Dan Mullen Among the Best at Getting Elite Talent to the NFL

Oct 3, 2015; College Station, TX, USA; Mississippi State Bulldogs head coach Dan Mullen watches warm ups prior to a game against the Texas A&M Aggies at Kyle Field. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports /

Dan Mullen in his seven seasons at Mississippi State has proven to put players in the NFL as well as any coach in the country, and he has the numbers to prove it.

A big selling point to most college football recruits is how likely a player is to make it to the NFL. Dan Mullen has done a great job of putting the players he recruited to the program in the NFL, but what about the players who are supposed to be future NFL players based on their talent. We’re talking about those coveted four and five star prospects.

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Mike Nowoswiat from Pick Six Previews came up with some statistical data, and what he discovered was a little surprising about which coaches make the most with four and five star talent. Here are the criteria he laid out for his rankings.

Recruiting years 2002-2011
247sports composite ratings
The player must have played under the coach for at least two (2) years.
If he transferred out at any time it counts as a “miss,” unless he returned.
JUCO transfers into a program were included. College transfers into a program were not included.
Undrafted free agents are not draft picks.

What he found was Dan Mullen tied Jimbo Fisher for 6th best in the country at putting 4 and 5 star talent in the NFL. Dan Mullen from the 2002 through 2011 signing classes had 16 players rated as four or five star prospects. Six of them were drafted by an NFL team and 10 of them weren’t for a percentage of 37.5%.

It might seem like a low number, but it was good for 6th best in the country. This only accounted for coaches who had at least five players. Those with smaller sample sizes weren’t included in the rankings. Here is how the SEC coaches fared.

Nick Saban (5th – 38%)
Dan Mullen (6th – 37.5%)
Will Mushcamp (11th – 33%)
Les Miles (12th – 32%)
Gus Malzahn (19th – 25%)
Bret Bielema (27th – 9%)
Butch Jones (0% -missed on all nine he has signed)

There were a few SEC coaches who had five or less players that didn’t qualify. But here is how they stacked up by themselves.

Kevin Sumlin – 40% out of 5
Hugh Freeze – 25% out of 4

Obviously, when the 2012 and 2013 classes completely filter out of college football in the next few seasons, these numbers will change. But give credit to Mullen, when he has had elite level talent on his team, he’s been one of the best at seeing those guys make it to the NFL.

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