Eighteen Michigan prospects invited to 2024 NFL Scouting Combine, shattering record for college program
Last summer, Jim Harbaugh said that Michigan Wolverines football could break the record for most NFL Draft picks in a year set by Georgia with 15 in 2022. The Wolverines now have 18 players who received invites to the NFL Scouting Combine — which will be held Feb. 26-March 4 in Indianapolis — proving that Harbaugh may be right, or at least wasn’t far off.
Michigan, which won the 2023 national title with a 15-0 season, led all college programs with 18 invitations. That shattered the all-time record for most invites from a school in a combine. LSU previously held the record with 16 in 2020.
The next-highest this year is Washington, the national runner-up with 13, followed by Florida State (12), Georgia (11), Texas (11), Alabama (10) and Penn State (10). The Wolverines and Nittany Lions are the only teams that competed in the Big Ten last season to earn double-digit bids.
There were 321 total draft hopefuls who received invites. That means over five percent of all invited athletes hail from Michigan.
Here’s the list of Wolverines who were invited:
• QB J.J. McCarthy
• RB Blake Corum
• WR Cornelius Johnson
• WR Roman Wilson
• TE AJ Barner
• OL Karsen Barnhart
• OL LaDarius Henderson
• OL Trente Jones
• OL Trevor Keegan
• OL Drake Nugent
• OL Zak Zinter
• EDGE Jaylen Harrell
• EDGE Braiden McGregor
• DT Kris Jenkins
• LB Michael Barrett
• LB Junior Colson
• DB Mike Sainristil
• DB Josh Wallace
Speaking to how veteran of a squad Michigan had last season, only two players among the bunch — McCarthy and Colson — departed Ann Arbor after three seasons. Many others left eligibility on the table, including due to the 2020 season counting as a free year, but most were either seniors or fifth-years.
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Michigan had nine draft picks in 2023, including a first rounder in defensive tackle Mazi Smith to the Dallas Cowboys. The Wolverines have had 53 draft selections in eight drafts under Harbaugh. This will be the nine draft that Harbaugh is responsible for at Michigan. He departed for the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers this offseason, with Sherrone Moore taking over the program.
The Wolverines have had eight first-round picks and 23 top-100 choices under Harbaugh, likely to add to those numbers this spring.
Michigan’s record of most draft picks in a single event was reached in 2017 (11).
The NFL Draft will be held April 25-27 in Detroit.
