Every year at the NFL Draft and throughout the football season, college players boast about the strength of their position groups, while programs tout their success getting players drafted in order to help with recruiting. But which teams really deserve the bragging rights when it comes to developing players and preparing them for success in the league?
Welcome to our Position U series, where CBS Sports examines where NFL talent has come from over the last decade (2006-15).
It’s not simply getting players into the league that matters, though. How do those players perform once they're receiving big paychecks and playing in the NFL?
Our methodology places significant value on NFL starts (1 point per) because a pipeline of starters by position is the very definition of 'Position U.' Bonus points are provided for Pro Bowls nods at their main position (2 points per appearance), draft selections (2 points per) and first-round picks (3 points per). Many of the players who counted for this exercise were drafted before 2006. The point is to evaluate where all NFL players came from who played in the league between 2006-15.
In reality, the players themselves make their own way into the NFL on an individual basis. But along the way, they get help through coaching, training and exposure from their college.
We continue with the guys that help flip the field, the punters.
More Position U: DL | TE | OL | RB | WR | K
T5. Texas A&M: No one has been to more Pro Bowls over the past decade than the five by Shane Lechler, who also kicked off and handled long field goals at Texas A&M in the late 1990s. Lechler has been in the league since 2000 with the Raiders and Texans and is still going strong. He’s just the sixth player in NFL history to punt for at least 50,000 yards.
| Texas A&M Punters: Points Breakdown | ||||
| NFL Starts | Pro Bowls | Draft Picks | First-Round Picks | Total Points |
| 160 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 170 |
T5. California: Nick Harris, who set NCAA career punting records at Cal, punted for the Lions, Jaguars and Panthers over the past decade until his retirement in 2012. Bryan Anger, a third-round pick out of Cal in 2012, has been in the NFL for the past four years.
| Cal Punters: Points Breakdown | ||||
| NFL Starts | Pro Bowls | Draft Picks | First-Round Picks | Total Points |
| 168 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 170 |
4. LSU: Donnie Jones has been punting in the NFL since 2004, jumping around with the Seahawks, Dolphins, Rams, Texans and Eagles. He set an Eagles franchise record in 2013 for net punting average (40.4 yards). Another LSU punter, Brad Wing, lost the Eagles’ punting competition to Jones. Wing punted for the Steelers in 2014 and the Giants in 2015.
| LSU Punters: Points Breakdown | ||||
| NFL Starts | Pro Bowls | Draft Picks | First-Round Picks | Total Points |
| 176 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 176 |
3. Miami: The U has been so dominant with NFL players that it even shows up in our Punter U top five. Miami joins Tennessee as the only colleges with three NFL punters over the past decade. Jeff Feagles, a Hurricane in the 1980s, retired in 2010 with the most punt attempts and punt yards in NFL history. Miami is the only school since 2006 to have two punters drafted: Pat O’Donnell (2014 by the Bears) and Matt Bosher (2011 by the Falcons). Bosher is known for tackling and taunting opponents on punt returners -- fitting characteristics for a punter from The U.
| Miami Punters: Points Breakdown | ||||
| NFL Starts | Pro Bowls | Draft Picks | First-Round Picks | Total Points |
| 175 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 181 |
2. Nebraska: Just call the Cornhuskers Speciality U. That probably won’t sit well with Nebraska fans, which want to return to their glory days. But Nebraska is the only school to appear in the top five of Kicker U and Punter U. Sam Koch has become the NFL’s most innovative punter for the Ravens, thanks to his repertoire that includes a knuckler, boomerang, hook, low trajectory and maximum hang time. Kyle Larson, another ex-Nebraska punter, punted in the NFL for five years during a period that overlapped the past decade.
| Nebraska Punters: Points Breakdown | ||||
| NFL Starts | Pro Bowls | Draft Picks | First-Round Picks | Total Points |
| 208 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 212 |
1. Tennessee: Congratulations to the Colquitt family, otherwise known as the First Family of Fourth Down. Dustin and Britton Colquitt made Tennessee Punter U. Dustin, a third-round pick by the Chiefs in 2005, reached the Pro Bowl in 2012 and continues to punt. In 2013, he became the NFL’s highest-paid punter at the time with $8.9 million in guaranteed money. Britton followed Dustin to Knoxville and has punted for the Broncos since 2009. Another ex-Tennessee punter, Matt Darr, handled punting duties for the Dolphins in 2015. But Punter U belongs to the Colquitt brothers, whose dad and uncle were NFL punters and had multiple cousins also punt in college.
| Tennessee Punters: Points Breakdown | ||||
| NFL Starts | Pro Bowls | Draft Picks | First-Round Picks | Total Points |
| 270 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 272 |
| Punter U Comparison | |||||
| Team | NFL Starts | Pro Bowls | Draft Picks | First-Round Picks | Total Points |
| 1. Tennessee | 270 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 272 |
| 2. Nebraska | 208 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 212 |
| 3. Miami | 175 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 181 |
| 4. LSU | 176 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 176 |
| T5. California | 168 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 170 |
| T5. Texas A&M | 160 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 170 |
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