It should be an extraordinary year in the NFL draft for the Big Ten Conference next week.
No position is better stocked with Big Ten prospects than tackle, where Michigan State's Jack Conklin and Ohio State's Taylor Decker are expected to be drafted in the first round and Indiana's Jason Spriggs has a chance to be as well.
If Spriggs sneaks into the first round, it would give the conference three offensive linemen as first-round picks for the first time ever in the 50 years of the NFL's common draft.
Together with Notre Dame's Ronnie Stanley, the Midwest would have a chance to send four starting left tackles into the league in one year. Nebraska's Alex Lewis, who might go as high as the second round but more likely will be a third-round pick, is another potential NFL starter at left tackle.
In 1967, the rival NFL and AFL settled their differences and the combined 25 teams met on March 14 to draft 445 players over 17 rounds.
The Big Ten didn't have an offensive lineman picked in the first round that year, but the conference did produce a pair of first-rounders in both 1968 and '69.
Those were first of 17 drafts in which the Big Ten had two offensive linemen taken in the first round. Never, however, has it had three.
Nine times in the last 10 years the conference has had at least one offensive lineman in the first round. In the last six years, the seven first-rounders were tackle Gabe Carimi, guard Kevin Zeitler and center Travis Frederick of Wisconsin, tackles Bryan Bulaga and Riley Reiff and guard Brandon Scherff of Iowa, and tackle Taylor Lewan of Michigan.
Of those seven players, six are solid starters and only Carimi was a bust. That ratio is in keeping with the reliable track record for the Big Ten's first-round linemen since 1967.
Seventeen of the 50 first-round picks made at least one Pro Bowl, and guard Joe DeLamielleure of Michigan State and tackle Orlando Pace of Ohio State are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
"When I first started scouting the Big Ten is where you found offensive linemen," one veteran personnel man said. "It didn't matter if it was center, guard or tackle, the Big Ten was the place where you would find guys. It seems like now offensive linemen are becoming more athletic so you're starting to see a turn to the Southeast where the athletes are.
"Back then, the offensive linemen were the bigger guys, the strong guys that could push you around. Now with the rules, you have to have more athletes."
Mississippi's Laremy Tunsil easily ranks as the top-rated tackle in the draft.
Tunsil was rated the best tackle by 17 of 19 personnel men in a survey conducted by the Journal Sentinel this month. Stanley had the other two first-place votes.
"Take Tunsil," the personnel man continued. "I would think 20 years ago he probably would have been a defensive tackle. Now he's a left tackle.
"It's because now in high school and college they're looking at the athlete (for offense). He's going over to the other side of the ball."
Each scout was asked to rank their favorite tackles on a 1-to-5 basis, with a first-place vote worth five points and so on. In an additional poll, they rated their top five players from among the centers and guards.
Two players, Germain Ifedi and Decker, were given votes at center-guard rather than tackle.
Tunsil totaled 93 points, outpointing Stanley (74), Conklin (55), Decker (38), Ifedi (15), Spriggs (nine) and Shon Coleman (1).
At center-guard, 19 players received votes.
Center Ryan Kelly led with 10 first-place votes and 78 points, finishing comfortably ahead of Cody Whitehair (51, two firsts), Josh Garnett (38, four firsts) and Nick Martin (24, one first).
Other players with double-digit point totals were Max Tuerk (16), Graham Glasgow (15), Christian Westerman (12) and Rees Odhiambo (11).
Following, in order, were Vadal Alexander, Caleb Benenoch and Ifedi, each seven; Decker, five (one first); Avery Young, three; Jack Allen, Connor McGovern, Isaac Seumalo, Joe Thuney and Sebastian Tretola, each two; and Joe Dahl, one.
Since DeLamielleure in 1973, Michigan State has had just one other offensive lineman selected in the first round. That was Tony Mandarich, the second overall pick in 1989 by the Green Bay Packers and one of the worst choices not only in franchise history but also NFL history.
Conklin would seem to have as few flaws as almost any player in the draft. His is a remarkable story, one with a state connection.
A late bloomer from Plainwell, Mich., Conklin had nothing more than a partial scholarship from Division II Wayne State as his senior year wound down. One big school that had taken note of Conklin was Wisconsin.
In an interview with the Detroit Free Press, Conklin said the Badgers told him he was third on their list at the position and they had just one berth remaining.
UW signed someone else and eventually Conklin agreed to walk on at Michigan State in the fall of 2012. He received a scholarship in January 2013 and became the starter at left tackle a few months later.
"He's a typical Big Ten offensive lineman," an NFL personnel director said. "Big, tough, nasty."
Decker should become the Buckeyes' first offensive lineman in the first round since center Nick Mangold a decade ago. It's remarkable that the last five first-rounders from Ohio State in the offensive line – Mangold, Pace, Korey Stringer, Jim Lachey and William Roberts – all made the Pro Bowl.
"Just a solid guy," an AFC executive said. "Can play multiple positions. Tough, smart, reliable."
Spriggs has an outside shot for the first round because he has more than enough athleticism to play left tackle and depth at the position isn't good. The Hoosiers' offensive linemen taken in the first round over the past 50 years were Doug Crusan in 1968, Kevin Allen in '85 and Eric Moore in '88.
"He may go late one or top of two," an NFC personnel man said. "Athletic kid. Had a good Senior Bowl. He's got size, got length and does have left tackle feet."
As for Stanley, who probably will go second after Tunsil, he'll become Notre Dame's ninth first-round offensive lineman since '67.
"I see Conklin as the best offensive lineman in the Midwest," said a scout who covered the area last fall. "Kid was a walk-on. This guy is special."
