Top Ten NFL picks are rare birds for Hawkeyes

If Hawkeyes offensive tackle Brandon Scherff is a Top Ten pick in Thursday's NFL Draft, that's rare air for an Iowa player. Or the Big Ten in general.

Scherff, who generally is projected to go ninth Thursday night to the New York Giants (which probably means he will go anywhere but ninth to anyone but the Giants), can become Iowa's second Top Ten-draftee in the 2000s. and third in the last 49 years.

Another offensive lineman, Robert Gallery, was the No. 2 pick in the 2004 draft.

Two Top Ten picks in this millennium doesn't sound like much, but the average Big Ten school has had less than that. There have been 17 Top Ten selections from the Big Ten in the last 15 years, and only Scherff is projected to be one from that conference Thursday night. Although, Michigan State cornerback Trae Waynes is on the periphery.

Scherff will be Iowa's seventh first-rounder under Kirk Ferentz, which will match the number of No. 1 picks Hayden Fry coaches in his 20 years as the Hawkeyes' head coach.

But Iowa had just two No. 1s between 1987 and Fry's last season, 1998. Both were in 1997. You could probably win some bar bets in Iowa if you asked people to name the only Top Ten NFL draftee Fry had with the Hawkeyes.

That was defensive back Tom Knight, in ‘97.

Three Hawkeyes were first-rounders in 1986, but the highest was quarterback Chuck Long at 12th.

As you would probably expect, Ohio State leads the Big Ten with first-round picks in the 2000s, with 18. Then comes Wisconsin (12), Michigan and Penn State (10), Iowa (6), Illinois (5), Michigan State and Nebraska (4), Maryland and Rutgers (3), Minnesota, Northwestern and Purdue (2), and Indiana (0).

Iowa State has had just one first-round pick, running back George Amundson. He was the 14th pick in the 1973 draft.

Of Top Ten picks in the 2000s, Ohio State has had 4, Michigan and Penn State 3, Maryland and Michigan State 2, Iowa, Nebraska and Wisconsin 1.

The Hawkeyes have had six Top Ten picks in NFL Draft history, which goes back to 1936.

Of course, the draft is a fickle game. The Green Bay Packers are getting a lot of great use out of former Hawkeyes Mike Daniels (4th-round) and Micah Hyde (5th), just like they got a lot of terrific seasons from Aaron Kampman (5th round).

Maybe defensive tackle Carl Davis, a projected 2nd- or 3rd-rounder this year, will be one of the steals of this year's draft. If he lands with the Hawkeye-loving Packers, you can almost set it in stone.