Ohio State's Track Record in NFL Draft Sustains Success

Ryan Day building on the foundation Urban Meyer perfected

Bruce Hooley | May 3, 2020

Ohio State's Track Record in NFL Draft Sustains Success /

Many things have changed with the routine Ohio State's football staff would follow in a typical spring, but what hasn't changed are the goals of the program to remain the class of the Big Ten and contend for a national championship.

Staying on that course has required some creativity, creating solutions amid prohibitions on off-campus recruiting and on-campus visits, amid the cancellation of spring practice and the return of most players to their respective homes while they wait out COVID-19 quarantine and hope for clearance to return to campus.

Day's staff has enjoyed remarkable recruiting success during the coronavirus precautions and last week gained an arsenal of ammunition that should help in those efforts going forward with the drafting of 10 Buckeyes by the NFL.

As much as it sounds romantic to say that elite high school players come to Ohio State to get their degree or because they love the Buckeyes, Day knows the real reason they come is to recognize their dream of playing professional football.

Few, if any programs, are better at making that dream come true than OSU, as evidenced by the Buckeyes now holding the lead in all-time first-round draft choices (84), ranking tied for first with Alabama in first-round choices since 2000 (31) and having had the second-most players taken (45) in the last seven drafts,

That's a resume Day can sell in recruiting and one that clearly resonates with the high school talent he's trying to bring to Columbus.

OSU's success placing players in the NFL reached a new level upon the arrival of Urban Meyer and the progressive influence his recruiting began to exert by 2016, when he had five players taken in the first round.

Meyer maximized every resource at his disposal -- virtually unlimited financial resources, OSU's tradition, its in-state recruiting monopoly, national brand and ability to attract great position coaches.

All those ingredients composed a winning stew that Day is only to happy to serve to keep the Buckeyes on top.

"It’s a combination of everything that we have at Ohio State – our resources, our employees, our coaches and how we develop in our weight room and the work ethic with everything that Coach Mick (Mariotti) does with the physical, mental, emotional and football development." Day said. "You look at what Jeff Hafley and Kerry Coombs did with Jeff Okudah and then you look at what Larry Johnson did with Chase Young. And the list goes on and on and on. It’s all those things mixed up into one.

“And the last part of it is – and this is why so many recruits come to Ohio State – is every day you’re going against one of the best. Chase Young, as a freshman, was going against Jamarco Jones every day. If you’re a freshman and you’re Dawand Jones, you’re going against Chase Young every day. If you’re Jonah Jackson, you’re going against DaVon Hamilton every day. Jeff Okudah was going against Terry McLaurin every day. You’re playing against great players every day, and that competition only makes you better. We say iron sharpens iron, and that’s a big deal. It’s something we take a lot of pride in.”