It’s always interesting to see which college programs have the most players on an NFL roster. Sometimes it’s a coincidence, but sometimes it points to a pro team’s respect for that school’s talent development or the way that the their system helps players transition to the league. In 2022, which NCAA program is most well-represented with the Dallas Cowboys?
Your first guess might be Boise State. For a while it seemed like Dallas was inundated with former Broncos; Orlando Scandrick, Tyrone Crawford, DeMarcus Lawrence, Kellen Moore, Leighton Vander Esch, and Cedrick Wilson all with the team around the same time.
But only two of those guys, Lawrence and Vander Esch, are on the roster these days. Moore is offensive coordinator but Tank and the Wolf Hunter are the only Boise State products currently playing with Dallas in 2022.
Okay, then what about Arkansas? Surely Jerry Jones is biased towards his alma mater, right?
Shockingly, rookie DT John Ridgeway is only the second Razorback drafted by Dallas since Jones took ownership of the team. The other was RB Felix Jones in 2008/
There is one other former Arkansas player on the roster currently, backup TE Jeremy Sprinkle. The veteran is entering his second season with the Cowboys after signing as a free agent in 2021.
Okay, so what about Alabama or LSU? Believe it or not, CB Trevon Diggs is the only current Cowboy from Nick Saban’s program. And LSU has two who we’ve yet to see much of, LBs Jabril Cox and rookie Damone Clark.
And Texas? There isn’t a single Longhorn product currently on the roster.
There are three different colleges that are represented with three current Cowboys: Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Texas Tech. The Wildcats have recently given us CB Kelvin Joseph, DT Quinton Bohanna, and undrafted rookie CB Quandre Mosely.
WR CeeDee Lamb, DT Neville Gallimore, and LB Devante Bond are the former Sooners on the roster. As for Texas Tech, they’re represented by OT Terence Steele, K Jonathan Garibay, and WR T.J. Vasher.
To be fair, the extra numbers for these schools is probably only temporary. Once we get to September and this roster is whittled down to 53 players, guys like Mosely, Bond, and Vasher are not likely to make the team.
But for the college with the most current Cowboys, all four players are projected to be on the official 2022 roster. That brings us to the Ohio State Buckeyes; RB Ezekiel Elliott, S Malik Hooker, WR Noah Brown, and LS Jake McQuaide.
Elliott’s arrival in 2016 seemed to set off a wave of Ohio State talent acquisition. It had been a decade since the Cowboys had drafted any Buckeyes, the last one being LB Bobby Carpenter in 2006. That’s probably just a coincidence, but you never know!
After adding Zeke and Brown in back-to-back drafts, Dallas also drafted RB Mike Weber and had WR Devin Smith in camp for 2019.
Malik Hooker, a former teammate of Elliott and Brown’s at Ohio State, was signed last year as a free agent and brought back in 2022 as the likely starter at free safety. McQuaide followed Special Teams Coordinator John Fassel from the Rams to the Cowboys last year. The veteran left the Buckeyes in 2011.
Elliott, Hooker, and McQuaide are all locks to make the team this season. Noah Brown is likely given his special teams work and experience for depth, but he’s the only one that even has to sweat about job security.
Both now and after finals cuts, the Ohio State Buckeyes are your most-represented college program for the 2022 Dallas Cowboys. But with some young talent from LSU, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, and other schools expected to stick around a while, we could see that shift pretty quickly in the coming seasons.
