NFL Draft first-round picks by conference: SEC wins the night, Big 12 shutout

The SEC owned the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft, while the Big 12 was nowhere to be seen.

The first round of the 2021 NFL Draft on Thursday night reaffirmed one thing: The SEC has more good players than every other Power 5 conference.

Of the 32 first-round selections, 12 hailed from SEC schools, including a ridiculous six from Alabama alone. While the Big Ten and the ACC had a good night as well with seven and six first-round selections, respectively, it was an absolute nightmare of an evening for the Big 12. They did not have a single player selected. The Pac-12, the AAC, BYU and North Dakota State all had more.

As the SEC asserted its dominance on the big stage Thursday, the Big 12 came up painfully short.

2021 NFL Draft: SEC crushed first round, while Big 12 was completely absent

While there are a handful of players who will be coming off the board in the second round on Friday night from Big 12 schools, what an embarrassment. Traditional powers like Oklahoma and Texas were unable to have a player go in the first round on Thursday night. Not even high-quality programs like Iowa State, Oklahoma State or TCU could be counted on to get it done either.

As for the SEC, it was not as dominant of a first-round performance as in years past, but it was a convincing victory nevertheless. Outside of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU and South Carolina had at least one of their star players get drafted on Thursday night. What this tells us is more of the country’s best players hail from the Southeast. It is always good to be the SEC.

As SEC fans can celebrate their successes, Big 12 country has some big questions to answer here.

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