Dabo Swinney was college football's biggest underachiever in 2025

The 2026 NFL Draft is over. Part of the process of taking stock of the draft is the evaluation of college football coaches. Who did more with less, and who did less with more? The facts back up the claim that Dabo Swinney of Clemson was the biggest underachiever among 2025 college football coaches. Let's go into the details.

Playoff standard

NCAA.com tabulated the number of NFL draft picks by school. Nine schools led the pack with eight draft picks or more. Of those nine, only two -- Dabo's Clemson and James Franklin's Penn State -- did not make the playoff. Clemson had nine NFL draft picks, Penn State eight. Right there, one can find a basis or the claim that Swinney was the biggest underachiever.

More context

Texas A&M made the CFP with Marcel Reed at quarterback. Texas Tech made it with Behren Morton at quarterback. It's not as though all playoff teams had ideal quarterback situations. While Cade Klubnik imploded under Dabo Swinney, other coaches got more out of ostensibly less talented signal-callers.

Curt Cignetti

Curt Cignetti is the ultimate overachiever in college coaching. He had one less NFL draft pick than Dabo (9 for Clemson, 8 for Indiana) and went unbeaten, all the way to the national championship.

More interesting facts

On the subject of NFL draft performance measured against 2025 performance, it is notable that of the nine schools which had at least eight NFL draft picks, only two -- Miami and Indiana -- got past the CFP quarterfinal round. Draft picks obviously matter in terms of creating playoff-level rosters in college football, but they didn't easily translate into winning playoff games last season. Only two schools really figured it out.