Big Ten still without first-round quarterback in NFL Draft since 1995

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The Big Ten’s long, regional nightmare marches on.

With no signal callers taken Thursday night, the Big Ten still hasn't seen a quarterback chosen in the first round of the NFL Draft since 1995.

The conference's drought extended to 21 years when the first round came and went with Michigan State's Connor Cook and Penn State's Christian Hackenberg, among others, still remaining on the board.

The last Big Ten quarterback to hear his name called in the first round was Kerry Collins, who was drafted out of Penn State way back in 1995.

Since, 26 Big Ten quarterbacks have been picked, just not in the first round. The skid came close to ending in 2001, when Purdue’s Drew Brees was the first pick of the second round at No. 32, a pick that would be in the first round today given there are now 32 NFL teams.

After Brees, though, the Big Ten went without a quarterback selected higher than the fourth round until 2007, the first of back-to-back years in which a conference quarterback was picked in the second round: Michigan State’s Drew Stanton in 2007 and Michigan’s Chad Henne in 2008.

Between 2009 and 2015, just six Big Ten quarterbacks were drafted: Purdue’s Curtis Painter (sixth round, 2009), Northwestern’s Mike Kafka (fourth round, 2010), Iowa’s Ricky Stanzi (fifth round, 2011), Wisconsin’s Russell Wilson (third round, 2012), Michigan State’s Kirk Cousins (fourth round, 2012) and Northwestern’s Trevor Siemian (seventh round, 2015).

Cook and Hackenberg could both be selected on Day 2, and Ohio State's Cardale Jones and Indiana's Nate Sudfeld could also be picked before this year's draft is over.

Here is the complete list of Big Ten quarterbacks selected from 1995 to the present.

— Kerry Collins, Penn State (first round, 1995)
— Tony Banks, Michigan State (second round, 1996)
— Bobby Hoying, Ohio State (third round, 1996)
— Wally Richardson, Penn State (seventh round, 1997)
— Brian Griese, Michigan (third round, 1998)
— Joe Germaine, Ohio State (fourth round, 1999)
— Tom Brady, Michigan (sixth round, 2000)
— Drew Brees, Purdue (second round, 2001)
— Kurt Kittner, Illinois (fifth round, 2002)
— Steve Bellisari, Ohio State (sixth round, 2002)
— Drew Henson, Michigan (sixth round, 2003)
— Brooks Bollinger, Wisconsin (sixth round, 2003)
— Gibran Hamdan, Indiana (seventh round, 2003)
— Craig Krenzel, Ohio State (fifth round, 2004)
— Jim Sorgi, Wisconsin (sixth round, 2004)
— Jeff Smoker, Michigan State (sixth round, 2004)
— John Navarre, Michigan (seventh round, 2004)
— Kyle Orton, Purdue (fourth round, 2005)
— Drew Stanton, Michigan State (second round, 2007)
— Troy Smith, Ohio State (fifth round, 2007)
— Chad Henne, Michigan (second round, 2008)
— Curtis Painter, Purdue (sixth round, 2009)
— Mike Kafka, Northwestern (fourth round, 2010)
— Ricky Stanzi, Iowa (fifth round, 2011)
— Russell Wilson, Wisconsin (third round, 2012)
— Kirk Cousins, Michigan State (fourth round, 2012)
— Trevor Siemian, Northwestern (seventh round, 2015)

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