All-Arkansas NFL Draft Team - Offense
The Razorbacks’ drought of first round NFL Draft picks ended last week when the Detroit Lions took Frank Ragnow with the 20th overall selection.
He was the first Arkansas player picked in the first round since Darren McFadden and Felix Jones in 2008, snapping a streak of nine straight years without one. That was tied for the second longest drought in school history and tied with Vanderbilt for the longest active drought in the SEC.
In addition to ending that drought, Ragnow entered rare air for the Razorbacks, as he was the second-highest drafted offensive lineman in school history.
With that in mind, HawgBeat decided to compile a list of the highest drafted players from Arkansas at each position. For the purpose of this project, we used the position at which each player was drafted – which isn’t necessarily the same as they played for the Razorbacks.
We also considered only the common draft era, which began in 1967 with the merger of the NFL and AFL. That eliminates most of the one-platoon era, when players played offense and defense. (For example, “tackle” meant you played offensive tackle and defensive tackle.)
Because of length, we decided to split the team in half and release it over two days. Without further ado, we introduce to you the Arkansas All-NFL Draft offensive team…
QB – Joe Ferguson (1973, No. 57, Bills)
Despite being passed is the record books many times over the four-plus decades since his playing days at Arkansas, Ferguson remains the highest selected Arkansas quarterback of the common draft era.
A gunslinger from Louisiana who replaced Terry Bradshaw in high school, he threw for 4,431 yards and 24 touchdowns for the Razorbacks, which were monster numbers in the early 1970s. As a junior, Ferguson was named the player of the year in the Southwest Conference after shattering the UA single-season record with 2,203 passing yards – a record that stood for 26 years. He likely would have been picked before the third round had he left after that season, but Arkansas switched to the veer offense in his senior year and it caused him to slip in the draft.
Ferguson is also the Razorbacks’ most successful professional quarterback. He played 17 seasons in the NFL, 12 with the Buffalo Bill, and threw for 29,817 yards and 196 touchdowns. Those numbers ranked 13th and 15th, respectively, in NFL history at the time of his retirement.
Second team: Ryan Mallett (2011, No. 74, Patriots)
Bonus: Lamar McHan was the second overall pick in the 1954 NFL Draft, the highest an Arkansas player has ever been taken since the first one in 1936. He played 10 seasons for four different teams in the NFL, but is best known as the quarterback who got injured after starting the first six games of the 1959 season for the Packers and was replaced by future Hall of Famer Bart Starr.
RB – Darren McFadden (2008, No. 4, Raiders) / Harry Jones (1967, No. 19, Eagles)
Widely considered the greatest player in Arkansas history, McFadden put up incredible numbers during his three-year career with the Razorbacks. He was just the second player in SEC history to eclipse 1,000 rushing yards in each of his first three seasons, joining Herschel Walker, and finished his career with 4,590 yards, which still ranks third in SEC history. That helped him win the Doak Walker Award twice and finish runner-up for the Heisman Trophy twice.
In the NFL, McFadden rushed for 5,421 yards and 28 touchdowns during his oft-injured career. He spent his first seven years with the Raiders before ending his career with a three-year stint with the Cowboys.
Four decades earlier, Jones put up numbers similar to McFadden’s teammate with the same last name. He led the nation with a 7.7-yard rushing average as a junior, helping him earn first-team All-SWC honors. Jones is nowhere to be found in the record books, but Arkansas fans will forever remember him as the first UA athlete to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated and the subject of the song, “The Ballad of Light Horse Harry.”
Injuries shortened his NFL career to only four seasons, in which he rushed for 85 yards on 44 carries and caught nine passes for 131 yards.
Second team: Gary Anderson (1983, No. 20, Chargers) / Felix Jones (2008, No. 22, Cowboys)
Bonus: During the pre-common draft era, Arkansas had three halfbacks taken in the first 10 picks of the draft: Jack Robbins (1938, No. 5, Chicago Cardinals), Kay Eakin (1940, No. 3, Pittsburgh Pirates) and Clyde Scott (1948, No. 8, Philadelphia Eagles). Robbins and Eakin were two of the first three players in UA history to rush for 100 yards in a single game, while Scott was the first two have multiple 100-yard rushing games and was an Olympic silver medalist.
FB – Barry Foster (1990, No. 128, Steelers)
We fudged the requirements here because Foster was drafted as a running back, but played fullback at Arkansas in Ken Hatfield’s wishbone offense. While blocking for the likes of James Rouse and E.D. Jackson, Foster managed to pile up 1,977 yards and 19 touchdowns of his own in three seasons with the Razorbacks.
Instead of returning to play his senior season for first-year head coach Jack Crowe, Foster chose to enter the NFL Draft. Although he slipped to the fifth round, it proved to be an excellent career choice. Foster was a two-time Pro Bowler and rushed for 3,943 yards and 26 touchdowns in five seasons. His 1,690 rushing yards in 1992 remain a single-season record for the Steelers.
Second team: Peyton Hillis (2008, No. 227, Broncos) / Kiero Small (2014, No. 227, Seahawks)
TE – Hunter Henry (2016, No. 35, Chargers)
Arkansas’ drought of first-round picks nearly ended two years ago, but Henry wasn’t taken until the fourth pick of the second round. He was the first tight end off the board, which isn’t surprising considering he was the Mackey Award winner. In three seasons at Arkansas, he made 116 receptions for 1,661 yards and nine touchdowns while never dropping a pass. Henry was a second-team All-SEC selection in 2013 and 2014 and a consensus first-team All-American as a junior.
Just two years into his NFL career, Henry has already established himself as one of the top tight ends in the game. He was named to the PFWA All-Rookie Team after catching eight touchdowns in 2016 and has 81 catches for 1,057 yards and 12 touchdowns in two professional seasons.
Second team: D.J. Williams (2011, No. 141, Packers)
WR – Matt Jones (2005, No. 21, Jaguars) / Derek Russell (1991, No. 89, Broncos) / Joe Adams (2012, No. 104, Panthers)
This is one of the more surprising positions on the team, as the only wide receiver from Arkansas taken in the first three rounds of the common draft era was quarterback-turned-receiver Matt Jones in 2005. You must look all the way down to the fourth round and beyond to find the others.
As a true dual-threat quarterback with the Razorbacks, Jones threw for 5,857 yards and 53 touchdowns and rushed for 2,535 yards and 24 scores. Those passing marks are top-five in UA history, while his 77 total touchdowns are a school record. He also held the SEC record for rushing yards by a quarterback until he was passed by Tim Tebow.
The conversion to wide receiver came after he put on a performance at the NFL combine that earned him the nickname “The Freak,” as he ran the 40-yard dash in a blistering 4.37 seconds. That was enough for the Jaguars to make him a first-round pick. Jones enjoyed some professional success, catching 166 passes for 2,153 yards and 15 touchdowns in four seasons, but off-the-field issues ended his career prematurely.
Crowe’s first season at Arkansas was about as memorable as his final game, but Russell was a bright spot on the 3-8 team. As a senior, he nearly doubled the statistics from his first three years under Hatfield, catching 43 passes for 897 yards and 16 touchdowns. Russell’s name is still sprinkled throughout several top-10 lists in UA’s record book, as he finished his career with 91 receptions, 1,874 yards and 16 scores.
His productive senior season helped him get drafted and he enjoyed a seven-year career in the NFL. In four seasons with the Broncos and three with the Oilers, he caught 172 passes for 2,401 yards and eight touchdowns.
Adams was the highest drafted receiver during the Bobby Petrino era, taken ahead of Jarius Wright, Greg Childs and Cobi Hamilton. He ranks third in career receptions (164), fifth in career receiving yards (2,410) and is tied for sixth in career receiving touchdowns (17) in school history.
Unfortunately, Adams struggled with fumbles as a punt returner in his lone season with the Panthers. He caught just one pass for seven yards, carried the ball three times for 13 yards and returned 11 punts for 127 yards, fumbling four times.
Second team: Anthony Lucas (2000, No. 114, Packers) / Jarius Wright (2012, No. 118, Vikings) / Bobby Edmonds, Jr. (1986, No. 126, Seahawks)
Bonus: Arguably the top two professional wide receivers from Arkansas were picked before the common draft era. Lance Alworth was the eighth overall pick in 1962 and had a hall of fame career, with his five 200-yard games tied with Calvin Johnson for most in NFL history and his three consecutive seasons with at least 13 touchdown catches tied with Jerry Rice and Terrell Owens for the longest in NFL history. The other was Jim Benton, who went 11th overall in 1938. In an era long before the passing became prevalent, he had a 303-yard game in 1945. That stood as the single-game NFL record for 40 years.
OT – Ernest Ruple (1968, No. 36, Steelers) / Greg Koch (1977, No. 39, Packers)
Ruple and Koch each earned first-team All-SWC honors once during their career at Arkansas, but the latter had much more success in the NFL. Compared to the one season in which he played in 14 games for Ruple, Koch enjoyed an 11-year career in which he started 143 games. Most of his career was spent as the starting right tackle for the Packers, blocking beside former college teammate Leotis Harris.
Second team: Tony Ugoh (2007, No. 42, Colts) / Gerald Skinner (1977, No. 109, Patriots)
OG – Shawn Andrews (2004, No. 16, Eagles) / R.C. Thielemann (1977, No. 36, Falcons)
The honor of being the highest drafted offensive lineman in school history belongs Andrews, one of only four Razorbacks to be named a consensus All-American twice. He also won the Jacobs Blocking Trophy as the top offensive lineman in the SEC twice and the Jim Parker Trophy as the best offensive lineman in the country in 2003. Forgoing his senior year with the Razorbacks, Andrews started 57 games and was a two-time Pro Bowler in six NFL seasons before injuries caused him to retire.
Thielemann also had a successful NFL career, starting 148 games over 12 seasons with the Falcons and Redskins. He was the starting right guard on Washington’s Super Bowl XXII winning team. With the Razorbacks, he was a two-time first-team All-SWC selection.
Second team: Isaac Davis (1994, No. 43, Chargers) / Fred Childress (1989, No. 55, Bengals)
C – Frank Ragnow (2018, No. 20, Lions)
The most recent addition to this team, Ragnow became the first Arkansas player taken in the first round of the NFL Draft in 10 years last Thursday. In four seasons with the Razorbacks, he played 2,603 snaps and didn’t allow a single sack. Pro Football Focus named him the top offensive lineman in college football as a junior and he was the highest-graded center as a senior.
Despite missing the final five games of last season, he was still recognized as an All-American by the FWAA (second team) and Associated Press (third team).
Second team: Steve Korte (1983, No. 38, Saints)
K – Steve Little (1978, No. 15, St. Louis Cardinals)
Only one kicker – Princeton’s Charlie Gogolak in 1966 (No. 6) – has ever been drafted higher than Little, who is arguably the best kicker in UA history. He was a three-time first-team All-SWC selection and a two-time All-American, including picking up consensus honors as a senior in 1977. His 67-yard field goal against Texas that season is still tied for the longest in NCAA history. He also has four of the six longest field goals in school history and held the school record for career scoring by a kicker (280 points) until Zach Hocker broke it in 2012.
Little struggled at the professional level, though. He made only 13 of 27 (48.1 percent) field goals and 41 of 51 (80.4 percent) extra points. That led the Cardinals to release him just six games into his third season. Tragically, a few hours after his release, he was involved in a single car accident in which he broke his neck and left him a quadriplegic.
Second team: Bill McClard (1972, No. 61, Chargers)