SEC tops list of invitees to NFL scouting combine

The official list of invitees for the NFL scouting combine, to be held Feb. 22-28 in Indianapolis, was released Tuesday. Invitations were sent to 327 players; there were 327 invitees last year, too, when 254 players were drafted.

A selection committee, made up of representatives from the two main scouting services as well as members from various NFL player personnel departments, decides who gets the invitations. The committee’s goal is to invite every player who will be drafted in the ensuing NFL draft.

Obviously, the committee misses more than a few each year. For the most part, though, the invitees are the ones who end up hearing their names called during April’s draft. This year’s draft again will be a three-day affair, with the first round on April 26, the second and third rounds on April 27 and the fourth through seventh rounds on April 28.

The biggest position group at the combine will be defensive linemen and defensive backs (59 invitees each), followed by offensive linemen (55), wide receivers (47), linebackers (33), running backs (30), quarterbacks (19), tight ends (14) and specialists (11).

The SEC will be the most-represented conference, with 53 players (the same number as last year). The Big Ten and Pac-12 each have 45, followed by the ACC with 44, the Big 12 with 34 and the Big East with 20.

National champion Alabama has the most invitees, with nine. Georgia, LSU and Miami each have eight; Boise State, Iowa, Oklahoma, Oregon, Penn State and USC each have seven; and Arizona State, California, Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, South Carolina, Stanford and Texas A&M each have six.

On the other hand, some big-name programs had a low number of invitees, among them Auburn (three), Florida (three), Michigan (three), Tennessee (two, the same number as Kentucky and Vanderbilt), Texas (four) and UCLA (one).