The NFL Draft is in the books and people are already starting to look at what might be in store for the 2020 draft. Before we look ahead, we are taking a look back at a draft that saw nine different Buckeyes have their names called during the three-day event in Nashville.
There were plenty of surprises throughout the 250-plus picks that saw Dwayne Haskins slide a little further than expected along with some emotional moments for former Buckeyes who are oh-so-close to realizing their dreams of making NFL rosters and playing on Sundays.
Now that the dust has settled, the set is being broken down and the city of Nashville returns to work, we look at some numbers from the draft and through Ohio State draft history to put things in perspective.
Before we get started, for those who missed the draft, here is how Ohio State fared.
3: Number of times in the last four years that the first Big Ten player off the board was a Buckeyes player (Nick Bosa, Marshon Lattimore, Joey Bosa). For a little historical perspective, the last time that the Buckeyes had the first player taken off the board ahead of the rest of the conference was the 2006 draft when A.J. Hawk was taken No. 5 overall by Green Bay. The time before that? It was 1999 when David Boston went No. 8 overall to Arizona.
6: The number of times that Michigan has had its first player come off the board before Ohio State had its first player come off the board since the year 2000. The Wolverines have not had their first player drafted before Ohio State has since the 2014 season when Taylor Lewan went No. 11 overall, only a few spots ahead of Ryan Shazier going No. 15 overall to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Buckeyes still came out better in that draft with six overall draft picks to Michigan’s three.
13: The number of times since the 2000 draft that the Buckeyes have had a first-round pick selected. In those 13 years, the Buckeyes have had two or more drafted in the first round 10 times. With players like Chase Young, Jeffrey Okudah and others ready for the 2020 draft, expect this number to grow.
19: The number of wide receivers drafted from Ohio State since the year 2000. Many people want to think of Ohio State only as DBU (a point that will be debated by several other schools) but the Buckeyes have been quite prolific in sending receivers on to the next level. Parris Campbell and Terry McLaurin will be joining a league that includes the likes of Michael Thomas, Curtis Samuel, Ted Ginn and Noah Brown. Even former receivers drafted go on to do other things like be a wide receivers coach at Ohio State (Brian Hartline) or a United States Congressman (Anthony Gonzalez).
21: The number of consecutive years that at least one Ohio State player has been drafted. 1998 was the last season that Ohio State did not have a player drafted and that came on the heels of the 1997 draft when Orlando Pace was taken No. 1 overall by the St. Louis Rams. The 1999 draft saw the Buckeyes back in familiar territory with eight players drafted including three in the first round with David Boston, Antoine Winfield and Andy Katzenmoyer all going in the first round.
23: The percent of all Big Ten players drafted in 2019 that were members of the Buckeyes. Nine out of 40 (22.5-percent) put on the scarlet and gray during their careers. Penn State and Michigan were the next closest to Ohio State with five players drafted, each. Iowa, Maryland and Wisconsin each had four players taken.
81: The number of all-time first-round draft picks for Ohio State, good for No. 1 (tied with USC) all-time. Notre Dame is a distant third with 69 picks after having one player go in the first round of the 2019 draft. While Alabama has been a hot school in recent years and of course has the history that it does, the Crimson Tide are still 19 first-round picks behind the Buckeyes and the Trojans with only 62 after having three players selected in the first-round this year.
132: The number of players drafted from Ohio State since the 2000 draft. That is more players than Louisville (125), Vanderbilt (124), Iowa State (119), Colorado State (104), Temple (76), or Rutgers (63) have had drafted all-time.
