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Northwestern

#12 in the country for NFL draft picks, of 1,411 high schools that have produced one — and #6 in Florida.

5
NFL draftees
13% of 2010–2020 signees
6
College contributors
38% of skill recruits
51
Recruits tracked
every one listed below
5
Current commits
2026–27 classes

What it produces

Every college signee since 2010 by position group, and how many of them were drafted.

QB
52 NFL
S
52 NFL
WR
111 NFL
EDGE
5
RB
5
ATH
4
CB
4
DL
4
draftedsigned with a college program

Did its recruits beat their ratings?

Every recruit's odds of being drafted, from his composite rating and position group, fit within his own signing class — added up, that is what Northwestern's classes were “supposed” to produce.

5
NFL picks
3.2
Expected
39
Recruits 201020

In line with what their ratings predicted.

5 picks against 3.2. A gap that size or bigger turns up 20% of the time at a school this size by chance alone.

And chance gets 170 attempts: about 9 of the schools here clear that bar on luck. Corrected for that, no high school in this data separates from its recruits' ratings.

Class by class

Whether the pipeline is opening or closing — the one question a February class ranking cannot answer, because nobody goes back to it.

4–5★ signeesall other college signees
'10
'12
'14
'16
'18
'20
'22
'24
'26
college signees per recruiting class, 20102027. Northwestern
Show every class as a table ▾
ClassSignees4–5★NFL
20273
202621
20251
20241
20232
20221
20211
202010
201920
201800
2017310
201600
201530
2014621
2013912
2012411
2011721
2010530

Notable alumni

PlayerPosCollegeOutcome
Amari CooperWRAlabamaNFL draft (2015 R1)
Artie BurnsSMiamiNFL draft (2016 R1)
Teddy BridgewaterQBLouisvilleNFL draft (2014 R1)
Mason RudolphQBOklahoma StateNFL draft (2018 R3)
John JohnsonSBoston CollegeNFL draft (2017 R3)
Eli RogersWRLouisvilleCollege contributor
Elgin HilliardQBFlorida InternationalCollege contributor
Darius TiceRBSouth FloridaCollege contributor

Every Northwestern signee

All 51 players Northwestern has sent to a college football program since 2010 — what they were rated, where they signed, and what happened next. The table above is the honour roll; this is the whole list.

51 of 51 signees since 2010. “Too recent to say” is the 2021 class and later — they have not had a draft to be in yet, which is not the same as not making it.

ClassPlayerWhat happened
2014Mason RudolphNFL draft2018 R3
2013Artie BurnsNFL draft2016 R1
2013John JohnsonNFL draft2017 R3
2012Amari CooperNFL draft2015 R1
2011Teddy BridgewaterNFL draft2014 R1
2024Turbo RichardCollege contributor
2013Darius TiceCollege contributor
2012Elgin HilliardCollege contributor
2011Eli RogersCollege contributor
2027Xavier MeansToo recent to say
2027Malik RatliffToo recent to say
2027Kadin VasselToo recent to say
2026Tamarion WatkinsToo recent to say
2026Kameron VanceToo recent to say
2025Finley PolkToo recent to say
2023Jordan KnoxToo recent to say
2023Elijah CaldwellToo recent to say
2022Jecari BrysonToo recent to say
2021Gregory JohnsonToo recent to say
2020Ger-Cari Caldwell
2019Fentrell Cypress
2019Will Ross
2017Logan Rudolph
2017Jerry Howard
2017Gage Moloney

“College contributor” is measured from offence-skill usage and, from 2021, defensive production — so a lineman who started four years shows as neither. NFL draft covers every position. A player is listed under the college he SIGNED with, which is not always the one he was drafted from.

Where its players go

The colleges that land the most of Northwestern's talent, and how those recruits fared — a revealed pipeline (where they signed, not offers).

SchoolSignedDraftees
Florida International60
Louisville41
South Carolina30
Boston College21
Miami21
Arkansas20
Coastal Carolina20
East Carolina20

Current commits

“Projects to fit” is the “should go” beside the “did go”: among the programs at his level, the ones whose record best matches his profile — development at his position, territory, roster need. Descriptive fit, not a prediction of where he signs.

RecruitPosCommitted toStars
Tamarion WatkinsClemsonSouth CarolinaMichiganLBTexas A&M4★
Xavier MeansATHEast Carolina3★
Malik RatliffWRCoastal Carolina3★
Kameron VanceSouth CarolinaApp StateEast CarolinaATHLafayette3★
Kadin VasselWRCharlotte3★

Other Florida pipelines

The schools this one is measured against — same state, nearest record.

Every Florida high school →

Descriptive hindsight, not a forecast. Draft outcomes cover all positions (2010–2020 signing classes — each has the full five drafts behind it); the college-contributor count covers offense-skill positions (2010–21), where we have production data. A school's own history is not an input to any projection on this site: across 5,852 programs, where a recruit went to high school adds nothing to what his rating already says. How this is measured.