Where Clemson stands on strength of NFL Draft prospects

Trenton Simpson is hoping to be among three Tigers going on day one of the NFL draft.

by Ariana Pensy - Correspondent - Sun Feb 05 07:00:05 GMT-04:00 2023

The Tigers have been a consistent presence in the NFL Draft throughout their history. This year, Clemson has seven players that have declared for the draft, which is actually a little low compared to what it was expected to be.

In the 2023 NFL Draft, the Tigers were projected to have up to five additional players. However, defensive end Justin Mascoll, along with defensive tackles Ruke Orhorhoro and Tyler Davis, safety Jalyn Phillips, and cornerback Sheridan Jones are all returning for the upcoming season. Still, the Tigers have a strong draft class, including two players that are ranked in the top ten among all draft prospects - defensive end Myles Murphy and defensive tackle Bryan Bresee.

According to NFL Draft Buzz, Murphy ranks No. 6 overall and Bresee No. 9 overall among all draft prospects, making Clemson the only school besides Alabama to have two players in the top ten. Nonetheless, this is a draft still dominated by the SEC.

Nearly 20 percent of all draft prospects are coming from the SEC, with Alabama having the most players (16) and Georgia a close second with 15 players. In fact, there are a total of 18 colleges with more players in the draft than Clemson and another six colleges with an equal number of players as draft prospects this year. That can be attributed to so many players returning to play another season, however.

For the ACC in general, they are accounting for 13.8% of draft prospects coming into the 2023 NFL Draft, showing that they are still a player for future pros. Only the SEC and Big Ten (18.2%) have more players going into the draft. Shockingly, Clemson is not the ACC leader in draft prospects. Both Louisville (12) and Pittsburgh (10), as well as NC State (8), have more prospects, but they are not as high of a quality as Clemson. While the Tigers have four prospects in the top 100, those being Murphy, Bresee, linebacker Trenton Simpson at No. 28 and defensive end KJ Henry at No. 98, Louisville doesn’t have any players and Pittsburgh only has one, defensive lineman Calijah Kancey who is No. 62. In addition, for Louisville, the average rank of their players is No. 283 whereas Clemson only has two out of their seven players who rank below this mark - tight end Davis Allen at No. 363 and wide receiver Joseph Ngata at No. 398. For NC State, half of their prospects are not in the top 500 draft prospects, meaning that they are not very likely to get drafted.

One other bonus for Clemson, though, is that they have the most draft prospects out of any team in South Carolina and the second-most in the Carolinas. Coastal Carolina only has three prospects, with their top prospect being cornerback Lance Boykin at No. 193 overall. South Carolina has one first-round prospect, cornerback Cam Smith, but they only have a total of five prospects. East Carolina only has two prospects, running back Keaton Mitchell at No. 121 and wide receiver CJ Johnson at No. 348. NC State, as previously mentioned, has eight prospects, but half of them are not in the top 500 prospects.

Because Clemson’s players, on average, rank higher than the other teams in the ACC, the Tigers will most likely have the most players drafted in the 2023 NFL Draft. The draft starts on Thursday, April 27, where Murphy and Bresee will likely get drafted, and Simpson may also be selected.