Notre Dame Football: Draft success shows continuous growth of program

Notre Dame football has had a great deal of draft success in recent years, which is a testament to Brian Kelly and the Notre Dame coaching staff.

Over the past 4 seasons, Notre Dame has had great success putting its players into the NFL Draft. The Irish have lost 15 games over the past 4 seasons, but 8 of those came in 2016. In other words, Notre Dame has experienced a great deal of success.

In those last 4 seasons, the Irish have had 19 plays get selected in the NFL Draft. If you were to compare that number to teams from the ACC, only Clemson (24) and Miami (22) have had more. On average, ACC teams have put just over 10 players per team into the NFL via the draft in the last 4 draft cycles.

And it’s that draft success that shows that Notre Dame is on the right track to seriously contending for a national championship.

Some might argue that Notre Dame, for all the talent that they apparently have, should be having more success on the field than they have had the last 4 seasons. While that argument is valid, the simple truth is that the Irish have not sustained that type of success long enough to develop into a perennial contender.

I have previously written that the Irish are well on their way and that the program could see its efforts pay off in 2019 mostly because the Irish have improved in their efforts to develop the talent it attracts in recent years. Much of that is an improved strength and conditioning program (just take a look at the combine numbers of guys like Miles Boykin), while much of that can be attributed to Coach Kelly bringing in some top-notch assistants.

Regardless, teams that reach the top of the college football world do so after years of consistent recruiting and player development. Even 4-8 didn’t hinder Notre Dame’s recruiting efforts.

All indications are that the Irish are on their way.