{"id":73650,"date":"2025-04-25T09:00:29","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T13:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=73650"},"modified":"2025-09-20T14:57:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T18:57:14","slug":"sec-tailgate-talk-first-round-recap-they-not-like-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/04\/25\/sec-tailgate-talk-first-round-recap-they-not-like-us\/","title":{"rendered":"SEC Tailgate Talk: First-Round Recap- They Not Like Us"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>They not like us. Sorry, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.fanduel.com\/research\/theduel\/drake-curse-in-sports-complete-history-and-timeline-01d97x9z7mt5\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Drake<\/a>. We&#8217;re sticking with <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=KDorKy-13ak\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kendrick<\/a>. The Big Ten got plenty of flowers in 2024. Four teams in the College Football Playoff. <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/01\/20\/the-ohio-state-buckeyes-are-national-champions-yet-again\/\" target=\"_self\">Ohio State<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2024\/11\/26\/by-the-numbers-ohio-state-vs-michigan-2024\/\" target=\"_self\">finally<\/a>) winning the national championship. Some have gone so far as to say they have caught up and passed the SEC as the best college football conference. The first-round of the NFL Draft shows that the media may want to pump the brakes on that narrative. So, grab your red solo cup and get some barbecue. We&#8217;re heading to the tailgate for your first-round recap to show, they not like us&#8230;still.<\/p>\n<h2>First-Round Recap- They Not Like Us<\/h2>\n<h3>First-Round Recap: The Numbers<\/h3>\n<p>&#8216;It Just Means More&#8217;. It&#8217;s more than a mantra. When it comes to the first-round of the NFL Draft, it&#8217;s a reality. Thursday kicked off the 2025 NFL Draft, and\u2014like clockwork\u2014the SEC reminded everyone why it still just means more. Eighteen straight years of dominance. The last time another conference had more players drafted? 2006. Here is a look at the number of players that were drafted from each conference on Thursday.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>SEC: 15 picks<\/li>\n<li>Big Ten: 11 picks<\/li>\n<li>Big 12: 2 picks<\/li>\n<li>ACC: 2 picks<\/li>\n<li>MWC: 1 pick<\/li>\n<li>FCS: 1 pick<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The numbers illustrate that the idea of a P4 or Power Four group of conferences (SEC, Big Ten, ACC, and Big 12) is more an ideal than something tangible. We&#8217;ve seen this come to reality with conference realignment, notably <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2024\/07\/01\/texas-and-oklahoma-join-the-sec\/\" target=\"_self\">Texas and Oklahoma<\/a> leaving the Big 12 for the SEC. It&#8217;s also evident in media rights deals. The SEC and Big Ten are pulling in $70\u2013100 million per school annually from media rights, while the ACC and Big 12 are stuck around $30\u201340 million. The disparity in first-round picks Thursday night provides another data point of this growing gap. 26 of the 32 first-round picks Thursday night came from the SEC or Big Ten. They not like us.<\/p>\n<h3>First-Round Recap: SEC vs. Big Ten<\/h3>\n<p>Let&#8217;s take a closer look at the &#8220;Big Two.&#8221; Here is a list of the schools that helped make up the 26 players drafted from the SEC and Big Ten on Thursday Night.<\/p>\n<p><strong>SEC:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/04\/02\/texas-longhorns-running-back-competition\/\" target=\"_self\">Texas<\/a>: 3<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/04\/14\/between-the-hedges-georgias-offensive-draft-preview\/\" target=\"_self\">Georgia<\/a>: 3<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/03\/27\/crimson-tide-football-schedule\/\" target=\"_self\">Alabama<\/a>: 2<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/04\/19\/tavoy-feagin-gives-ole-miss-much-needed-secondary-boost\/\" target=\"_self\">Ole Miss<\/a>: 2<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/04\/23\/2025-kentucky-nfl-draft-preview\/\" target=\"_self\">Kentucky<\/a>: 1<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/04\/13\/four-takeaways-from-lsu-spring-practice\/\" target=\"_self\">LSU<\/a>: 1<\/li>\n<li>Missouri: 1<\/li>\n<li>Texas A&amp;M: 1<\/li>\n<li>Tennessee: 1<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Big Ten:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/04\/23\/ohio-state-adds-rising-star-on-defense-from-the-transfer-portal\/\" target=\"_self\">Ohio State<\/a>: 4<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/03\/07\/an-early-look-at-michigans-2026-recruiting\/\" target=\"_self\">Michigan<\/a>: 3<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/04\/13\/penn-state-star-adds-intrigue-to-top-of-nfl-draft\/\" target=\"_self\">Penn State<\/a>: 2<\/li>\n<li>Oregon: 2<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Shout out to the Buckeyes in Columbus. The Ohio State University had the most first-round picks of any school on Thursday night. A closer look at the two lists helps illustrate the gap between the SEC and the Big Ten. It all comes down to depth. For many fans outside the Southeastern Conference, the idea of SEC depth is a tired trope. More of a marketing scheme by ESPN, Paul Finebaum, and the SEC Network than anything in reality. But a closer look at the numbers shows that it may be grounded more in reality.<\/p>\n<p>Three of the four teams that represented the Big Ten in the College Football Playoff in 2024 had players drafted on Thursday night. Indiana was the only Big Ten playoff team not to have a player drafted; the NFL missed out on the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2024\/10\/04\/who-is-kurtis-rourke-where-did-he-come-from\/\" target=\"_self\">Maple Missile<\/a>. Michigan was the only non-playoff team in the Big Ten to have a player drafted in the first-round. It was a different story in the SEC.<\/p>\n<p>All three SEC teams in the Playoff had at least one first-round pick. And get this \u2014 eight more first-rounders came from SEC squads that didn\u2019t even make the Playoff. That\u2019s the same number the Big Ten\u2019s Playoff teams had combined. They not like us.<\/p>\n<h3>First-Round Recap: The Players<\/h3>\n<p>Here is a quick look at where all the SEC Players went in the first-round on Thursday night.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/will-campbell-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Will Campbell<\/a> (LSU): Offensive tackle, drafted #4 by the Patriots.<\/li>\n<li><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/armand-membou-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Armand Membou<\/a> (Missouri): Offensive tackle, drafted #7 to the Jets, Jets, Jets.<\/li>\n<li><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/kelvin-banks-jr-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kevin Banks<\/a> (Texas): SEC offensive tackles were popular. Banks was drafted #9 by the Saints.<\/li>\n<li><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/mykel-williams-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mykel Williams<\/a> (Georgia): The EDGE #11 to the 49ers. Kirby Smart has 20 first-round picks\u2014and just 19 losses. Pretty, pretty, pretty good.<\/li>\n<li><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/tyler-booker-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tyler Booker<\/a> (Alabama): Offensive guard, drafted #12 by the Cowboys.<\/li>\n<li><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/jalon-walker-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jalon Walker<\/a> (Georgia): EDGE rusher, drafted #15 by the Falcons. 150 miles separate Athens from Flowery Branch, the Falcons&#8217; training facility. Yet, this is the first Dawg drafted by the Falcons in the first round since 1966.<\/li>\n<li><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/walter-nolen-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Walter Nolen<\/a> (Ole Miss): Defensive tackle, drafted #16 by the Cardinals. Yes, they play defense in Oxford, too.<\/li>\n<li><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/shemar-stewart-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Shemar Stewart<\/a> (Texas A&amp;M): EDGE rusher, drafted #17 by the Bengals.<\/li>\n<li><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/jahdae-barron-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jahdae Barron<\/a> (Texas): Cornerback, drafted #20 by the Broncos.<\/li>\n<li><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/matthew-golden-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Matthew Golden<\/a> (Texas): Wide receiver, drafted #23 by the Packers.<\/li>\n<li><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/jaxson-dart-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jaxson Dart<\/a> (Ole Miss): Quarterback, drafted #25 by the Giants. Grab your Louie\u2014New York just got a Rebel.<\/li>\n<li><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/james-pearce-jr-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">James Pearce Jr<\/a>. (Tennessee): EDGE rusher, drafted #26 by the Falcons.<\/li>\n<li><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/malaki-starks-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Malaki Starks<\/a> (Georgia): Safety, drafted #27 by the Ravens. Baltimore&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/04\/21\/between-the-hedges-georgias-defensive-draft-preview\/\" target=\"_self\">channeling Philly<\/a>\u2014stacking Dawgs on defense.<\/li>\n<li><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/maxwell-hairston-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Maxwell Hariston<\/a> (Kentucky): Cornerback, drafted #30 by the Bills.<\/li>\n<li><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/jihaad-campbell-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jihaad Campbell<\/a> (Alabama): Linebacker, drafted #31 by the Eagles. He&#8217;s not from Georgia, but to be fair, Alabama does have a good track record against Georgia.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Congratulations to all the players who were drafted.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo: Mark Hoffman \/ Milwaukee Journal Sentinel \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>They not like us. Sorry, Drake. We&#8217;re sticking with Kendrick. The Big Ten got plenty of flowers in 2024. Four teams in the College Football Playoff. Ohio State (finally) winning the national championship. Some have gone so far as to say they have caught up and passed the SEC as the best college football conference. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4424,"featured_media":73655,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,35574,5,35579,35584,35586,17,35582,3,35587,35575,35576],"tags":[35,65,21,86,383,1202,258,20,59,64,204],"class_list":["post-73650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-alabama-crimson-tide","category-bigten","category-kentucky-wildcats","category-lsu-tigers","category-missouri-tigers","category-news","category-ole-miss-rebels","category-sec","category-tennessee-volunteers","category-texas-am-aggies","category-texas-longhorns","tag-alabama-crimson-tide","tag-georgia-bulldogs","tag-kentucky-wildcats","tag-lsu-tigers","tag-missouri-tigers","tag-nfl-draft","tag-ole-miss-rebels","tag-sec","tag-tennessee-volunteers","tag-texas-am-aggies","tag-texas-longhorns"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4424"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73650"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73656,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73650\/revisions\/73656"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}