Early Entry-Final Tally

The deadline for college football players with eligibility remaining to declare for the 2019 NFL Draft was Monday. Yesterday, the NFL released the "official" list of players that were granted special eligibility for the draft. It's a very long list.

From NFL.com:

The players granted special eligibility for the 2019 NFL Draft:

» Ed Alexander, DT, LSU
» Jeff Allison, LB, Fresno State
» JJ Arcega-Whiteside, WR, Stanford
» Mike Bell, S, Fresno State
» Amani Bledsoe, DE, Oklahoma
» Nick Bosa, DE, Ohio State
» Miles Boykin, WR, Notre Dame
» A.J. Brown, WR, Ole Miss
» Marquise Brown, WR, Oklahoma
» Sean Bunting, CB, Central Michigan
» Brian Burns, DE, Florida State
» Devin Bush, LB, Michigan
» Hamp Cheevers, CB, Boston College
» Damarea Crockett, RB, Missouri
» Maxx Crosby, DE, Eastern Michigan
» Tyrel Dodson, LB, Texas A&M
» Greg Dortch, WR, Wake Forest
» Clifton Duck, CB, Appalachian State
» Jovon Durante, WR, Florida Atlantic
» David Edwards, OT, Wisconsin
» Bobby Evans, OT, Oklahoma
» Datryan Evans, TE, Friends
» Noah Fant, TE, Iowa
» Jazz Ferguson, WR, Northwestern State
» Malik Gant, DB, Marshall
» Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, S, Florida
» Rashan Gary, DL, Michigan
» Zach Gentry, TE, Michigan
» Kevin Givens, DT, Penn State
» Jalen Guyton, WR, North Texas
» Mecole Hardman, WR, Georgia
» Kelvin Harmon, WR, N.C. State
» N'Keal Harry, WR, Arizona State
» Dwayne Haskins, QB, Ohio State
» Darrell Henderson, RB, Memphis
» Nate Herbig, OG, Stanford
» Justice Hill, RB, Oklahoma State
» Trysten Hill, DT, Central Florida
» T.J. Hockenson, TE, Iowa
» Joshuwa Holloman, RB, Eastern Michigan
» Elijah Holyfield, RB, Georgia
» Travis Homer, RB, Miami
» Amani Hooker, DB, Iowa
» Lil'Jordan Humphrey, WR, Texas
» Joe Jackson, DE, Miami
» Josh Jacobs, RB, Alabama
» Andre James, OT, UCLA
» Darryl Johnson, DE, North Carolina A&T
» Diontae Johnson, WR, Toledo
» Tyron Johnson, WR, Oklahoma State
» Michael Jordan, OG, Ohio State
» Vosean Joseph, LB, Florida
» Tre Lamar, LB, Clemson
» Dexter Lawrence, DT, Clemson
» Justin Layne, CB, Michigan State
» Greg Little, OT, Ole Miss
» David Long, CB, Michigan
» Julian Love, CB, Notre Dame
» Alize Mack, TE, Notre Dame
» Alexander Mattison, RB, Boise State
» Connor McGovern, OL, Penn State
» D.K. Metcalf, WR, Ole Miss
» Shareef Miller, DE, Penn State
» Dillon Mitchell, WR, Oregon
» David Montgomery, Rb, Iowa State
» Trayvon Mullen, DB, Clemson
» Byron Murphy, CB, Washington
» Kyler Murray, QB, Oklahoma
» Isaac Nauta, TE, Georgia
» Chidi Okeke, OT, Tennessee State
» Ed Oliver, DT, Houston
» Jachai Polite, DE, Florida
» Ryan Pulley, CB, Arkansas
» Taylor Rapp, S, Washington
» Riley Ridley, WR, Georgia
» Tyler Roemer, OT, San Diego State
» Miles Sanders, RB, Penn State
» Jordan Scarlett, RB, Florida
» Kendall Sheffield, DB, Ohio State
» Jeffery Simmons, DT, Mississippi State
» Devin Singletary, RB, Florida Atlantic
» Darius Slayton, WR, Auburn
» Irv Smith, TE, Alabama
» Kaden Smith, TE, Stanford
» Savion Smith, DB, Alabama
» Benny Snell, RB, Kentucky
» Dredrick Snelson, WR, Central Florida
» Jace Sternberger, TE, Texas A&M
» Jawaan Taylor, OT, Florida
» Darwin Thompson, RB, Utah State
» John Ursua, WR, Hawaii
» Kahale Warring, TE, San Diego State
» Mike Weber, RB, Ohio State
» Antoine Wesley, WR, Texas Tech
» Devin White, LB, LSU
» Kerrith Whyte Jr., RB, Florida Atlantic
» Greedy Williams, CB, LSU
» James Williams, RB, Washington State
» Joejuan Williams, CB, Vanderbilt
» Preston Williams, WR, Colorado State
» Quinnen Williams, DT, Alabama
» Trayveon Williams, RB, Texas A&M
» Mack Wilson, LB, Alabama

The following 32 players have in timely fashion under NFL rules officially notified the league office that they have fulfilled their degree requirements. Consequently, they are eligible for selection:

» Rodney Anderson, RB, Oklahoma 
» Alex Barnes, RB, Kansas State 
» Ryan Bates, OT, Penn State 
» Venzell Boulware, OL, Miami 
» Hakeem Butler, WR, Iowa State 
» Xavier Crawford, CB, Central Michigan 
» Jamel Dean, CB, Auburn 
» Clelin Ferrell, DL, Clemson 
» Cody Ford, OL, Oklahoma 
» Youhanna Ghaifan, DT, Wyoming 
» Joe Giles-Harris, LB, Duke 
» Penny Hart, WR, Georgia State 
» Tyree Jackson, QB, Buffalo 
» Daniel Jones, QB, Duke 
» Dre'Mont Jones, DL, Ohio State 
» Dawson Knox, TE, Ole Miss 
» David Long, LB, West Virginia 
» Erik McCoy, OL, Texas A&M 
» Jakobi Meyers, WR, N.C. State 
» Anthony Nelson, DE, Iowa 
» Tony Pollard, RB, Memphis 
» Anthony Ratliff-Williams, WR, North Carolina 
» Dax Raymond, TE, Utah State 
» Quart'e Sapp, LB, Tennessee 
» Cortrelle Simpson, WR, Richmond 
» Sutton Smith, DE, Northern Illinois 
» Jarrett Stidham, QB, Auburn 
» William Sweet, OT, North Carolina 
» Josiah Tauaefa, LB, UTSA 
» Deionte Thompson, S, Alabama 
» Jonah Williams, OT, Alabama 
» Caleb Wilson, TE, UCLA

The 135 college players granted special eligibility is an all-time high.

Here are the numbers for the last five years.

2019: 135/32-of which have graduated
2018: 119/13
2017: 103/8
2016: 107/11
2015: 84/10

Personally, I think that a football player that has earned his degree isn't actually leaving college early. Even if he's leaving with eligibility remaining he's leaving college with his degree. That sounds pretty complete to me. In my view, last year's total of 106 tops this year's total of 103.

No matter how you look at it, football players are leaving the comforts of college at an increasing rate.

It's really cool that the number that's really jumped this year is the number of players that have graduated before leaving "early." This year could be an outlier but I hope that it becomes a trend.