The Maize and Blue lagoon: the DL

The last few posts have shown that positions that tend towards African Americans in the NFL are more likely to have alumni from the SEC and ACC (F*&^ing US history: why do the rednecks benefit from the outrageous nonsense their forefathers engaged it). Before I dive into a "Jimmy the Greek"-like rant, I'll simply say that the DL is no different, with about 80% of the players being African American:

2008 NFL Regular Season DL Tackles and Sacks by College Conference

Some notes:

1. 80% of NFL production comes from the BCS. This goes to my supposition that DL is the easiest position to scout. Whatever makes a good nose tackle in high school (freakish strength, size, and speed) seems to translate very well to college and the pros. The BCS conferences don't miss DL recruits nearly as often as offensive skill players.
2. The Big 10 appears respectable. Not SEC good, not bad though. Except for one little detail:

2008 NFL DL Production by College Team (Big 10 and SEC)

That's right folks. Michigan Defensive linemen recorded fewer NFL tackles than guys from every other Big 10 school except Wisconsin. Worse than Northwestern, Indiana, and Minnesota. Far worse than lil brother. Ohio State? 3x as many NFL tackles. So who were the Michigan contributors:

Michigan DL stats in the 2008 NFL Regular Season

That's right, 3 guys are actually getting playing time in the NFL. This helps explain all of those piss poor defensive efforts we saw from Michigan over the last decade. Statistically, our line has been one of the worst in the Big 10. In fact, we rank 39th out of the 65 BCS teams in terms of NFL production, behind such luminaries as Louisville, Colorado, and Maryland.

Next I'll look at the LBers. At least this group explains why we haven't been 3-9 for the past 10 years...