​When the Tennessee Titans chose Texas linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. in the second round of the 2026 NFL Draft, it signified two things at once. First, it marked the arrival of a consensus five-star recruit and one of the premier middle linebackers in the country. Second, it continued the franchise’s longest-running and most influential draft connection, a lineage that stretches back to the Oilers and remains a defining thread through Titans history.
Since Bud Adams took control of the Houston Oilers in 1960, the Titans/Oilers have drafted 23 players from Texas, more than any other school in the franchise’s history. The next closest schools have produced 16 draft picks, notably Penn State and Auburn, underscoring a persistent Texas-as-funnel pattern that has persisted from the Oilers’ earliest days in the AFL draft era to some of the franchise’s most memorable drafting chapters. The Texans were not merely a matter of volume for the Oilers; Texas repeatedly yielded premium picks, including five first-round selections.
No single Texas pick loomed larger than Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Earl Campbell. In a historic trade, Houston sent tight end Jimmie Giles, along with a first-round pick, a second-round pick, and two future selections to Tampa Bay in exchange for the No. 1 overall pick in the 1978 draft. Campbell, a Heisman Trophy winner from Texas, knew exactly where he was headed. In a 2025 interview with The Tennessean, he recalled calling Oilers coach Bum Phillips, who told him, “Congratulations, we’re drafting you, and we’d like to see what day we can get you a ticket to come down here.” Campbell’s impact was immediate: he earned AP Rookie of the Year honors in 1978 and went on to captivate the league as the NFL MVP in 1979.
The franchise briefly returned to Texas for a top-three selection in 2006, reinforcing the long-standing Texas connection. Before the draft, Adams publicly expressed strong admiration for Young, a sentiment widely reported and debated within Titans circles. Former Titans coach Jeff Fisher later revealed at a Bears press conference that Young ranked behind Vanderbilt’s Jay Cutler and USC’s Matt Leinart on his draft board, illustrating the friction between Adams and Fisher over the choice. Young’s selection would become one of the most scrutinized decisions in franchise history, precisely because of the overlapping tensions between ownership and coaching leadership.
After selecting defensive back Michael Griffin in 2007, the Titans would go 17 years without drafting another Texas player. That streak ended with the 2024 selection of former Titans defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat, followed by tight end Gunnar Helm in 2025, and linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. in 2026. Sweat was moved in the offseason, but Helm and Hill continued the Texas pipeline, underscoring a championship-era pattern of Texas talent anchoring the franchise’s rosters across generations.
This arc has been documented as part of the Titans’ long-running draft pipeline from the state of Texas, a thread that began with Earl Campbell and evolved into a steady stream of Texans who fit the franchise’s culture, scheme, and competitive ambitions. The story of how Texas became Tennessee Titans’ NFL draft pipeline is not merely about numbers; it’s about the enduring relationship between a Texas talent pool and a franchise that has repeatedly recognized, valued, and invested in Longhorns who could contribute at a high level in the NFL.