College Football

Prepping for the NFL: How SEC coaches compare at developing defensive stars

Published Jun. 29, 2023 9:59 a.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, 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 and Big Ten defensive players.

When it comes to NFL Draft, the SEC certainly lives up to the slogan that "it just means more."

This past spring in Kansas City, the league had the most draft selections for the 17th consecutive time, and the conference has averaged just shy of nine first-rounders per year for the past two decades.

Perhaps that is why it's no surprise that the first stop for many scouts is down South and particularly so with those like Nick Saban and Kirby Smart turning their respective schools into NFL factories regularly churning out double-digit picks every year.

Whether they’ve won it all in the SEC or are just getting started in a top job like Mississippi State’s Zach Arnett, though, all understand that college football remains driven by the underlying principle of having better players than your opponent. Before you even get to the Xs and Os that are on display each Saturday, having the Jimmys and the Joes tends to be the best prognosticator of success on the field.

But just how good are coaches when it comes to finding all those good players and, well, coaching them up?

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

More stories on ‘Prepping for the NFL’

In the 10th part of a series about developing NFL talent in college football, here’s a look at how some of the coaches in the SEC have fared over the years in terms of best producing offensive talent:

Defensive ends

The Best: Nick Saban (Alabama)
Others of note: Jimbo Fisher (Texas A&M), Brian Kelly (LSU)

While the definition of a defensive end has evolved over the course of his career, Nick Saban certainly knows how to send some pass rushers to the NFL. Of the 13 listed draft picks from the current Alabama head coach at DE, nearly half (six) have gone within the first 100 picks, and four wound up as first-rounders.

While in Tuscaloosa, this has included a host of five-stars that have been sent to the league, like Da'Shawn Hand, Jonathan Allen and Will Anderson Jr. Saban has been able to churn out ends at previous stops as well, with talent that wasn't rated by internet recruiting services. At LSU, this included mentoring Marcus Spears before he wound up a top-20 pick, and sending Jarvis Green off to make plays for good friend Bill Belichick.

Saban's offensive coordinator in Baton Rouge must have picked a few things up from his mentor at the time, because Jimbo Fisher's track record isn't too shabby either. He's impressively produced nine defensive ends over 13 seasons as a head coach and the majority of them have been top-100 players.

Though he had a pair of Aggies go in last year's draft, including third-rounder and former five-star DeMarvin Leal, the bulk of Fisher's production came from his time at Florida State. This included some strong work in turning three-star Bjorn Werner into a first-rounder and the similarly rated Tank Carradine, by way of junior college, into a top-40 pick in the same 2013 draft. Winning at a high level in Tallahassee resulted in more blue-chippers for Fisher to work with, which allowed for Mario Edwards Jr. (five-stars) and DeMarcus Walker (four-stars) to wind up as second-rounders.

Defensive tackles

The Best: Nick Saban (Alabama)
Others of note: Kirby Smart (Georgia), Jimbo Fisher (Texas A&M)
Surprisingly disappointing: Lane Kiffin (Ole Miss)

It says a lot about how Kirby Smart has positioned his alma mater that there can be a healthy debate on him taking the top spot with defensive tackles even though he's only had three interior guys go in the draft. Of course, all three players wound up going in the first round, and two of them were top-15 selections.

All were blue-chip, four-star recruits, however, which does allow for his old boss Saban to get the slight edge considering the quality and quantity of big guys he's developed over the years.

All told, the Alabama head coach has sent 17 defensive tackles to the league — with a remarkable 11 (or 65%) winding up in the first 100 picks. Given the general difficulty that comes with finding big bodies and getting them to play at a high level, it's a remarkable number that is five more in total than any other coach in the country, and nearly double what the entire Pac-12 has produced across a cumulative 64 seasons of head coaching experience.

It's a group that, especially with the Tide, features plenty of highly ranked four- and five-star prospects out of high school, like A'Shawn Robinson or Daron Payne. When factoring out transfers, blue-chip defensive tackles recruited by Saban have a better than 50/50 shot at winding up not just drafted, but winding up in the top 100 picks.

But there are also several success stories further down the developmental chain, with three-stars becoming a top-three pick like Marcell Dareus, plus second-rounders like Terrence Cody or Jarran Reed, too.

Former Saban assistant Fisher hasn't been too shabby either, producing four defensive tackles who have all gone in the fourth round or earlier since he arrived in College Station. Throwing in another four from his time at Florida State and essentially half of the DTs drafted under Fisher have wound up as top-100 picks. All but one of the eight, however, were former four- or five-star recruits.

If there is somebody who could modestly qualify as a disappointment in this area, it's fellow former Saban OC Lane Kiffin. The current Ole Miss coach has had just two interior guys drafted in 11 seasons, both of whom went in the first three rounds. However, he didn't directly recruit either and the last one he produced came a dozen years ago when former four-star Jurrell Casey was drafted. Of the defensive tackles out of high school who Kiffin did recruit dating back to his lone class at Tennessee, none were drafted either.

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Linebackers

The Best: Kirby Smart (Georgia)
Others of note: Nick Saban (Alabama), Mark Stoops (Kentucky), Brian Kelly (LSU)
Surprisingly disappointing: Jimbo Fisher (Texas A&M)

Smart's ability to churn out NFL linebackers is becoming borderline unprecedented, and that's one reason why he can get the nod over Saban despite the latter producing an equally remarkable 20 of them over the years.

In terms of overall pace of production, Smart is already past half that total number in just seven full seasons in charge (a mark Saban reached just in the 2017 Draft). Just about every starting linebacker during his time in Athens has been taken by an NFL team, and seven of the 11 overall have wound up as top-100 picks. Including recent No. 30 overall selection Nolan Smith, three of Smart's linebackers have gone in the first round with a median pick sitting at No. 22 in the same round.

Plus, for every highly touted five-star like Smith or fellow blue-chipper Roquan Smith who have been drafted high, there are also plenty of quality developmental data points, too. Third-rounder Monty Rice arrived at Georgia as a three-star after all, while Tae Crowder was a lowly two-star running back at first before turning into a Butkus Award finalist and eventual draft pick who has started 31 times in three seasons at the next level.

Still, Saban's lengthy tenure results in greater overall numbers and still an impressive mark of six first-rounders at the position. A total of 65% of linebackers drafted under the Crimson Tide coach have also gone inside the first 100 picks.

While a few backers from Saban's earlier days — like first-round pick Julian Peterson at Michigan State or fourth-rounder Bradie James at LSU — came before recruiting rankings were commonplace, his hit rate in terms of identifying guys is still among the best in the game at the high end. All but two five-star linebackers who have committed to Saban wound up drafted in the first five rounds. Remarkably, just five other active Power 5 head coaches have even had more linebackers drafted overall on their watch than just former four-stars Saban has had taken in the top 100 (nine).

If there is somebody from outside the Saban coaching tree who knows how to produce linebackers in the SEC, it certainly is Kentucky's Mark Stoops. While he has had a solid five drafted across 10 seasons as a head coach in Lexington, three of them have been first-rounders. Further, all three of them were also three-star recruits.

Such success also plays a part in how disappointing it is that Fisher has seen just five linebackers drafted during his time as a head coach — four of whom were coached by Stoops as defensive coordinator when the two were together at Florida State. Fisher has also had just one drafted at the position since 2014 after ex-four-star Buddy Johnson going in the fourth round out of Texas A&M. Even worse, just two of the 19 blue-chip (four- or five-stars) linebackers recruited by the head coach over the years have wound up drafted.

Defensive backs

The Best: Nick Saban (Alabama)
Others of note: Kirby Smart (Georgia), Jimbo Fisher (Texas A&M), Brian Kelly (LSU), Mark Stoops (Kentucky)
Surprisingly disappointing: Hugh Freeze (Auburn)

Saban is highly regarded in league circles for producing players in the secondary, and the numbers certainly back that up — and then some. The Alabama coach has produced as many NFL draft picks at defensive back alone (29 of them) than 75% of all active Power 5 head coaches have produced total when counting every position. Only North Carolina's Mack Brown even has as many DBs drafted as Saban has had taken in the top 100 of the draft (18).

More than a quarter (28%) of those drafted at either corner or safety who played for Saban also went in the first round, too. This group ranges from five-stars like Dre Kirkpatrick, Ha Ha Clinton-Dix and Marlon Humphrey all living up to their prep billing to go on Night 1 of the draft, to former walk-on Rashad Johnson winding up as a third-round, top-100 pick after a bit of mentoring from a head coach who knows the position better than any other.

This past draft alone, three defensive backs were taken from the Tide, and there has been at least one Saban-coached player out of the secondary drafted in each of the past 12 years. Just three drafts in the past two decades have not featured a defensive back that Saban either directly recruited or coached.

If there's somebody who could eventually challenge such a run, former secondary coach Smart might should he continue to stack class upon class like he's doing at Georgia. The Bulldogs already have had nine DBs taken since Smart returned to Athens, and a full third of them have gone in the first round (including two former three-stars in Deandre Baker and Eric Stokes). Five-stars like Tyson Campbell (33rd overall) and Kelee Ringo also have been converted at a high clip, and just three of the blue-chip DBs recruited by Smart over the years at UGA (who are not still currently playing in college) failed to hear their name called in the draft.

The past three drafts alone have also featured at least two of Smart's defensive backs taken, and the 2021 class even had four.

Smart isn't quite to double-digits yet, though, a threshold Texas A&M's Jimbo Fisher has already crossed. Seven of the dozen DBs drafted went in the top 100, and Fisher has also seen a trio of players in the secondary go in the first round, like five-stars Jalen Ramsey and Derwin James, plus former three-star recruit Xavier Rhodes.

Speaking of five-star defensive backs, Fisher has interestingly recruited as many as Nick Saban has through the class of 2020. The conversion percentage isn't as high as his old boss, but it does speak to some of the priority positions for the Aggies head coach on the recruiting trail.

Former FSU defensive coordinator Stoops has also been productive on the back end in terms of producing NFL players — especially considering he isn't coaching at a blue blood (in football, at least). The UK head coach has basically averaged one pick every other year on the job over the course of a decade and seen three of his five defensive backs go in the first three rounds.

LSU's Kelly also has a lengthy history of producing defensive backs as well. While four-star safeties Harrison Smith and Kyle Hamilton are the only two first-rounders that Kelly has coached in the secondary out of 17 total picks, there's been some impressive development that's gone on, too, with eight players drafted who were rated three-stars or fewer coming out of high school.

If there is one coach who may be a tad light in terms of DB production, it's new Auburn coach Hugh Freeze who has been coaching at the FBS level for a full decade and yet has just two of his 15 picks hail from the secondary (only one of which went in the first five rounds). Only Arkansas' Sam Pittman and rookie Mississippi State's Arnett have fewer, while South Carolina's Shane Beamer has also produced a second-rounder among his two DBs drafted, but done so in just two seasons in charge.

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.