But also ...
Seriously, nice list. And of course I'm elated to see another space-eating DT on the list - 6'3" 325# Brandon Williams of Missouri Southern. The more the merrier.
Well I didn't necessarily peg them as early rounders nor suggest them as Pats, just sharing more info.
Which begs the question. If true that BB favours bigger schools/conferences early, what's the cutoff?
If we say that the bigger conferences are:
SEC
Big 10
Big 12
Big East
ACC
PAC 12.
Looking at previous drafts and the earliest they've drafted anyone outside these conferences:
2012 - None
2011 - 5th Round (Marcus Cannon, Lee Smith)
2010 - 3rd round (Taylor Price)
2009 - 2nd Round (Sebastian Vollmer)
2008 - 3rd Round (Kevin O'Connell)
2007 - 5th Round (Clint Oldenburg)
2006 - 4th Round (Garrett Mills)
2005 - 1st Round (Fresno State)
2004 - None
2003 - 4th Round (Asante Samuel)
2002 - None
2001 - 4th Round (Kenyatta Jones)
So Mankins and Vollmer are the obvious exceptions, but whilst there's probably no hard and fast rule, it really looks like the third and fourth rounds are where BB will start to consider non big conference prospects.
It's pretty difficult to discern any obvious patterns to BB's drafting. Short of measurables, there's not a lot there. I think I saw that only about 10% of his draftees are underclassmen and the Patriots draft history is full of big conference teams so if, when doing a mock, one was to err on the side of caution, a big conference senior is a better bet than a smaller conference junior.
One more possiblity. The Pats took a prospect from the Nick Saban led Michigan State in 2000 and 2001. Between 2002-4, the Pats took three prospects from the Nick Saban led LSU and have now taken two prospects from the Nick Saban led Alabama. Here's hoping Barrett Jones or Jesse Williams continue that trend.