By Ed McGranahan.

Occasionally somebody offers an opinion that makes you pause and think. Even if you aren’t generally fond of the person’s point of view, it’s worth a few minutes.

Mel Kiper Jr., the ESPN analyst who parlayed a boutique business as a self-promoting football talent expert into an empire, published a list of college teams with the most NFL talent.

“These teams are ranked based on players who would be given an NFL draft grade right now, based on my grades, and where they stand among NFL evaluators,” Kiper wrote. “This list omits freshmen except for exceptional cases. Jadeveon Clowney, for instance, might have been accounted for last year, because had he been eligible, he’s one of the rare freshmen who would have been considered capable of making an NFL team.

“In some cases, a final audit on the rosters in the years to come could show more players drafted, but this is where we stand.”

The top 10 shouldn’t be surprising, though the order is interesting: LSU, Georgia, Southern Cal, FSU, Alabama, Ohio State, Stanford, Texas, Oklahoma and Michigan. Georgia fans are at once excited and angry, but Georgia always has more underachieving talent than anybody.

Other than Stanford, these are programs, though occasionally interrupted, with traditions of excellence of two generations or more. Only Stanford might be curious to some in the Southeast. Few schools have produced more NFL quarterbacks and NFL head coaches over the past 30 years.

We digress.

Kiper’s next dozen was led by Clemson.

“These are schools with a good amount of NFL talent but that fall outside of the top list. Because so many of them are in a virtual tie (seven of these schools came in with 13 current prospects), I grouped them together.”

Sammy Watkins and Stephone Anthony were the only players he mentioned. There isn’t a list, though further research on his ESPN site reveals a couple of names.

Andre Ellington was No. 4 at running back in his list of top five senior players by position. Chandler Catanzaro was the No. 5 kicker on the list of juniors. No other Clemson players were mentioned, not even in the accompanying “just missed” lists.

So who are the other 11?

Consider the facts. Most of the players on the roster are underclassmen, which mean they would not appear on any list of top seniors and juniors. Many from Dabo Swinney’s back-to-back top 10 recruiting classes in 2011 and 2012, like sophomores Watkins and Anthony, are already key critical to the team’s immediate future.

There are a few upperclassmen that may yet crash Kiper’s lists during the season. Dalton Freeman, Brandon Ford, Rashard Hall, Jonathan Meeks and Malliciah Goodman are senior candidates.

By tapping into the draft base provided by The NFL Draft Scout Xchange, here are some names. Among seniors, Ellington was the nation’s No. 4 back, Freeman the No. 5 center, Goodman No. 6 defensive end, Hall No. 8 free safety, Meeks No. 19 strong safety and Ford No. 25 tight end.

Staying within the top 25 juniors – the class of 2014 – Catanzaro is No. 2 at kicker, Brandon Thomas No.9 guard, Tajh Boyd No. 10 quarterback, Nuke Hopkins No.13 receiver, Spencer Shuey No. 22 inside linebacker and Quandon Christian No. 25 at outside linebacker.

Same criteria, class of 2015: Watkins No. 1 receiver, Anthony No. 3 inside linebacker, Corey Crawford No. 22 defensive end and Charone Peake No. 22 receiver.

That’s 16.