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Urban's Influence Lives in this NFL Draft,  Future Drafts

Ohio State likely to take all-time lead in first-round NFL picks on Thursday

Bruce Hooley

Urban's Influence Lives in this NFL Draft,  Future Drafts
Urban's Influence Lives in this NFL Draft,  Future Drafts /

Urban Meyer stopped compiling wins on his resume when he retired as Ohio State's head coach following a victory over Washington in the 2019 Rose Bowl.

The scoreboard is still counting upward, however, on Meyer's NFL Draft success as Ohio State's head coach.

When Chase Young, Jeff Okudah and Damon Arnette went off the board in the first round of the NFL Draft, Meyer recorded his 13th, 14th and 15th first-round picks from his Ohio State tenure.

That total doesn't count Ryan Shazier or Bradley Roby, taken in the first round in 2013 a year after Meyer's hiring, because both players were recruited to OSU by Jim Tressel.

By that same logic, however, Meyer won't be done compiling first-round picks until all the recruits he brought to Columbus finish their Ohio State careers and enter the NFL.

Of course, Ryan Day and the current OSU coach staff will play a role in developing those prospects into top draft choices. But for the purposes of assessing Meyer's NFL influence on the program, all players he attracted to Ohio State should be counted on his resume.

That means Meyer's total first-round picks from his seven seasons coaching the Buckeyes could approach 20, given the potential already displayed by Wyatt Davis, Josh Myers, Chris Olave, Shaun Wade, Garrett Wilson and Harry Miller.

Wilson committed to OSU in April of 2019 before Meyer ran afoul of Ohio State for his handling of domestic abuse matters involving then-wide receivers coach Zach Smith.

Likewise, Miller committed to the Buckeyes in June of 2019, so he would count as a Meyer recruit.

Zach Harrison, who looms as the heir to Ohio State's pass-rush tradtion under Meyer that put Joey Bosa, Nick Bosa and Young into the Top 5 of the draft, did not commit to OSU until December of 2019 after Day's ascension to the head coaching job had been announced.

Meyer's success marketing Ohio State as an NFL pipeline serves Day's recruiting efforts now, as evidenced by a fast start to a 2021 class that currently ranks No. 1 nationally.

Speaking of No. 1, Young, Okudah and Arnette going in the first round gives OSU 84 first-rounders since the draft began in 1938.

That gives Ohio State the career lead over USC, which had only one first-rounder in offensive tackle Austin Jackson.

OSU and USC entered the draft tied with 81 all-time first-round selections.

Meyer's blueprint with the Buckeyes is the same one Pete Carroll used at USC during his nine-year run of success from 2001-2004.

Once Carroll's first batch of recruits played three seasons, the Trojans began populating the top of the draft with numbing regularity.'

USC put 12 players into the first round from 2004-2009 and three more Carroll recruits (Matt Kalil, Nick Perry and Tyron Smith) also went in Round One after he departed.

Likewise, Meyer's recruiting reach began showing up in 2016, three years after his arrival in 2013.

Joey Bosa, Ezekiel Elliott, Eli Apple, Taylor Decker and Darron Lee all went in the first round in 2016.

In 2017, OSU's first-rounders included Marshon Lattimore, Malik Hooker and Gareon Conley.

The next year, Denzel Ward and Billy Price went in Round One.

Last year, it was Nick Bosa and Dwayne Haskins.

Arnette's selection means OSU has had a defensive back taken in the first round in six of the last seven drafts.

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Bruce Hooley
BRUCE HOOLEY

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