List of 2012 NFL draft early entrants

This list of 2012 NFL draft early entrants consists of college football players who were juniors or redshirt sophomores and were declared eligible to be selected in the 2012 NFL draft. A college football player who completed high school at least three years prior can renounce his remaining NCAA eligibility and enter the draft. Players who met these requirements had until January 15, 2012, to declare their intention to forgo their remaining collegiate eligibility.^[1]

A total of 65 underclassmen were granted eligibility for the 2012 draft, eclipsing the previous record from 2011 of 56.^[2] In addition to these underclassmen, at least three players who were considered seniors opted not to pursue an additional season of college eligibility for which they may have been eligible.^[3][4]

Complete list of players

The following players were granted special eligibility to enter the 2012 draft:^[5]

Name	Position	School	Drafted by	Draft pos.
Alvester Alexander	RB	Wyoming	—	—
Dwayne Allen	DT	Clemson	Indianapolis Colts	64
Edwin Baker	RB	Michigan State	San Diego	250
Mike Ball	WR	Nevada	—	—
Jamison Berryhill	RB	Texas	—	—
Justin Blackmon[6]	WR	Oklahoma State	Jacksonville	5
Michael Brockers[a] [7]	DT	LSU	St. Louis	14
Bryce Brown	RB	Kansas State	Philadelphia	229
Vontaze Burfict[8]	LB	Arizona State	—	—
Orson Charles[9]	TE	Georgia	Cincinnati	116
Morris Claiborne[10]	CB	LSU	Dallas	6
Fletcher Cox[11]	DT	Mississippi State	Philadelphia	12
David DeCastro[12]	G	Stanford	Pittsburgh	24
Tiree Eure	TE	Minnesota	—	—
Marcus Forston[13]	DT	Miami	—	—
Stephon Gilmore[14]	CB	South Carolina	Buffalo	10
Chris Givens	WR	Wake Forest	St. Louis	96
Dorian Graham	WR	Syracuse	—	—
Robert Griffin III	QB	Baylor	Washington	2
Jewel Hampton	RB	Southern Illinois	—	—
Cliff Harris	CB	Oregon	—	—
Dont'a Hightower	LB	Alabama	New England	25
Stephen Hill[15]	WR	Georgia Tech	NY Jets	43
Ronnie Hillman[a] [16]	RB	San Diego State	Denver	67
Max Holloway	DE	Boston College	—	—
Jayron Hosley[17]	CB	Virginia Tech	NY Giants	94
Janzen Jackson	S	McNeese State	—	—
LaMichael James[18]	RB	Oregon	San Francisco	61
Alshon Jeffery[19]	WR	South Carolina	Chicago	45
Aldarius Johnson	WR	Miami	—	—
Damaris Johnson	WR	Tulsa	—	—
Chandler Jones[20]	DE	Syracuse	New England	21
Matt Kalil[21]	OT	USC	Minnesota	4
Dre Kirkpatrick[22]	CB	Alabama	Cincinnati Bengals	17
Peter Konz	C	Wisconsin	Atlanta	55
Luke Kuechly[23]	LB	Boston College	Carolina	9
Ronnell Lewis	LB	Oklahoma	Detroit	125
Andrew Luck[24]	QB	Stanford	Indianapolis	1
Terrell Manning[25]	LB	NC State	Green Bay	163
Jonathan Martin[26]	OT	Stanford	Miami	42
Bobby Massie[27]	OT	Ole Miss	Arizona	112
Whitney Mercilus[28]	DE	Illinois	Houston	26
Lamar Miller[a] [29]	RB	Miami	Miami	97
Brock Osweiler[30]	QB	Arizona State	Denver	57
Eric Page[31]	WR	Toledo	—	—
Donte Paige-Moss	DE	North Carolina	—	—
Nick Perry[32]	DE	USC	Green Bay	28
Bernard Pierce[33]	RB	Temple	Baltimore	84
Ken Plue	G	Purdue	—	—
Dontari Poe[34]	DT	Memphis	Kansas City	11
Chris Polk[b]	RB	Washington	—	—
Rueben Randle[35]	WR	LSU	NY Giants	63
Riley Reiff[36]	OT	Iowa	Detroit	23
Trent Richardson[22]	RB	Alabama	Cleveland	3
Josh Robinson[37]	CB	UCF	Minnesota	66
Mohamed Sanu[38]	WR	Rutgers	Cincinnati Bengals	83
Darrell Scott[39]	RB	USF	—	—
Tommy Streeter	WR	Miami	Baltimore	198
Darron Thomas[40]	QB	Oregon	—	—
Johnny Thomas	S	Oklahoma State	—	—
Phillip Thomas	S	Syracuse	—	—
Barrett Trotter	QB	Auburn	—	—
Robert Turbin[b] [41]	RB	Utah State	Seattle	106
Kenny Turner[b] [4]	RB	New Mexico State	—	—
Olivier Vernon[42]	DE	Miami	Miami	72
Brandon Washington[42]	G	Miami	Philadelphia	200
David Wilson[43]	RB	Virginia Tech	NY Giants	32
Jerel Worthy[44]	DT	Michigan State	Green Bay	51

Notes

^a This player is a third-year sophomore.^[3]
b This player in not technically an underclassman, but he has opted to forego an additional season of college eligibility.^[3]

Number of players granted special eligibility by year

Undergraduates admitted to the NFL draft each year:^[5]

Year	Number
2012	65
2011	56
2010	53
2009	46
2008	53
2007	40
2006	52
2005	51
2004	43
2003	47