NEW YORK (AP) — A record number of college football players will bypass their remaining years of eligibility to enter the NFL draft.
The 135 players forgoing eligibility surpasses the 119 from last year. The NFL released the official list on Friday. There are 103 underclassmen eligible for the April 25-27 draft. Another 32 players have graduated but still have college eligibility.
The vast majority of players made their intentions known ahead of Monday’s NFL deadline. Among the most notable were Heisman Trophy winner Kyler Murray of Oklahoma and Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins.
Alabama has seven players among the 135, the most of any school, including All-America defensive tackle Quinnen Williams, All-America safety Deionte Thompson and All-America offensive tackle Jonah Williams. Ohio State and Oklahoma each have six players.
Murray has already signed a contract with the Oakland Athletics after being selected in the first round of the MLB draft in June. Murray has yet to break his deal with the A’s, but he could abandon it to play in the NFL. Murray, who is listed at 5-foot-10 and 195, had a spectacular season with the Sooners and is a possible first-round pick by NFL teams.
The 103 underclassmen who have met the NFL’s three-year eligibility rule and renounced their remaining eligibility to enter the draft are three short of last year’s record 106. That number has been trending up for years, including a spike in 2014, when 98 underclassmen were granted special eligibility by the league. In 2013, 73 players fell into that category.
Since 2014, at least 95 underclassmen entered the draft without completing their degrees in every season but 2015, when the number was 74.
“It is not a good situation,” said former Dallas Cowboys executive Gil Brandt, who now works for the NFL Network.
Brandt said too many players who are not ready to compete in the NFL are swayed by agents to enter the draft. He said offensive linemen and quarterbacks in particular can usually benefit from more college seasoning.
“When we start taking all these guys, they’re doing the colleges a disservice, they’re doing the players a disservice,” Brandt said.
Among the players who didn’t need special entry granted by the league because they had fulfilled their degree requirements were quarterbacks Daniel Jones of Duke, Jarrett Stidham of Auburn and Tyree Jackson of Buffalo, along with Clemson All-America defensive end Clelin Ferrell and Northern Illinois All-America defensive end Sutton Smith.
Athletes
Ed Alexander, NT, LSU
Jeff Allison, LB, Fresno State
JJ Arcega-Whiteside, WR, Stanford
Mike Bell, DB, Fresno State
Amani Bledsoe, DE, Oklahoma
Nick Bosa, DE, Ohio State
Miles Boykin, WR, Notre Dame
A.J. Brown, WR, Mississippi
Marquise Brown, WR, Oklahoma
Sean Bunting, DB, Central Michigan
Brian Burns, DE, Florida State
Devin Bush, LB, Michigan
Hamp Cheevers, DB, Boston College
Damarea Crockett, RB, Missouri
Maxx Crosby, DE, Eastern Michigan
Tyrel Dodson, LB, Texas A&M
Greg Dortch, WR, Wake Forest
Clifton Duck, DB, Appalachian State
Jovon Durante, WR, Florida Atlantic
David Edwards, OT, Wisconsin
Bobby Evans, OT, Oklahoma
Datryan Evans, TE, Friends
Noah Fant, TE, Iowa
Jazz Ferguson, WR, Northwestern St.
Malik Gant, DB, Marshall
Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, DB, Florida
Rashan Gary, DE, Michigan
Zach Gentry, TE, Michigan
Kevin Givens, DT, Penn State
Jalen Guyton, WR, North Texas
Mecole Hardman, WR, Georgia
Kelvin Harmon, WR, NC State
N’Keal Harry, WR, Arizona State
Dwayne Haskins, QB, Ohio State
Darrell Henderson, RB, Memphis
Nate Herbig, G, Stanford
Justice Hill, RB, Oklahoma State
Trysten Hill, DT, Central Florida
T.J. Hockenson, TE, Iowa
Joshuwa Holloman, RB, Eastern Michigan
Elijah Holyfield, RB, Georgia
Travis Homer, RB, Miami
Amani Hooker, DB, Iowa
Lil’Jordan Humphrey, WR, Texas
Joe Jackson, DE, Miami
Josh Jacobs, RB, Alabama
Andre James, OT, UCLA
Darryl Johnson, DE, NC A&T
Diontae Johnson, WR, Toledo
Tyron Johnson, WR, Oklahoma State
Michael Jordan, G, Ohio State
Vosean Joseph, LB, Florida
Tre Lamar, LB, Clemson
Dexter Lawrence, DT, Clemson
Justin Layne, DB, Michigan State
Greg Little, OT, Mississippi
David Long, DB, Michigan
Julian Love, DB, Notre Dame
Alize Mack, TE, Notre Dame
Alexander Mattison, RB, Boise State
Connor McGovern, G, Penn State
D.K. Metcalf, WR, Mississippi
Shareef Miller, DE, Penn State
Dillon Mitchell, WR, Oregon
David Montgomery, RB, Iowa State
Trayvon Mullen, DB, Clemson
Byron Murphy, DB, Washington
Kyler Murray, QB, Oklahoma
Isaac Nauta, TE, Georgia
Chidi Okeke, OT, Tennessee State
Ed Oliver, DT, Houston
Jachai Polite, DE, Florida
Ryan Pulley, DB, Arkansas
Taylor Rapp, DB, Washington
Riley Ridley, WR, Georgia
Tyler Roemer, OT, San Diego State
Miles Sanders, RB, Penn State
Jordan Scarlett, RB, Florida
Kendall Sheffield, DB, Ohio State
Jeffery Simmons, DT, Mississippi State
Devin Singletary, RB, Florida Atlantic
Darius Slayton, WR, Auburn
Irv Smith, TE, Alabama
Kaden Smith, TE, Stanford
Saivion Smith, DB, Alabama
Benny Snell, RB, Kentucky
Dredrick Snelson, WR, Central Florida
Jace Sternberger, TE, Texas A&M
Jawaan Taylor, OT, Florida
Darwin Thompson, RB, Utah State
John Ursua, WR, Hawaii
Kahale Warring, TE, San Diego State
Mike Weber, RB, Ohio State
Antoine Wesley, WR, Texas Tech
Devin White, LB, LSU
Kerrith Whyte, RB, Florida Atlantic
Greedy Williams, DB, LSU
James Williams, RB, Washington State
Joejuan Williams, DB, Vanderbilt
Preston Williams, WR, Colorado State
Quinnen Williams, NT, Alabama
Trayveon Williams, RB, Texas A&M
Mack Wilson, LB, Alabama
Graduated Also Eligible
Rodney Anderson, RB, Oklahoma
Alex Barnes, RB, Kansas State
Ryan Bates, OT, Penn State
Venzell Boulware, G, Miami
Hakeem Butler, WR, Iowa State
Xavier Crawford, DB, Central Michigan
Jamel Dean, DB, Auburn
Clelin Ferrell, DE, Clemson
Cody Ford, OT, Oklahoma
Youhanna Ghaifan, DT, Wyoming
Joe Giles-Harris, LB, Duke
Penny Hart, WR, Georgia State
Tyree Jackson, QB, Buffalo
Daniel Jones, QB, Duke
Dre’Mont Jones, DT, Ohio State
Dawson Knox, TE, Mississippi
David Long, LB, West Virginia
Erik McCoy, C, Texas A&M
Jakobi Meyers, WR, NC State
Anthony Nelson, DE, Iowa
Tony Pollard, RB, Memphis
Anthony Ratliff-Williams, WR, North Carolina
Dax Raymond, TE, Utah State
Quart’e Sapp, LB, Tennessee
Cortrelle Simpson, WR, Richmond
Sutton Smith, DE, Northern Illinois
Jarrett Stidham, QB, Auburn
William Sweet, OT, North Carolina
Josiah Tauaefa, LB, Texas-San Antonio
Deionte Thompson, DB, Alabama
Jonah Williams, OT, Alabama
Caleb Wilson, TE, UCLA