FCS in the 2024 NFL Draft

[KPSUL]

I counted 9 FCS players drafted in 2024

Kiran Amegadjie OT Yale 3rd Round
Jalyx Hunt EDGE HCU 3rd
Mason McCormick OG SDSU 4th
Isaiah Davis RB SDSU 5th
Dylan Laube RB UNH 6th
Myles Harden CB SD 7th
Levi Drake Rodriquez DT Tex A&T Comm. 7th
Josaiah Ezrim OT E. Kentucky 7th
CJ Hanson OG Holy Cross 7th

I also saw one Div 2 guy: Michael Jerrell OT Findley 6th Round

I reviewed the Draft results myself so I could have missed a player or two.

[caribbeanhen]

https://www.anygivensaturday.com/showthread.php?358040-FCS-in-the-2024-NFL-Draft/page2

check it out

[bulldog10jw]

I counted 9 FCS players drafted in 2024

Kiran Amegadjie OT Yale 3rd Round
Jalyx Hunt EDGE HCU 3rd
Mason McCormick OG SDSU 4th
Isaiah Davis RB SDSU 5th
Dylan Laube RB UNH 6th
Myles Harden CB SD 7th
Levi Drake Rodriquez DT Tex A&T Comm. 7th
Josaiah Ezrim OT E. Kentucky 7th
CJ Hanson OG Holy Cross 7th

I also saw one Div 2 guy: Michael Jerrell OT Findley 6th Round

I reviewed the Draft results myself so I could have missed a player or two.

Also former Yale offensive lineman Nick Gargiulo, who helped the Bulldogs win two Ivy League titles, including leading the 2022 championship squad as captain, was selected by the Denver Broncos in the seventh round. He played a fifth year at South Carolina

[bonarae]

You missed out on two other 6th rounders from the FCS:

Ryan Flournoy, WR, SEMO, Cowboys
Khristian Boyd, OL, UNI, Saints

[Milktruck74]

How is the portal impacting the numbers out of FCS? Seems a little lower than the past, but I also (with a very unscientific quick glance) felt like there were not many G5 kids in the draft either. I hear of a bunch of FCS kids jumping in the portal to "get exposure" at a bigger school...but FCS to G5 doesn't really seem to help the chances of getting a draft slot...it may help in the UDFA area, but IDK!!!! Any thoughts on this?

[Pards Rule]

UDFA Steve Stiilianos of Iowa Hawkeyes was a transfer from Lafayette - TE

[Paladin1aa]

YSU WR Bryce Oliver signs UDFA contract with Titans.

YSU S Marcus Hooker is invited to the Colts camp.

[Paladin1aa]

Two more get invites mini camp -

QB Mitch Davidson to 49ers

OL Ryan Johnson to the Patriots

[caribbeanhen]

How is the portal impacting the numbers out of FCS? Seems a little lower than the past, but I also (with a very unscientific quick glance) felt like there were not many G5 kids in the draft either. I hear of a bunch of FCS kids jumping in the portal to "get exposure" at a bigger school...but FCS to G5 doesn't really seem to help the chances of getting a draft slot...it may help in the UDFA area, but IDK!!!! Any thoughts on this?

it seems like the postseason workouts for NFL scouts have just so much to do with it as the regular season performances.
Tell me I’m wrong

if you’re good, they will find you no matter if you’re at FCS or G5

[CenMEBlackBearFan]

Here is the link for UDFA and mini camp invites from FCS schools.

https://www.si.com/college/fcs/news/2024-fcs-football-undrafted-free-agents-rookie-tracker

[Milktruck74]

I just started a new thread on this premise.....a kid got drafted this year out of a D2 school....he was obviously good and they found him!!! Also, My daughter went to a d3 school and a kid from there was picked up by the Titans a few years ago and made the final cut....if you are good, THEY WILL FIND YOU!!!!! Every team has about 30 employed scouts and that is their JOB!!!!!

[Redbird 4th & short]

Milltruck ., have to disagree. I don't think the system could possibly ever work quite that well. If only 1 or 2% of FBS football players make it to NFL, I don't think it is possible that they will find you no matter what level you play. No way to even prove it anyway.

But, the NFL gets lots of things wrong in scouting ... case in point, they can't even get 1st rounders or top 10 right .. there are always busts. So how could they possibly get lower rounders and UDFAs right ? They have much higher failure rates. And for all the draft picks that don't work out ... someone more deserving was missed. That alone is the evidence it can't be true. More deserving kids are missed all the time .. maybe not superstars, but guys who could have done better than the failed pick that a team sat on for 2 or 3 years even.

Partly agree, that if you are great enough, you have a pretty good chance of getting some kind of look. Maybe this is what you meant. But beyond that rare case, the scouts just aren't that good. Better prospective players are being missed.

[Milktruck74]

Milltruck ., have to disagree. I don't think the system could possibly ever work quite that well. If only 1 or 2% of FBS football players make it to NFL, I don't think it is possible that they will find you no matter what level you play. No way to even prove it anyway.

But, the NFL gets lots of things wrong in scouting ... case in point, they can't even get 1st rounders or top 10 right .. there are always busts. So how could they possibly get lower rounders and UDFAs right ? They have much higher failure rates. And for all the draft picks that don't work out ... someone more deserving was missed. That alone is the evidence it can't be true. More deserving kids are missed all the time .. maybe not superstars, but guys who could have done better than the failed pick that a team sat on for 2 or 3 years even.

Partly agree, that if you are great enough, you have a pretty good chance of getting some kind of look. Maybe this is what you meant. But beyond that rare case, the scouts just aren't that good. Better prospective players are being missed.

I feel like we are looking at different points. You are talking about drafted players that turn out as a bust...I'm talking about just getting a shot. That is the beauty of the NFL, if you are a good player, you will get invited to a camp somewhere (along with another 100 guys) and you will get a shot to prove yourself in that camp and if you can fill a need on the team, you will get the job (regardless of what level you played in). Now, as you mentioned, there are plenty that get a shot but are a bust. I'm not saying the scouts are great at always ranking talent, but there are plenty of Juco and NAIA kids that get camp invites. If you show NFL level talent, you will get a chance to show it.

Looking at the number of small school kids on NFL 53 man rosters last season...

117 - FCS
43 - D2
6 - D3
3 - NAIA
??? - Straight from Juco

That is 169 guys that made the roster....and I'd guess for everyone that made the cut, there were 2 or 3 more that got an invite to a camp.

[smallcollegefbfan]

How is the portal impacting the numbers out of FCS? Seems a little lower than the past, but I also (with a very unscientific quick glance) felt like there were not many G5 kids in the draft either. I hear of a bunch of FCS kids jumping in the portal to "get exposure" at a bigger school...but FCS to G5 doesn't really seem to help the chances of getting a draft slot...it may help in the UDFA area, but IDK!!!! Any thoughts on this?

It is hurting for sure. Jared Verse was at Albany but instead of being their first player drafted in the first round, I think, he went to Florida State for example. There use to be over 25 FCS players drafted and now we are almost to single digits so it has depleted the numbers big time.

[Milktruck74]

It is hurting for sure. Jared Verse was at Albany but instead of being their first player drafted in the first round, I think, he went to Florida State for example. There use to be over 25 FCS players drafted and now we are almost to single digits so it has depleted the numbers big time.

Would he have been a first rounder out of Albany? Maybe, Maybe not....I know the Patriots' fans were livid with the Cole Strange pick in the first round in '22....but dude was a dude...and many of them are eating their hats (my Brother in law has actually bought me a beer to apologize for his lack of knowledge of REAL FOOTBALL when he said "How do you draft a non-D1 player in the first round!"). Did Verse up his status with a transfer to FSU? Maybe...but He would have been given a shot if he hung at Albany....because he is a talented player!!!

[smallcollegefbfan]

Would he have been a first rounder out of Albany? Maybe, Maybe not....I know the Patriots' fans were livid with the Cole Strange pick in the first round in '22....but dude was a dude...and many of them are eating their hats (my Brother in law has actually bought me a beer to apologize for his lack of knowledge of REAL FOOTBALL when he said "How do you draft a non-D1 player in the first round!"). Did Verse up his status with a transfer to FSU? Maybe...but He would have been given a shot if he hung at Albany....because he is a talented player!!!

I think there might have been a stigma there but Verse was looking like a future star at Albany so I think he could have played his way into that as long as he went to Senior Bowl and NFL Combine.

[Redbird 4th & short]

I feel like we are looking at different points. You are talking about drafted players that turn out as a bust...I'm talking about just getting a shot. That is the beauty of the NFL, if you are a good player, you will get invited to a camp somewhere (along with another 100 guys) and you will get a shot to prove yourself in that camp and if you can fill a need on the team, you will get the job (regardless of what level you played in). Now, as you mentioned, there are plenty that get a shot but are a bust. I'm not saying the scouts are great at always ranking talent, but there are plenty of Juco and NAIA kids that get camp invites. If you show NFL level talent, you will get a chance to show it.

Looking at the number of small school kids on NFL 53 man rosters last season...

117 - FCS
43 - D2
6 - D3
3 - NAIA
??? - Straight from Juco

That is 169 guys that made the roster....and I'd guess for everyone that made the cut, there were 2 or 3 more that got an invite to a camp.

Good point on camp invites given players a shot to get noticed, even if it takes a couple years to catch on. But there are still only a relatively fixed # of openings each year. I just don't think the scouts are quite that good at the lower levels beyond D-I.