32 Percent of Available ACC Starters Were Drafted

The ACC had 33 players selected in the NFL Draft over the weekend. It was second-most among college football conferences behind only the SEC's 37. Those ACC draft picks make up just under a third of starters lost by the conference's teams.

The 12 ACC teams lost 104 starters (not counting kickers, who don't count as people, and counting Brandon Tate) according to the 2009 spring prospectus. I was a journalism major, so my math is probably way off, but here it is broken down by team.

I have no idea what these numbers mean because I don't the drafted percentage from previous years to compare them to. But I have a feeling 32 percent is fairly high for the ACC.

What these numbers also mean is while Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech lost roughly the same number of players, the ones lost by the Yellow Jackets meant more to them. Only Macho Harris was drafted this weekend, while the rest of Tech's starters lost were not NFL-ready talent.

The few players the Jackets lost however, leave biggers shoes to fill. Particularly defensive end Michael Johnson. Because the player that fills those shoes also has to use them to jump higher than a springbok.

I think the numbers also mean FSU shouldn't worry about losing as many starters as it did. If the guys taking over the 10 open starting positions are more NFL-ready than the ones who departed, the Noles will improve. If they aren't ... well, good luck guys.