While there won’t be a traditional NFL Scouting Combine this year the tradition of scores of Buckeyes being part of the combine remains uninterrupted as it was announced that 14 recent Ohio State players have been “invited” to the annual event, one of the first major stops on the path that goes between being a college star and a professional player.
Normally all of these players would spend a staggered four days in Indianapolis for rounds of medical and physical testing along with interviews with many or all of the NFL teams who are looking to better their rosters by way of the upcoming draft.
Not every player that goes to the combine is drafted but it is generally a pretty good indication of who is seriously being looked at. Conversely, not getting invited to the combine does not end an NFL dream either as players who do not get an invite do find their way into the seven-round draft, slated to be in Cleveland this year in a couple of months.
With the changes to the combine schedule this year, some players will have their medical tests done close to their home or will travel to several host cities where a full battery of physical tests will be performed as teams consider spending millions of dollars on draft classes.
Last year the Buckeyes had 11 players invited to the combine, and this will be the fourth year in a row that Ohio State has had double-digit invitees to the event, dating back to the 2017 combine where the Buckeyes only had eight players invited. Strangely enough, eight was still good for the second most out of any schools across the nation (Michigan – 14) and that class included the likes of Marshon Lattimore, Curtis Samuel, Malik Hooker, Pat Elflein, Cam Johnson, Raekwon McMillan, Gareon Conley and Noah Brown. If you look at that list of players, you will see a lot of players who are still in the league and contributing at a high level.
When it comes to going through actual football drills, that will have to wait until Ohio State’s Pro Day which is slated to take place on March 30th at the WHAC.
The 2021 draft is scheduled to take place between April 29th through May 1st. Keep it locked in here at BuckeyeGrove as we will have plenty of coverage leading up to the upcoming draft.
