Will Gaziano keep Northwestern's NFL Draft streak alive?

It looks like Northwestern's NFL Draft streak will fall on the broad shoulders of Joe Gaziano.

The All-Big Ten defensive end and all-time sack leader is the only Wildcat with a realistic chance to be selected in the 2020 NFL Draft that runs from Thursday through Saturday. Most project the 6-foot-4, 282-pounder to be a sixth- or seventh-round pick, or possibly an undrafted free agent.

If Gaziano is selected -- most likely on Saturday, when Rounds 4-7 are conducted -- it will be the sixth straight year a Wildcat player is drafted. That's the longest since a seven-year streak that stretched from 1997-2003 and included members of Northwestern's last three Big Ten championship teams, in 1995, 1996 and 2000.

The other Wildcats who are eligible to be drafted this year but aren't expected to hear their names called are defensive tackle Alex Miller and center Jared Thomas.

A total of eight Wildcats have been selected in each of the last five drafts, from 2015, when safety Ibraheim Campbell and quarterback Trevor Siemian were picked, to last year, when quarterback Clayton Thorson came off the board.

The current five-year streak is one indicator of a rise in the talent level in recent years under head coach Pat Fitzgerald. After getting the head coaching job in the summer of 2006, Fitzgerald saw three players drafted in 2006 (Barry Cofield, Zach Strief and current linebackers coach Tim McGarigle) and again in 2010 (Corey Wootton, Mike Kafka and Sherrick McManis). But he didn't have one of his own recruited players drafted until 2012, when Drake Dunsmore and Jeremy Ebert were both selected in the seventh and final round.

There was then a three-year lull without any Wildcat picked until this streak started in 2015.

Six may not seem like a very long streak compared to other programs, but it's certainly a step in the right direction for the Wildcats. Recruits, who are virtually all dreaming of an NFL career, pay attention to how many players get drafted from a program, especially at their position. So getting players drafted on an annual basis is a big positive when talking to prospects in their living rooms or, lately, on a Zoom call.

Northwestern's streak is nowhere near the longest in school history, however. Incredibly, the Wildcats had at least one player selected in every draft from the first one in 1936 all the way to 1970, a span of 34 years. That string isn't likely to be snapped anytime soon.

How did NU build such a prolific streak? There were many more rounds in the draft until recently, giving players more chances to be selected. There were nine rounds in that first draft in 1936, but it went up to 20 just three years later. It eventually reached a high of 30 rounds for most of the '40s and '50s before whittling back down to 20 in 1960. It was reduced to 12 rounds in 1977, then eight in 1993, and the current seven in 1994.

For the record, Northwestern has had eight first-round draft picks in its history: