By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – From Austin Wheatley in 2000 to Dane Belton last April, and the 79 players in between, the list of Iowa Hawkeyes that have been selected in the NFL draft under Kirk Ferentz is long, distinguished and will keep growing.

The number of Iowa players picked in the draft under Kirk Ferentz currently sits at 81, but it will certainly grow this week, beginning most likely on Thursday as third-year sophomore defensive lineman Lukas Van Ness is expected to be taken in the first round.

Van Ness would become the 12^th former Hawkeye under Kirk Ferentz to be selected in the first round, and the first non-starter.

He would also be the 16^th Iowa defensive linemen under Kirk Ferentz to be picked in the seven-round draft.

Iowa could have as many as five players selected in this year’s draft as linebacker Jack Campbell, tight end Sam LaPorta and defensive backs Riley Ross and Kaevon Merriweather all have a chance to be taken, especially Campbell, LaPorta and Moss.

“At the University of Iowa, we played in a really pro-style defense,” Van Ness said to steelersnow.com. “They’re really based on fundamentals, playing the game the right way, having a responsibility and executing your responsibility.”

Only six times under Kirk Ferentz has Iowa had two or fewer players picked in the NFL draft.

That included last year when center Tyler Linderbaum was picked in the first round by the Baltimore Ravens followed by Belton in the fourth round by the New York Giants.

But this was a case of quality over quantity as Linderbaum would go on to start as a rookie for Baltimore, while Belton also played a key role for the Giants as a defensive back.

Both players left Iowa with eligibility remaining, and since the 2018 NFL draft, Iowa has had nine players with eligibility remaining picked in the draft.

Kirk Ferentz’s NFL pipeline is one of his most impressive accomplishments as the Iowa head coach, and that’s saying a lot, considering Ferentz is the Big Ten’s fourth all-time winningest head coach.

There are some flaws to his pipeline, like for example only having four receivers, three quarterbacks and two running backs taken in the draft.

But the consistency in which Iowa has produced NFL draft picks under Kirk Ferentz is quite impressive.

The pipeline started with Wheatley, a former tight end who was recruited by Hayden Fry, being selected by the New Orleans Saints in the fifth round in 2000.

Tight end Dallas Clark was the first player under Kirk Ferentz to be selected in the first round as the Indianapolis Colts took the former walk-on with the 24^th pick overall in 2003.

Clark would go on to play 11 seasons in the NFL and helped the Colts win the Super Bowl to cap the 2006 season.

He also made first-team All-Pro in 2009 and finished his NFL career with 505 receptions for 5,665 yards and 53 touchdowns.

Clark is among a long list of former Iowa players under Kirk Ferentz that were picked in the NFL draft despite having been lightly recruited, or in Clark’s case, hardly recruited at all in high school.

Iowa’s current crop of draft prospects will add to that list as none of the five mentioned previously in this article were ranked higher than a 3-star recruit coming out of high school, and two of them were 2-star recruits.

Iowa has had 35 players under Kirk Ferentz selected in either the first, second or third rounds of the draft.

So often when a recruit commits to Iowa he will say that Kirk Ferentz’s success in producing NFL draft picks was a key factor in the decision.

Most players at the FBS level have a goal of playing in the NFL, and Kirk Ferentz can use that mindset to his advantage in recruiting.

Iowa falls short of being an elite program under Kirk Ferentz, but its NFL pipeline under Kirk Ferentz is close to being elite.

Iowa had 18 players selected in the draft, including three in the first round, during a three-year stretch from 2010 to 2012 as six were taken in each of the three drafts.

Iowa draft selections under Kirk Ferentz

By position

Offensive line: 19

Defensive backs: 17

Defensive line: 15

Tight end: 11

Linebackers: 9

Wide receiver: 4

Quarterback: 3

Running back: 2

Kickers: 1

By round

First round: 11

Second round: 10

Third round: 14

Fourth round: 14

Fifth round: 14

Sixth round: 11

Seventh round: 7