Charlie Strong Continues to Prove He Can Develop NFL Talent

Charlie Strong is once again proving his ability to send college football players to the next level.

The 2015 NFL combine is right around the corner, and Texas fans will have five players to watch during the four-day televised event. But the number of Longhorns invited is minuscule compared to the Louisville Cardinals.

Louisville will feature 11 former players competing in the NFL combine. Strong was responsible for recruiting 10 of those 11. Louisville's attendance ties with Alabama as the second-most combine participants in the country, behind only Florida State's 12 invites.

Strong prides himself on being a developer of young men, both on and off the football field. And his track record of molding athletes into future NFL talents is proof the head coach knows what he's doing. 

Strong coached 44 future NFL draft selections during his stints at Florida, Notre Dame, South Carolina and Louisville. The Longhorns head coach sent eight Cardinals to the NFL, including three first-round selections last year. The list will likely grow following the 2015 NFL draft.

Name	Position	High School Star Rating	Projected Draft Round
Dominique Brown	RB	4-star	5
Jamon Brown	OL	3-star	7-FA
Christian Gerald	TE	4-star	7-FA
BJ DuBose	DE	3-star	FA
Michael Dyer	RB	5-star	7-FA
Charles Gaines	WR	3-star	4-5
Gerrod Holliman	DB	4-star	3
Lorenzo Mauldin	DE	3-star	3
John Miller	OL	3-star	3
DeVante Parker	WR	3-star	1
James Sample	DB	3-star	6

Name	Position	High School Star Rating	Projected Draft Round
Malcom Brown	DT	5-star	1
Malcolm Brown	RB	5-star	6-7
Quandre Diggs	CB	4-star	5
Jordan Hicks	LB	5-star	4-5
Cedric Reed	DE	4-star	4

Strong wrapped up his first recruiting cycle at Texas last Wednesday when the Longhorns inked the No. 12 signing class in the nation. But recruiting pundits appear to have mixed emotions about Strong's class.

Rivals.com national recruiting director Mike Farrell focused on Texas' big misses on signing day, which ultimately dropped the Longhorns out of the top 10 for 2015. Across the Rivals network, Jason Suchomel of Orangebloods.com called Strong's first class "stellar" and focused on the staff's successful ability to sign some of the nation's elite talent following a losing season.

People will always have different opinions when it pertains to evaluating athletic talent. But one thing nobody can deny is that the Longhorns head coach has an innate ability for sending football players to the next level.

Strong has proved time and again that he knows how to turn college football players into NFL draft picks. But something that should not be ignored is his ability to find those underrated diamonds in the rough and develop them into professional athletes.

Seven of the Cardinals headed to this year's combine were members of Strong's first complete recruiting class at Louisville in 2011, which ranked No. 29 nationally. Six of the invitees were 3-star prospects with only a handful of college offers coming out of high school—a situation similar to the Cardinals in the 2014 NFL draft.

Chuck Burton/Associated Press

The prospect with the highest projected draft ranking is wide receiver DeVante Parker. A projected first-round selection by CBSSports.com, Parker is a former 3-star prospect who held only four college offers as a high school recruit. If Parker is selected in the first round, he will be Louisville's third 3-star recruit who Strong developed into a first-round draft pick in two consecutive years.

It's obvious star rankings do not always equal success in college football, and the Longhorns in the 2014 draft class are proof of this. Last year's draft-eligible Longhorns featured a number of former 4- and 5-star high school prospects, and all of them played a role in the disappointing draft.

The 2014 NFL draft was historic for both Louisville and Texas, but the Cardinals' moment was much more positive than the Longhorns'.

Louisville had only produced three first-round selections in the last 20 years but matched that number when Calvin Pryor, Marcus Smith and Teddy Bridgewater were called on the first day of the 2014 NFL draft. At the end of the three-day event, Louisville finished with four draft picks, while the Longhorns had zero, which ended a 75-year run of Texas players selected in the NFL draft.

Texas' draft drought will almost certainly end this May, and one could assume the number of Longhorns selected in future drafts will not be similar to 2014. 

If Louisville's draft success last year and the prospects in 2015 indicate anything, it's that Texas is headed in the right direction. It may not happen overnight, but the Longhorns will likely return to sending players to the next level on a yearly basis with Strong at the helm.

Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained firsthand.

Recruiting rankings via Rivals.com.

Taylor Gaspar is a Bleacher Report Featured Columnist covering the Texas Longhorns. Follow Taylor on Twitter: @Taylor_Gaspar.