Ohio State has been a fixture in terms of programs that repeatedly put players into the NFL. You would have to go back to the 2013 draft class to find the last time that Ohio State put fewer than five players into the league by way of the draft.

In fact, Ohio State has put double-digit players in the draft through the past two classes, 16 into the first round over the past six classes and 55 total players over that same period.

It should come as no surprise that Ohio State has recruited well through the years, but that doesn’t always equate, sometimes highly-rated collegiate players don’t translate well to the NFL game and conversely, sometimes there are players who may have been lowly rated coming out of high school for one reason or another who flourish at the next level when football becomes a full-time job.

It got us to thinking about how the past dozen or so classes breakdown in terms of how the rankings numbers translate to the NFL for Ohio State. We will look at a list of questions and breakdown who we got right, who we may have missed on and a whole lot more. For the sake of this exercise, we are only going to talk about players who ended their career with the Buckeyes, so players like Joe Burrow, who signed out of high school with Ohio State, will not be counted but players like Justin Fields and Trey Sermon will count.

We did not know at the time that this would be the final draft class of the Jim Tressel-era, as Tressel would not be around to coach the 2011 season, a year that the Buckeyes would go 6-7 after a loss to Florida in the Gator Bowl under interim coach Luke Fickell. The original draft class would be only five players but Terrelle Pryor would enter his name into the supplemental draft and be taken in the third round.

Cameron Heyward is the only player from this class who is still playing, and the Steelers star seems to be ageless as he continues to play at a high level as faces around him are constantly changing.

Players from this class are more than a decade removed from their Ohio State playing days, even if it seems like it was just yesterday that they were playing in the scarlet and gray.

2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 |

Total Number of drafted players: 5 + 1

Average star rating of drafted players: 4.0

Highest rated player to be drafted: Terrelle Pryor

Lowest rated player to be drafted: Chimdi Chekwa

Biggest surprise: TP going to the Supplemental Draft

Heyward would make the final stretch of the first-round with the No. 31 overall pick by Pittsburgh and has not had to worry about leaving town as his entire career has been with the Steelers, something that is rare in these highly portable days of free agency.

The accolades are real for Heyward as a two-time first-team All-Pro and as a four-time Pro Bowler during his decade-long career with Pittsburgh.

He has 451 tackles and 58 sacks in 149 regular season games played along with five fumbles forced, six recovered and even an interception to his credit.

Chimdi Chekwa would be drafted in the 4th round by the then Oakland Raiders. He would play four seasons with the team and then would have stops at New England, back to Oakland and then would play briefly with Miami in 2016. Chekwa would play 35 games, record 46 tackles and have four passes defended during his career.

Jermale Hines would go in the 5th round and would bounce around between St. Louis, Indianapolis and Carolina, but never would make an impact on an active roster.

Brian Rolle had one-plus seasons in the NFL after being picked in the 6th round by Philadelphia. He would start 13 games in 2011 and would have 54 tackles, a defensive touchdown and a sack. He would come back for the 14 season, play in four games and would be released during the season.

Ross Homan would retire early due to concussion concerns. He would go in the 6th round, pick No. 200 by Minnesota. He was cut on the final round of cuts that first season. He would go to Tampa Bay in 2011 but retired four days later.

Then there is the case of Terrelle Pryor, faced with a five-game suspension, an embattled head coach and a lot of negative press, Pryor opted for the supplemental draft and was taken by the then Oakland Raiders, one of nine organizations that he would be a part of.

Pryor would play 50 games in the NFL, some at quarterback, some at wide receiver during a rebranding, he would never play more than 11 games in a season (Oakland – 2013). Pryor would end his career as a 56.3-percent passer, nine touchdowns against 12 picks. As a runner, something that Pryor could do from either spot, he would have 646 yards and four scores. As a receiver he would have 115 grabs for 1,563 yards and seven scores.