These college football teams are losing the most early entries to the NFL draft

The NFL granted special eligibility to 106 underclassmen to enter 2018’s draft, the league announced Friday. That’s just the term for players who haven’t graduated from college, which means the vast majority of juniors declaring for the draft.

Approval for underclassmen to enter the draft is mostly a formality, and just about all of these college departures were already public. But we’ve now got final counts of what college programs will lose in early draft departures.

Florida State, LSU, and Texas are each losing six underclassmen to the draft, more than any other schools. Alabama is next at five departures. Auburn, Miami, Oklahoma, UCLA, and USC are each losing four players who had college eligibility remaining.

A full, sortable table is here:

A total of 106 players getting special eligibility is a new draft record, according to the league, topping the 98 who entered the 2014 draft. The number could’ve easily gone higher, with a couple of players who seemed likely to turn pro deciding to stay in school. Those include Stanford Heisman finalist running back Bryce Love and a bunch of players on Alabama and Clemson, who might see each other in the Playoff again.

In the latest mock draft by SB Nation’s Dan Kadar, early entrant QB Sam Darnold, from USC, goes first overall to the Browns. Other players on this list — UCLA QB Josh Rosen, Penn State RB Saquon Barkley, and Alabama DB Minkah Fitzpatrick — round out the top four. The first round will be loaded with college juniors.