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Tuesdays with Gorney: NFL Draft proves Power Two is here to stay

The SEC motto “It Just Means More” sure holds true when it comes to the NFL Draft.

More picks. More attention. More than any other conference, in some cases, by far.

The SEC was best – big surprise – but the Big Ten was also dominant as there are supposedly four power conferences but really those two have separated themselves in this draft. Those two win big in recruiting as well.

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The dominance by the SEC was striking with 79 total picks through the draft led by Georgia (13) and Texas (12) and while those two teams were especially loaded with selections, many other conference programs had a ton as well.

Ole Miss had eight. Alabama, LSU and Florida had seven. South Carolina finished with five. Every SEC program had more than one player drafted except for Vanderbilt with just a single player picked.

Seventy-one Big Ten players got picked including 14 from Ohio State, the national champs, which is tied for the second-most ever.

Lapped by the two big dogs, the ACC had 42 picks and then the Big 12 with just 31. Miami led all ACC programs with seven selections and Colorado, Iowa State, Arizona and Oklahoma State all had four selections to lead the last-place Big 12.

Any way one cuts it, the SEC and Big Ten totally dominated the draft which should only help more on the recruiting trail, creating a snowball effect.

Top prospects want to get developed for the NFL. From Thursday through Saturday, almost all of what those players saw was SEC and Big Ten stars, one after another, getting picked.

After the first two selections of Miami quarterback Cam Ward and Colorado’s Travis Hunter, it was all SEC and Big Ten, all the time.

Twenty-six of the next 30 picks to close out the first round were all players from those two monster conferences. It was total domination.

Ohio State had four players – receiver Emeka Egbuka, offensive linemen Donovan Jackson and Josh Simmons and defensive lineman Tyleik Williams – go in the first round. Then running backs Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson went early in the second followed by defensive lineman JT Tuimoloau.

That’s seven players by the middle of the second round, more picks for the Buckeyes early on, than every team in the Big 12 for the entire draft and more than every ACC team except Miami which had the same number for the whole draft.

Georgia, Texas and Ole Miss combined had more selections than the entire Big 12. The only four programs with double-digit selections – you guessed it – came from the Big Ten and SEC with Ohio State, Texas, Georgia and Oregon leading the way.

Of course, this all translates onto the field as well. Ohio State and Michigan have won the last two national championships as the Buckeyes had 14 draftees this cycle and the Wolverines had 13 in the 2024 NFL Draft to lead the way.

Prior to back-to-back Big Ten national championships, the SEC won six of the previous eight with Clemson winning its two. Since 2006, Big Ten and SEC programs have won 16 of the last 19 national championships.

And it should only continue.

In many combinations of way-too-early 2026 NFL mock drafts, Penn State QB Drew Allar, Texas QB Arch Manning, LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier, Ohio State safety Caleb Downs and other Big Ten and SEC players look to be atop draft boards.

History might be repeating itself – more SEC and Big Ten domination coming. The Power Two is here to stay.

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