During North Dakota State’s run of FCS national titles, it has also created a strong pipeline to the NFL.
Since 2014, the Bison have had 11 players drafted, the most in the subdivision. Seven of those players were picked in the first four rounds, while two were Top 3 overall selections.
| Yr | Rd | NFL | Player |
| 2022 | 2 | GB | Christian Watson (WR) |
| 2022 | 4 | CIN | Cordell Volson (OL) |
| 2021 | 1 | SF | Trey Lance (QB) |
| 2021 | 2 | TEN | Dillon Radunz (OL) |
| 2021 | 4 | DAL | Jabril Cox (LB) |
| 2020 | 7 | DEN | Derrek Tuszka (DE) |
| 2019 | 5 | LAC | Easton Stick (QB) |
| 2016 | 1 | PHI | Carson Wentz (QB) |
| 2016 | 5 | IND | Joe Haeg (OL) |
| 2015 | 5 | SD | Kyle Emanuel (LB) |
| 2014 | 3 | MIA | Billy Turner (OL) |
Sending players to the league has become the norm for NDSU. But now the Bison are getting to a point where they have multiple players drafted every year.
In 2021, it was QB Trey Lance in the first round to San Francisco, OL Dillon Radunz in the second round to Tennessee, and LB Jabril Cox in the fourth round to Dallas. Northern Iowa also had multiple draft picks that year — OL Spencer Brown in the third round to Buffalo and DE Elerson Smith in the fourth round to the New York Giants.
In 2022, NDSU had two draft picks — WR Christian Watson to the Packers in the second round and OL Cordell Volson to the Bengals in the fourth round. Montana State (OLB Troy Andersen in the second round to the Falcons and DE/OLB Daniel Hardy in the seventh round to the Rams) and South Dakota State (RB Pierre Strong Jr. to the Patriots in the fourth round and QB Chris Oladokun to the Steelers in the seventh round) also had multiple selections. You can also add Samford to that mix since Oladokun played there before SDSU, and Samford WR Montrell Washington was selected in the fifth round by Denver.
So it isn’t super rare for an FCS team to have more than one draft pick in a year. But doing it in consecutive years is uncommon territory.
And NDSU looks to do it for an incredible third year in a row next week.
OL Cody Mauch has a first-to-second-round projection by Draft Scout and The Athletic’s Dane Brugler. FB Hunter Luepke is a fourth-to-fifth-round projection by Draft Scout and a sixth-to-seventh-round projection from Brugler.
Those two appear to be safe bets as draft picks.
After that, the Bison have a couple more guys who could hear their names called on Day 3. DT Spencer Waege’s impressive pro day has elevated him to a sixth-to-seventh-round projection from Draft Scout. TE Noah Gindorff is a seventh-round projection from Brugler.
Two more players who have raised their stock during the predraft process and have been mentioned elsewhere as potential late Day 3 draft picks are OL Nash Jensen and CB Destin Talbert. Both will more than likely sign NFL contracts as undrafted free agents, but you never know what can happen on Day 3 (rounds 4-7). Sixteen of the FCS’ 24 draft picks last year were in the last three rounds. Some were names we didn’t expect to hear. So all it takes is one team to really like Waege, Gindorff, Jensen, or Talbert for NDSU to add to its long list of players in the NFL Draft.
