ESPN names DBU, updates Top 5 for defensive back producing schools

The title of ‘Defensive Back U’ is a coveted one, albeit unofficial. For the schools that pride themselves on consistently stocking the back end of their defense with future NFL players, it’s a distinction worth aspiring too, and one that ESPN bestowed on Ohio State football.

To reach this conclusion, ESPN Stats & Information considered players after 1998 — since the inception of the Bowl Championship Series — and awarded points based on a number of criteria and achievements: all-conference and All-American selections, draft position and NFL success in a player’s first four seasons. When it came to defensive backs, the Buckeyes narrowly edged out LSU in what might be the most hotly-contested debate of this exercise.

The top 5 schools

1. Ohio State
2. LSU
3. Alabama
4. Florida
5. Miami

Best team from each conference

ACC: Miami

Big 12: Texas

Big Ten: Ohio State

Pac-12: USC

SEC: LSU

Non-Power 5: UCF

When comparing the Buckeyes and Tigers, the stats are impressive. LSU has seen eight defensive backs drafted in the last six years in the first three rounds; Ohio State has put 31 defensive backs on the All-Big Ten teams since 1998. Recent draft history has been slightly better to LSU with Derek Stingley Jr. getting taken No. 3 overall in the 2022 NFL draft. But the Buckeyes, despite not producing a plethora of DBs in recent years, can still rest on the achievements of guys like Jeff Okudah, Jordan Fuller, Denzel Ward, Marshon Lattimore and Vonn Bell, to name a few.

It’s not like LSU hasn’t produced a lot of NFL defensive backs, either. An abridged list: Stingley, Grant Delpit, Kristian Fulton, Greedy Williams, Donte Jackson, Jamal Adams, Tre’Davious White, and Tyrann Mathieu. It’s easy to see how it got so close between these two schools.

Along with Alabama in third, two Florida schools round out the top 5 — and according to ESPN, Florida State was sixth.