PHOENIX -- For the second straight year, the number 14 hovered over the Big 12 conference during its spring meetings.

Gone were questions and speculation about a 14-team league, a possible outcome of the Big 12's expansion inquiry, which was conducted last spring and summer. Instead, the league dealt with a number it could not augment: 14 draft picks.

The Big 12 produced 14 picks in last month's NFL draft, its lowest total since it formed in 1996. The league had 21 fewer picks than any other Power 5 conference. Even after adjusting for the number of conference members, the Big 12 (1.4 picks per school) averaged more than one pick less than any other Power 5 league team, including 2.39 picks per school less than the SEC, which led all conferences with 53 selections.

The league's previous low had been 17 picks in 2014. Yet in 2016, the Big 12 produced 26 selections, tied with the ACC, but with an average of 1.86 picks per school, it was better than the ACC's average of 1.73. The 26 picks were also nearly better than the Pac-12's 32 selections.

The reduced total, coming after the Big 12's second absence from the College Football Playoff in the event's three-year lifespan, spotlights potential vulnerabilities in the league. For the most part, though, Big 12 coaches aren't concerned.

"You have cycles. You have waves," Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury said. "We're obviously down when it comes to top, top prospects. We have good players, but maybe not the elite level that some of the other leagues have. I don't think it's panic mode yet."

West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen was more direct: "I don't think there's anything to worry about. I'm a little tired of [the media] making it a big deal."

Running back D'Onta Foreman, a third-round choice by the Houston Texans, was the only Texas Longhorn player selected in this year's NFL draft. James Gregg/Austin American-Statesman via AP

Several Big 12 coaches threw out their totals of undrafted free agents this year or overall NFL draft-pick production. Some pointed to the future and predicted bigger outputs.

Others looked at the draft as a whole and selection totals as misleading gauges on their program or their conference.

"It's not our job to be a farm league," new Texas coach Tom Herman said. "It's like I tell kids in recruiting. It doesn't matter if you play at a 1A high school or a 6A high school. If you're good enough to play at Texas, we'll find you. The same thing goes true for college. If you're good enough to play in the NFL, they're going find you. ... It's irrelevant what conference you played in. It's irrelevant what school you went to. It's, did God bless you with enough talent?"

Added TCU's Gary Patterson: "I don't go out and recruit saying, 'This guy, the only reason I'm going to take him is he fits the NFL model.'"

While it's easy to make a snap judgment on the Big 12's draft total, it's important to dissect the number. The Big 12 often fights the perception that its style of play -- particularly the prolific, fast-paced offenses around much of the league -- doesn't generate enough appealing NFL prospects.

A counter to the claim is Patrick Mahomes, the Texas Tech quarterback selected No. 10 overall. Kansas City traded up to pick Mahomes, who put up unfathomable numbers for the offensive-minded Red Raiders.

"That's the most unconventional offense in the country," said Holgorsen, who runs a related system. "You take a quarterback No. 10 out of that offense, it speaks volumes about that kid. He was the scariest player I've coached against in the last three years."

When Kingsbury talked with NFL coaches and scouts about Mahomes and former Texas Tech quarterback Davis Webb, a third-round pick, he "never heard any negative talk about our conference or the lack of prospects." NFL scouts evaluate players first, not teams or leagues, and while they notice trends in the Big 12, they don't see any competitive disadvantage for the league.

Still, the Big 12 shouldn't be worry-free after the draft. The league had only two linemen selected, in the sixth and seventh rounds. Patterson, while pointing out that TCU alone produced two offensive line draft picks in 2016 (the league had five), noted that the Big 12 recruiting footprint doesn't produce as many "big bodies" as other areas.

TCU recently broadened its recruiting strategy, and in February the Horned Frogs signed line-of-scrimmage players from Florida, Alaska, Washington and California. Next month, the school will participate in satellite camps in California.

Texas produced only one draft pick, running back D'Onta Foreman, for the second consecutive year. The Longhorns had five players selected in 2015 but none in 2014.

Asked if Texas' struggles are the problem for the Big 12, Herman replied, "A problem is that Texas needs to be good. It's not the problem. The conference is always better when Texas is winning a whole bunch of games."

The league also is better when it keeps its top homegrown players. Myles Garrett, the No. 1 overall pick in last month's draft, grew up in the heart of Big 12 territory in Arlington, Texas, but attended Texas A&M. The No. 3 and No. 6 picks, Solomon Thomas and Jamal Adams, also are from the Dallas-Fort Worth area but attended Stanford and LSU. The draft had 24 players from Texas, the fourth-highest total among states, but only seven played for Big 12 teams.

While recruiting rankings aren't fail-safe indicators, the Big 12 has had only one team among ESPN's top 20 classes the past two seasons.

If there is a concern among Big 12 coaches, albeit a small one, it's that the league's paltry draft output will be used against them on the trail.

"As a conference, they're going to say, 'If you want to go to the NFL, don't go to the Big 12,'" Kingsbury said. "But to me, it's cyclical, and next year, we should have 25 to 30 [selections]."

Such an increase is reasonable, and if certain programs make upgrades, the Big 12 won't be defending its future drafts. Texas returns 17 starters, almost all being draft-eligible in 2018. Baylor, which had only one player drafted this year but 13 selections from 2013 to 2015, brings in new coach Matt Rhule, whose Temple team had three players drafted in April.

"I know that we're going to have a lot of kids get drafted from Baylor in the years moving forward," Rhule said.

Rhule spent a year with the NFL's New York Giants, and most of his assistants have spent time in the NFL. His schemes and program structure resemble what he saw in the pros.

In scouting the Big 12, Rhule thinks the league "is about to hit a renaissance of talent."

"You see NFL players everywhere," he said. "Watching the kids at Oklahoma, seeing who they've recruited, and Oklahoma State, there's just a bunch of really good players.

"If the number was down this year, maybe it's going to be way up next year."