Not content with becoming the only unbeaten Pac-12 champions in history or shattering the program record for most wins in a single season, the 2023–24 Washington Huskies football team continued to write history in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Only in 1941 were two huskies selected in the top ten, and only in 2015 were three huskies selected in the first round. When Troy Fautanu was selected by Pittsburgh with the 20th overall choice, and Michael Penix Jr. and Rome Odunze went back-to-back (at positions 8 and 9 overall), both those records were tied.
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.The Pac-12 concluded its existence with a bang, as the conference established a record with 43 total picks, second only to the SEC’s 59. UW made their mark on that record, as no school had more players taken in an NFL draft in a single year than Washington’s ten in the Pac-12 era (since 2011). Furthermore, the Huskies had 12 overall first-round picks throughout that time, more than any other conference team.
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.
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