DALLAS – For the second consecutive season, the American Athletic Conference enjoyed its most productive NFL Draft as 18 players from The American were selected by NFL clubs in the 2018 draft at AT&T Stadium.
 
The American's haul surpasses the 15 players from the conference who were taken in the 2017 draft. The 2018 total ranks sixth among all college football conferences.
 
UCF cornerback Mike Hughes was chosen by the Minnesota Vikings with the 30th pick this year giving the American Athletic Conference its 10th first-round selection since the league's inception in the 2013 season.
 
Hughes' first-round selection marks the fifth time in as many years that The American has had at least one player chosen in the first round of the draft.
 
SMU's Courtland Sutton was The American's lone pick in the second round as the Mustang wide receiver went to the Denver Broncos with the 40th overall selection.
 
Memphis wide receiver Anthony Miller was the first of four selections for The American in the third round when he was tabbed by the Chicago Bears with the 51st pick. The American had consecutive selections in the third round as USF defensive tackle Deadrin Senat went to the Atlanta Falcons at 90th overall and UCF reciever Tre'Quan Smith was taken by the New Orleans Saints one spot later. The Knights' third pick of the first two days was tight end Jordan Akins, who went 98th overall to the Houston Texans.
 
The unquestioned highlight of the draft came in the fifth round, when UCF linebacker Shaquem Griffin was chosen by the Seattle Seahawks, where he will join his twin brother Shaquill, himself a third-round pick of the Seahawks last year. Griffin, whose path to becoming the 2016 American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year and an All-America selection in 2017 was well-documented, became the fourth player from UCF taken in the 2018 draft.
 
UCF led a group of six American Athletic Conference schools with multiple draft picks in 2018. SMU had three players chosen, while Memphis, USF, Temple and Tulane all had two players taken. It is the first time that The American has had six schools with at least two selections.

 
American Athletic Conference Players Chosen in the 2018 NFL Draft
 

Round	Overall	Player	Pos	School	NFL Team
1	30	Mike Hughes	CB		Minnesota
2	40	Courtland Sutton	WR		Denver
3	51	Anthony Miller	WR		Chicago
3	90	Deadrin Senat	DT		Atlanta
3	91	Tre'Quan Smith	WR		New Orleans
3	98	Jordan Akins	TE		Houston
5	141	Shaquem Griffin	OLB		Seattle
5	150	Genard Avery	ILB		Cleveland
5	174	Marquez Valdes-Scantling	WR		Green Bay
6	179	Parry Nickerson	CB		New York Jets
6	180	Folorunso Fatukasi	DL		New York Jets
6	186	Jacob Martin	OLB		Seattle
6	218	Ade Aruna	DE		Minnesota
7	221	Matthew Adams	ILB		Indianapolis
7	223	Julian Taylor	DT		San Francisco
7	244	Justin Lawler	DE		Los Angeles Rams
7	254	Korey Cunningham	OT		Arizona
7	256	Trey Quinn	WR		Washington