How does Florida’s 2021 NFL Draft class size up against the decade’s best groups?

Florida had a big NFL Draft weekend, coming one short of tying the school’s seven-round record with eight players selected. Several more got free agent contracts shortly after the final round ended, giving the pro ranks a fresh infusion of Gators.

UF had ten players selected in 1978 when the draft stretched on to 12 rounds, though just half of them went in the first seven rounds. The 2010 Draft, featuring much of the core of the 2008-09 teams that went a combined 26-2, had nine players.

In the intervening years, Florida has had eight guys taken four times now. How does the 2021 group compare to the others? Glad you asked. I used a weighted system that assigns seven points for first rounders down to one point for seventh rounders to standardize a way to look at them to see how this latest draft class stacks up.

2013

This group, as many in the post-Meyer years, was slanted towards the defense. Five defenders heard their names called against two offensive players and one special teamer. The top was defense-heavy too with Floyd, Elam, and Bostic going in the first two rounds.

Because there were three players in the first two rounds plus Reed in the third, the average points for the class came out to a robust 4.63. That’s the bar we’re looking to clear, if any of the subsequent groupings can.

2015

This haul actually went 5-3 in favor of the offense, making it a rare one before the 2020 Draft that followed the 2019 college season. The top spot still went to a defender in Fowler, but Humphries also made the top round. The offense picked up the next two as well with a pair of third rounders.

Florida’s offense tended not to be as good as the defense in this era, so you’d expect an offense-heavy draft slate to have a lower average score. You’d expect right, as this group averaged out to 4.13. It almost didn’t make it to eight players to begin with, as the Raiders’ 7th round flier on Andre Debose wasn’t even the last Gator taken. Brown got his, though, eventually becoming the NFL’s highest-earning offensive lineman. Variance in the final round is alive and well.

2017

Nearly all of the last of the great defensive recruiting of the Muschamp era came through in this blowout class. Of the four draft groupings I’m looking at here, this is the only one to have four players in the first two rounds.

The offense did manage to sneak a lineman in there, but otherwise it’s all defense. This is the apotheosis of Muschamp’s recruiting: great defenders at each level with little on offense, and two quarterbacks who transferred out of the program were taken the year prior. So it went. Regardless, the average comes out to 4.63 points to tie the 2013 draft class.

2021

In a similar way, this is largely the McElwain recruiting story: a mix of high and modestly rated talent that never was going to reach its potential without the Mullen staff coming in. Pitts was a Mullen signee but committed to McElwain, leaving only McPherson as a true Mullen guy. He was committed to Mississippi State before following the head coach over.

The average comes out to 4.38, so it’s right in between the 2013/2017 draft classes on the high end and 2015 on the low. There were real headliners with Pitts/Toney/Trask going in the top two rounds after being so dominant together last fall. Here, the group being slanted towards the offense improved the average unlike the past years.

UF seems to be in a rhythm lately of having big draft classes every four years. The school produced nine draft picks in 2010 and then eight each in 2013, 2017, and 2021. The 2015 class snuck in there with eight, but it took a couple of 7th rounders to get there with one of them (Debose) being a pretty big surprise.

A total of 15 Gators have been drafted the last two years, which is 50% better than the ten combined from the prior two years. It’s a good trajectory, even if it doesn’t lock in any future outcomes. The team went eight-seven-eight across 2015-17, and the seasons those represent yielded nothing more than a pair of somewhat shambolic East division titles and fast-approaching reset button.

Florida has a number of good draft prospects for next year, and it will probably tilt more to the defensive side with guys like Kaiir Elam, Zachary Carter, Brenton Cox, and Trey Dean coming up on big years to show out. Mohamoud Diabate is an athletic freak and may zoom up draft boards if he performs well after actually having an offseason to learn and practice outside linebacker.

I don’t know if they’ll get to eight or even seven, but to prove real momentum, it’ll take more than just the 2022 draft to get there. On paper the talent in the Mullen era has improved over the McElwain days, and the next two drafts will be the a proving ground for whether it actually came to fruition.