Let’s just say the phone isn’t ringing off the hook for Big 12 players so far in the NFL draft.
Only four players from the conference had been selected through the middle of the third round Friday night, and it appeared the conference was heading toward having the fewest draft picks among the power five leagues again.
The Big 12 started off with Texas Tech quarterback Patrick Mahomes going 10th to the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday. The next player to go was troubled Oklahoma running back Joe Mixon, 48th overall to the Cincinnati Bengals on Friday.
This was the first year since 2008 that the Big 12 had only one first-round choice. The league’s two picks through two rounds were the fewest since the old Southwest Conference and Big Eight merged to form the Big 12 in 1996.
In the third round, outside linebacker Jordan Willis of Kansas State went to the Cincinnati Bengals at No. 73 overall and running back D’Onta Foreman went to the Houston Texans at No. 89.