New England Patriots: Roster broken down by college and conference

The New England Patriots’ 2020 roster is extremely diverse when it comes to collegiate athletic programs represented by the current players.

While there’s still plenty of time for the New England Patriots roster to transform between now and the official start of the regular season in September, it’s worth taking a deeper look at how it’s currently constructed — especially since free agency and the draft are both firmly in the rear-view mirror at this point.

Of the current players on the roster, this is how everything breaks down by college and conference:

• All five “Power Five” conferences are represented, but only four of the five “Group of Five” conferences are represented — the Patriots don’t have any players on their active roster from Sun Belt Conference schools.

Among the “Power Five” conferences:

• The conference with the highest representation is the Southeastern Conference (SEC), which has 25 players on the Patriots roster.
• The conference with the second-highest representation is the Big Ten Conference, which has 20 players on the roster.
• The conference with the third-highest representation is the Pac-12 Conference, which has 12 players on the roster.
• The conference with the second-lowest representation is the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), which has 10 players on the roster.
• The conference with the lowest representation is the Big 12 Conference, which has just five players on the roster.

Among the “Group of Five” conferences:

• Conference USA has the highest representation on the Patriots roster with four players.
• The American Athletic Conference (AAC) and Mountain West Conference each have three players represented on the roster.
• The Mid-American Conference (MAC) has just one player represented on the roster.

Concerning the Southeastern Conference (SEC):

• 12 of 14 member schools are represented — only Florida and Kentucky do not have alumni on the roster.
• Auburn has the most players on the roster currently with five (Jarrett Stidham, Jonathan Jones, Brandon King, Nick Coe, Will Hastings).
• Alabama (Dont’a Hightower, Anfernee Jennings, Damien Harris), Georgia (Isaiah Wynn, Sony Michel, David Andrews), and Arkansas (Hjalte Froholdt, Deatrich Wise Jr., and DeJon Harris) are next with three players apiece.
• Ole Miss (Branden Bolden, Quincy Adeboyejo), South Carolina (Stephon Gilmore, Damiere Byrd), and Vanderbilt (Adam Butler, Joejuan Williams) are the only other schools with multiple players on the roster with two each.

Concerning the Big Ten Conference:

• 10 of 14 member schools are represented — Indiana, Penn State, Iowa, and Minnesota do not have alumni on the roster.
• Rutgers (Devin McCourty, Jason McCourty, Mohamed Sanu Sr.), Michigan (Michael Onwenu, Chase Winovich, Josh Uche), and Michigan State (Brian Hoyer, Brian Lewerke, Shilique Calhoun) are tied for the most players on the roster with three apiece.
• Wisconsin (James White, Beau Allen), Ohio State (John Simon, Rashod Berry), and Maryland (Byron Cowart, J.C. Jackson) are the only other schools with multiple players on the roster with two each.

Concerning the Pac-12 Conference:

• 8 of 12 member schools are represented — Washington State, Utah, California, and Oregon State do not have alumni on the roster.
• UCLA has the most players on the roster currently with four (Matthew Slater, Devin Asiasi, Najee Toran, Adarius Pickett).
• Arizona State (Lawrence Guy, N’Keal Harry) is the only other school with multiple players on the roster with two.

Concerning the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC):

• 8 of 15 member schools are represented — Clemson, Louisville, Notre Dame, Duke, UNC, Virginia, and Pittsburgh do not have alumni on the roster.
• NC State (Jakobi Meyers, Joe Thuney) and Florida State (Terrence Brooks, Ryan Izzo) are the only schools with multiple players on the roster with two each.

Concerning the Big 12 Conference:

• 5 of 10 member schools are represented — Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, and Oklahoma do not have alumni on the roster.
• No school has more than one player on the roster.

Overall, Auburn (5) and UCLA (4) have the most players on the Patriots roster

While it wasn’t surprising to see that certain schools weren’t represented on New England’s roster, other colleges seemed conspicuously absent.

For example, it was wild to realize that the Patriots don’t have any former players from Clemson, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Penn State, or Florida — all five of which are considered to be blue-blood, traditional powerhouses in college football.

Anyone who has closely followed the Patriots and their leader Bill Belichick over the years probably wasn’t surprised to see such good representation from colleges like Alabama, Michigan, Rutgers, Georgia, UCLA, and Arkansas. Belichick and/or members of his staff have coaching ties to all of those programs.

It’s a bit more of a surprise to see Auburn at the top of the representation list. While the Tigers are certainly a powerhouse program and traditional force in college football, Belichick doesn’t have quite the same level of ties with that school as he does all the other ones listed above.

The Patriots’ top draft pick this year, Kyle Dugger, hails from Division-II’s Lenoir-Rhyne. Dugger becomes the sixth player on New England’s current roster to represent an FCS program, for those who are curious.