Buckeyes have provided big draft classes through the years

The success of Ohio State preparing and sending players to the NFL Draft has not been matched by many teams over the history of the event since its inception in 1936. From center Gomer Jones, the first ever Ohio State player drafted to Jonathon Cooper, the last player drafted, the Buckeyes and the NFL have been synonymous.

In fact, over the last six drafts, 55 Buckeyes have heard their name called by the NFL with 16 of those players going in the first round, most recently quarterback Justin Fields going to the Chicago Bears.

It got us to thinking, with as much as we hear about the draft, which years were the best to the Buckeyes when it came to overall picks? Keep in mind that the draft moved to its current seven-round format in 1994 and once sported as many as 30 rounds due to war time in 1943.

Four of Ohio State’s six more productive drafts took place prior to that reduction to seven rounds in ’94, but six of the top 10 outputs all fall within the current draft rules of just seven rounds.

Let’s take a look at some of the top years through the history books.

This list is full of national champions from the 2002 Ohio State team as Ohio State saw three players go in the first round including Will Smith (New Orleans), Chris Gamble (Carolina) and Michael Jenkins (Atlanta). This draft also marks the last time that the Chicago Bears drafted an Ohio State quarterback as Craig Krenzel went No. 148 overall in the 5th round to the Monsters of the Midway. The NFL success of this draft gravitates towards the top of the draft as many of the Ohio State lower round picks were on NFL rosters for just a couple of seasons, largely in special teams or back-up roles.

This one of the aforementioned 17-round drafts and even with that, eight members of this draft class went in the first five rounds. Three Buckeyes went in the first round with Kurt Schumacher going No. 12 to New Orleans while Doug France (LA Rams) and Neal Colzie (Oakland) both were taken in the first round as well. Doug Plank would go No. 291 overall to the Chicago Bears and would go on to play eight seasons with the club and would lead the team in tackles as a rookie. Plank would get into coaching and would spend times with the Falcons and Jets and even had a quick stint as a program assistant with the Buckeyes in 2010.

Ohio State would provide four first rounders to the league with John Brockington (Green Bay), Jack Tatum (Oakland), Tim Anderson (San Francisco) and Leo Hayden (Minnesota). This was another draft class that was a who’s who of Ohio State football with names like Rex Kern (No. 260 – Baltimore), Jim Stillwagon (No. 124 – Green Bay) and Mike Sensibaugh (No. 191 – Kansas City) to name a few but the names with the most well-known careers are those of Brockington, who is a member of the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame and was named offensive rookie of the year by the league and Tatum who would don the nickname of “The Assassin” and was a ferocious hitter during his career.

Five of the 12 members of this class would not only be first-round picks but would come off the board in the top-20 picks, so for those of you looking to avoid math, 25-percent of the first 20 picks were Buckeyes. It reads off as a roll call of Ohio State greats with Joey Bosa (San Diego), Zeke Elliott (Dallas), Eli Apple (New York Giants), Taylor Decker (Detroit) and Darron Lee (New York Jets) all getting that first-round call when the draft was held in Chicago. Add in the second round picks of Michael Thomas (New Orleans) and Vonn Bell (New Orleans) and there was a lot of value in the top end of that draft.

Another draft that will be remembered by the top names in the draft with Tim Fox (New England) and two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin (Cincinnati) coming off the board in the first round. As we all know, Griffin’s NFL success did not match his NCAA success but would go on to be one of the greatest ambassadors for Ohio State and college football of our time. Fox would have a lengthy NFL career and his son, Dustin, would win a national championship with Ohio State. Brian Baschnagel would get selected in the 3rd round by the Chicago Bears and would be part of the 1985 Super Bowl championship team but a training camp knee injury kept him from playing on that team, but he did travel and assist the coaches and would receive a ring.

The earliest team to make this list and the one to produce a Pro Football Hall of Famer with Jim Parker coming off the board in the first round with the No. 8 pick to Baltimore. There were 30 rounds in this draft but fewer teams, so by comparison, where Aurelius Thomas was picked in the 22nd round at pick No. 257, there were 259 picks in the 2021 NFL Draft.

What do we have to say here, this is the most recent draft class for Ohio State and you all know the names. As mentioned before, Justin Fields was the first off the board to the Bears with the No. 11 pick. Day two saw five Buckeyes come off the board with Pete Werner (New Orleans) leading the way with the No. 60 picks and Josh Myers (Green Bay) coming off just two picks later. The third round had three players with Wyatt Davis (Minnesota), Trey Sermon (San Francisco) and Baron Browning (Cleveland) all getting the call.

We only have to go back a year for this class and there are some names making a splash in the league, none bigger than Chase Young who came off the board as the No. 2 overall pick to Washington. But players like JK Dobbins (No. 19 – Baltimore) and Jordan Fuller (No. 199 – LA Rams) have really made great strides in their young careers. First rounders Jeff Okudah (Detroit) and Damon Arnette (Las Vegas) have dealt with early career injuries and are hoping to bounce back in 2021. DaVon Hamilton made it to Jacksonville before his former college coach (Urban Meyer) and it will be a great reunion for the two and Malik Harrison (No 98. – Baltimore) has made his presence known with his team.

We move back one more year and see a class that has one of the top defensive linemen in the game with Nick Bosa going No. 3 overall to San Francisco and one of the bigger surprises on offense with Terry McLaurin going to Washington in the 3rd round, only to be one of the lone offensive weapons for the “Football Team”. Dwayne Haskins would go No. 15 overall and find his time with the WFT cut short after a bad first season, but Haskins has moved on to Pittsburgh to look to re-energize his fledgling NFL career. Dre’mont Jones has been impactful in Denver after going in the 3rd round and Kendall Sheffield has quietly started 20 games for the Atlanta Falcons.

There are some names in this draft class with five first rounders including AJ Hawk (Green Bay), Donte Whitner (Buffalo), Santonio Holmes (Pittsburgh) and Nick Mangold (New York Jets). The fifth first-rounder, Bobby Carpenter (Dallas) did not share the same on-field success but has become a well-known name in Columbus radio. Mangold was a plug-and-play fixture at center for the Jets for many years while Holmes is a Super Bowl MVP for the Steelers. Hawk would go on and play most of his career with the Packers and is the all-time leader in tackles there before two more stops at the end of his career. Whitner would play for four NFL teams and the two-time Pro Bowler would record more than 900 tackles during his length career.