comes to Day, it gets overlooked that in five seasons as a head coach (four fully in charge) he has sent what amounts to two full sets of offensive lines to the NFL.

In addition to top 100-selections at center and guard, the Buckeyes also have a pair of tackles that have gone in the first three rounds — highlighted by former five-star Paris Johnson going sixth overall. Throw in an additional set of late-round picks at center, guard and tackle as well. That is not too shabby in terms of both quality and quantity in such a short time frame running the show in Columbus, Ohio.

Also excellent: Kirby Smart (Georgia), Lincoln Riley (USC), Bret Bielema (Illinois), Brent Venables (Oklahoma), Billy Napier (Florida), Jimbo Fisher (Texas A&M), Nick Saban (Alabama)

Like the coach he defeated in the Peach Bowl last season, Smart is still relatively early in his tenure at his alma mater, but he has been able to churn out offensive line prospects at the next level (11 total in seven seasons). Over half of that group have gone in the first round, all four of whom were offensive tackles ranked either four- or five-stars coming out of high school.

Riley has not been quite as productive as the top two in terms of overall numbers, nor does he have a first-rounder, but the USC head coach has done well in sending top-100 players to the league. Of course, some of the credit must also go to longtime Oklahoma offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh, who is also responsible for helping Venables get off to a good start with two top-100 offensive tackles going in the most recent draft, highlighted by first-rounder Anton Harrison.

Bielema, meanwhile, has earned a sterling reputation as well. In addition to producing six draft picks at center alone, the current Illinois coach has a median pick inside the top 100 at tackle. Twelve of the 14 linemen he has had drafted were ranked three-stars or lower coming out of high school.

Napier also seems to have an eye for what to look for. Florida's coach had four offensive linemen drafted in five seasons. All four were ranked two-stars out of high school, which continues to accentuate the Gators’ coach and his emphasis on the guys in the trenches.

Fisher also has had some low-end developmental success stories, turning two-star Erik McCoy into a second-rounder a few years ago, while Menelik Watson went from unranked in high school to a three-star junior college transfer to a top-50 pick after just one season under Fisher. At the high end, five-star Kenyon Green also wound up going in the top 15 of the first round.

Then there’s Fisher's old boss. Saban, who is hampered slightly by being a coach for nearly three decades. He has been consistently good, going back to his time at Michigan State and sending Flozell Adams to the league as a second-rounder. The Alabama great has nine first-round offensive linemen on his watch — which is three more than Kirk Ferentz and four more than Brian Kelly and Bielema. Saban has also averaged at least one O-lineman drafted for every year he has coached and has seven more top-100 picks in the trenches than any other active coach. This has included three-stars like Ryan Kelly winding up in the first round, to a host of five-stars doing the same over the years.

Others of note: Dan Lanning (Oregon), Brian Kelly (LSU), Kirk Ferentz (Iowa), Lane Kiffin (Ole Miss), Jim Harbaugh (Michigan), Jeff Hafley (Boston College), Chip Kelly (UCLA)

There are a host of other coaches who have done well in either a limited tenure in charge or over the course of nearly decade-long runs.

Lanning, who had two late-round linemen go in his first draft class, and Hafley, who saw former unranked FCS transfer Zion Johnson wind up as a first-rounder, fit the mold of the former group. In the latter, someone like Kelly has developed four guards ranked three-stars or lower into draft picks and added another at tackle in ex-four star Sean Rhyan going in the top 100.

Harbaugh has also been quite productive in the trenches. His seven draft picks at the interior line spots (guard/center) are fifth most in the country, while there’s been a trio of tackles taken since he arrived in Ann Arbor — including two four-stars going in the top 100.

Ferentz is also about as good as they come in terms of overall totals and his ability to take overlooked prep prospects and send them to the next level. The average Iowa offensive lineman drafted left high school with a 2.3-star rating. Impressively, the median pick just at offensive tackle under Ferentz is No. 23 overall.

Surprisingly disappointing: Justin Wilcox (Cal), Matt Campbell (Iowa State), Lance Leipold (Kansas), Mike Norvell (Florida State), Dave Clawson (Wake Forest), Chris Klieman (Kansas State), Dino Babers (Syracuse)

Wilcox is one of four current Pac-12 coaches who have not had an offensive lineman drafted on his watch, but it is much more notable considering he has been in Berkeley for six seasons and is the second-longest tenured coach in the league.

In the Big 12, Campbell is in a similar boat with no offensive linemen drafted, despite topping a decade as a head coach when you factor in his time at Toledo. That’s a story repeated with Leipold, who has been a coach for a long time but understands outposts like Buffalo and Kansas are not conducive for finding guys capable of having all the traits to become NFL Draft selections.

Also notable is the lack of success coaches like Norvell (one O-lineman drafted in eight D-1 seasons as a coach), Klieman (one in nine seasons) and Babers (one in 10 seasons) have had up front, despite a decent history in charge of places known to send players to the next level. While the former two could change things on that front, the flip side is they have to hope it’s going to be enough to outpace someone like Clawson, who has three total in 24 seasons.

Bryan Fischer is a college football writer for FOX Sports. He has been covering college athletics for nearly two decades at outlets such as NBC Sports, CBS Sports, Yahoo! Sports and NFL.com among others. Follow him on Twitter at @BryanDFischer.