Noah Fant will likely become the eighth first rounder in Kirk’s tenure with the Iowa football team. Here’s where the previous seven are today.
When junior tight end Noah Fant announced his intentions to head to the NFL, it made a ton of sense considering he is all but a lock to be drafted in the first round. When that inevitably happens, he will become the eighth former Iowa football player in the Kirk Ferentz era to hear his name called in the first round of the NFL Draft.
In the history of the Iowa football program, there have been twenty players selected in the first round (36th best among all college football programs) and seven of those have come in the last twenty years under Kirk Ferentz.
Fant’s selection will place him in the company of some of the all-time greats in Hawkeye history. Among the seven first rounders since 2001, there has been one All-Pro, five Pro Bowl selections, and 44 combined seasons as starters. Additionally, he will join Iowa football legend and our top tight end in the Kirk Ferentz era as the second tight end in the history of the program to be selected in the first round.
While we do not know how Fant’s career will turn out, we do have a pretty good idea what the other seven did in their NFL career as well as what they are up today. Let’s take a look.