These Division 3 Football Players Are In The NFL Today
There are plenty of talented DIII players that are worthy enough of making the NFL. In this year’s draft, only one Division 3 player was drafted by an NFL team. Saint John’s Minnesota Offensive Tackle Ben Bartch was drafted in the 4th round with the 116th pick overall by the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Check out NFL Draft Diamonds Top 5 players in the 2021 NFL Draft from Division 3
At the start of last season there were 11 Division III players on rosters/practice squads. Here are the 11 players in no particular order:
- Stephen Hauschka, K, Middlebury College
- Derek Carrier, TE, Beloit College
- Nicholas Morrow, LB, Greenville University
- Jake Kumerow, WR, Wisconsin Whitewater
- Matt Gono, OT, Wesley College
- Ali Marpet, OG, Hobart College
- Jeremy Vujnovich, OT, Louisiana College
- Brandon Zylstra, WR, Concordia-Moorhead
- Michael Joseph, CB, University of Dubuque
- Nate Trewyn, C, Wisconsin-Whitewater
- Dan Arnold, TE, Wisconsin-Platteville
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Guard Ali Marpet sticks out to me the most here on the list. He was the highest ever Division III player drafted when he was drafted by the Buccaneers in 2015 in the 2nd round 61st overall. At the NFL Scouting combine his senior year, Marpet ran the fastest 40-yard dash time of Offensive Line prospects at 4.98.
In 2018 Marpet signed a five-year, $55.125 million dollar contract extension making him at the time one of the highest payed offensive guards in the league. In 2019 Marpet was voted a team captain for the second straight season.
Marpet is proof to all Division III players that it is possible to make a name for yourself in the NFL.
NFL Draft Diamonds was created to assist the underdogs playing the sport. We call them diamonds in the rough. My name is Damond Talbot, I have worked extremely hard to help hundreds of small school players over the past several years, and will continue my mission. We have several contributors on this site, and if they contribute their name and contact will be in the piece above. You can email me at nfldraftdiamonds@gmail.com