Ohio State Buckeyes: 9 numbers to know from the 2021 NFL Draft

1. Ohio State and Alabama tied for the most draft picks with 10.

Ohio State had double-digit draft picks for the second consecutive year and the third time in the last six.

Since 2000, Ohio State has had 152 players drafted, or 6.9 per year.

2. The 20 Ohio State players drafted are the most for a coach in his first two years with the Buckeyes.

Ryan Day inherited a monster from Urban Meyer and has done nothing to hurt Ohio State’s reputation as a top talent developer.

Woody Hayes had 14 players drafted in his first two years (when the draft was much longer but there were fewer teams) while Jim Tressel had 13, Earle Bruce had 11, Urban Meyer had nine and John Cooper had seven.

3. So far, 49 Urban Meyer Ohio State recruits have been drafted.

This year he moved past one of his mentors, Earle Bruce, who had 42 signees drafted.

The record still belongs to Hayes, who also had by far the longest coaching tenure in school history. He signed 159 NFL Draft picks in 28 years while John Cooper signed 76 in 13 years. Jim Tressel had 62 signees in 11 years drafted.

Meyer’s will continue to go up as no one from either of his last two classes has been picked yet.

4. The 2015 class produced 11 draft picks.

It took an extra year because Justin Hilliard stuck around for six seasons, but we can close the book on Meyer’s third full-year recruiting class. Ranking ninth in the country on National Signing Day, the 27-man group ultimately produced 11 draft picks. That trails only the 2002 class (12) for most this century (and since at least 1988).

The 2002 class also leads in highest percentage of players drafted at 48 while the 2014 class is second at 43 percent (10 of 23) and the ’15 class is tied with the ’17 class for third at 41 percent.

5. The 2017 class could be an all-timer.

Meyer’s next-to-last class already has produced nine draft picks, including Browning, Wyatt Davis, Josh Myers, Shaun Wade and Pete Werner this year.

At least three or four more players from that group appear to have a shot to be drafted, so the ’17 class could end up surpassing the 2002 total.

The 2016 class, which still is not quite done yet, has had seven players drafted.

6. Ohio State had every position on offense and defense represented in this draft class except receiver, offensive tackle and safety.

Luke Farrell is the first OSU tight end drafted since Nick Vannett went to the Seahawks in 2016. Every other position already had a player drafted since 2019.

7. Shaun Wade kept alive an impressive streak.

When the Ravens chose Wade in the fifth round, he became the 10th straight Ohio State starting cornerback to be picked in the draft.

That goes back to 2013 when Bradley Roby and Doran Grant were the starters and also includes Gareon Conley, Eli Apple, Marshon Lattimore, Denzel Ward, Damon Arnette, Kendall Sheffield and Jeffrey Okudah.

Ohio State had a similar streak from 1994-2004 when every starting cornerback but one was drafted.

8. In Justin Fields, the Bears drafted a Buckeye for the first time in 12 years.

That was tied with the Chiefs and Cardinals for second-longest current draft drought for the Buckeyes with a team.

The longest is still shared by the Buccaneers and the Titans. Neither of those teams has chosen a player from Ohio State since 2004 when Wayne High School grad Will Allen went to Tampa and Robert Reynolds went to Tennessee.

9. The Broncos drafted a pair of Buckeyes on the defensive side.

Picking linebacker Baron Browning and defensive end Jonathon Cooper (who seems likely to move to linebacker in the Denver defense) moved Denver into a tie for 17th most Buckeyes drafted with a dozen. The Jets and Bills also have 12.

The Browns lead the way with 35 followed by the Bears (31), Rams (28), Lions (27), Packers (25) in the top five.

The Eagles (23), Colts and Steelers (22), Giants (21) and Bengals (20) round out the top 10.