Texas A&M has 9 NFL combine invites to Big 12’s 18, but on-field results may vary

Texas A&M does have a sizable advantage over any Big 12 school when it comes to players earning invitations to the NFL Scouting Combine this year, as The Dallas Morning News noted in a article Monday.

TCU athletic director Chris Del Conte did want to point out something, however.

Kansas State took a 33-28 victory ovre Texas A&M, led by former Oklahoma quarterback Trevor Knight. The Big 12 finished the postseason with a 4-2 bowl record, second in winning percentage to the Atlantic Coast Conference’s 8-3 mark.

The Big 12 was 2-1 against the vaunted Southeastern Conference: K-State’s win over the Aggies and Oklahoma’s 35-19 Sugar Bowl victory over Auburn offset by TCU’s 31-23 loss to Georgia in the Liberty Bowl.

The 10-team Big 12 has the fewest combine invitees of any Power 5 league with 18. The SEC lords over all with 66.

Via ESPN’s Cole Cubelic, Texas A&M had nine invites, half of the Big 12 total and topped by No. 1 pick favorite Myles Garrett, from Arlington Martin.

The Big 12 breakdown: West Virginia five, Baylor three, OU three, Oklahoma State two, TCU two and Texas, Texas Tech and Kansas State one each.

TCU’s invitees are defensive end Josh Carraway and offensive tackle Aviante Collins.

Last year TCU had six: Quarterback Trevone Boykin, wide receiver Josh Doctson, safety Derrick Kindred, wide receiver Kolby Listenbee, place-kicker Jaden Oberkrom and offensive tackle Halapoulivaati Vaitai.

This year, league champion Oklahoma had only three: running back Samaje Perine, wide receiver Dede Westbrook and defensive lineman Charles Walker. Running back Joe Mixon was not invited, his draft status clouded after the release of video that shows him punching a woman in the face in a July 2014 incident.

But the Big 12 is going to lose any argument trying to measure individual talent in the Power 5 conferences.

▪ The conference could be shut out of the first round of the NFL Draft for the first time in its history.

▪ Of conferences represented on the Super Bowl rosters, via CBSsports.com, the Big 12 was sixth with seven. The SEC had 25; the American Athletic Conference was sixth had nine.

▪ The Big 12 hasn’t signed an ESPN five-star-rated recruit since Aledo’s Johnathan Gray signed with Texas in 2012. Other recruiting web-publishers list five-stars who signed with Big 12 schools last year.

▪ Of the three Texans — Myles Garrett, Jamal Adams and Solomon Thomas — picked in many NFL mock drafts to be selected in the top 10, none went to a Big 12 school. Garrett played for A&M; Adams, from Hebron, for LSU; and Thomas, from Coppell, for Stanford.

This story was originally published February 14, 2017 at 12:13 AM with the headline "Texas A&M has 9 NFL combine invites to Big 12’s 18, but on-field results may vary."