The 2014 NFL Draft may be viewed as a down year for the Big 12, with just 17 players from the conference being called by NFL franchises. Unfortunately for the Texas Longhorns, none of those 17 players from the Big 12 are coming out of Austin. This marked the first time since before the start of World War II that Texas was without a player drafted by the NFL (1937 to be precise). With just three players drafted in each of the drafts in 2013 and 2012, should fans of the Longhorns be concerned about the state of the program?
Not for long.
Charlie Strong has already been hard at work in setting the tone for the future of the Texas program. He has gone on record saying Texas will not be a national title contender in 2014. He has said Texas needs to be the top program in the state, and he genuinely means it. Better yet, Strong is just the right kind of coach to be taking over a program that has been ditched and forgotten about by Texas A&M, pushed aside by Baylor and is witnessing Texas Tech attempt to build some momentum in Lubbock. Strong knows what it takes to make a program find a new level of toughness, and that is just what Texas needs right now. Texas still has plenty going their way but you can see why Mack Brown‘s career had seen better days at this point. Six draft picks in three years is representative of the quality of play on the field during that span, and that is not going to be good enough for Strong.
Texas fans should take solace in seeing what Strong’s most recent program did in this year’s draft. Louisville sent four players through the NFL Draft, three of which came in the first round. That is a tremendous credit to Strong and the staff he put together in Louisville, as this was the results of his first recruiting class going through a full four-year cycle. That resulted in the Cardinals sending a potential franchise quarterback in Teddy Bridgewater with a late first round draft pick in addition to two defensive contributors (Calvin Pryor to the Jets and Marcus Smith to the Eagles).
Strong knows Texas needs to get tougher, and fortunately for the Longhorns this happens to be his speciality. This should be a temporary draft drought for Texas.
