Becoming the only undefeated champions in the Pac-12 era and breaking the program record for most wins in a single season wasn't enough for the 2023-24 Washington Huskies football team, as they kept rewriting the history books during the 2024 NFL Draft.
Only one other time (2015) had three huskies been selected in the first round and only in 1941 two were taken within the top-10. Both those records were tied when Michael Penix Jr. and Rome Odunze went back-to-back (#8 and #9 overall) and Troy Fautanu was chosen by Pittsburgh with the 20th overall pick.
But this wasn't just a top-heavy class. After breaking the school record for combine invites with 13 -previous in the Pac-12 era was nine following the 2019 season-, ten huskies were taken throughout the three day process. While in 1983 and 1992 UW had 11 of its players chosen in the NFL Draft, in both those instances four were selected between rounds 8 and 12. Therefore, this ties the program record of ten picks (1998) since the Draft changed to seven rounds in 1994.
Washington football breaks program, Pac-12 records in 2024 NFL Draft
1st/2nd Round NFL Draft Picks by PAC-12 Programs over the Past 10 Drafts (2015-2024):
— WestCoastCFB (@WestCoastCFB) April 27, 2024
1. Washington - 23
2. USC - 16
3. Oregon - 11
4. Utah - 9
5. UCLA - 8
6. Stanford - 7
7. ASU - 3
7. Colorado - 3
9. OSU - 2
10. WSU - 1
10. Cal - 1
10. Arizona - 1
In its final year in existence, the PAC-12 went out with a bang, setting a conference record with 43 total picks —only behind the SEC's 59—and UW left its mark on that, as no school had more players selected in a single NFL draft than Washington's ten during the Pac-12 era (since 2011). Moreover, no team in the conference had more total first-round picks than the Huskies during that span, with 12.
Only Michigan (13) and Texas (11) had more of their players selected in the 2024 NFL Draft than Washington, which tied with Alabama and Florida State for third place. However, Washigton led all of college football by total draft value (according to the Fitzgerald-Spielberger chart) mainly helped by the fact that no school had more of its players selected during either the first (3) or second (7) day of the Draft.
Now that the draft is concluded we can look at total draft value (Fitzgerald-Spielberger chart) by college. Washington was your big winner for the entire draft, followed by Bama as usual and national champion Michigan #NFLDraft #NFLDraft2024 pic.twitter.com/t8gXSlSpxo
— CFBNumbers (@CFBNumbers) April 28, 2024
As we wait to see how their NFL careers unfold, this certainly marks one of the greatest draft classes in UW football history and the program will carry loads of momentum heading into a new era in the Big Ten Conference.