Nine NFL head coaches. Seven general managers. One hundred and twenty-two NFL personnel members from all 32 teams.
That’s what was inside the Woody Hayes Athletic Center on Thursday afternoon for Ohio State’s annual pro day, where 13 former Buckeyes worked out and met with NFL brass with the hopes of leaving a lasting impression.
Bill Belichick, he of five Super Bowl rings, walked around and took in the scenes. He spent a large portion of time chatting with Buckeyes head coach Urban Meyer. Mike Tomlin, Sean Payton and John Harbaugh were other Super Bowl winning coaches in attendance.
And if big-name head coaches don’t move the needle for you, perhaps seeing young NFL stars like wide receiver Michael Thomas, cornerback Eli Apple and linebacker Darron Lee will. All three — and more former Buckeye greats — also took in the action.
Now, imagine being a high school prospect seeing that.
This is Ohio State Pro Day, and it’s become one of Meyer’s greatest recruiting tools.
“For us, it’s all recruiting,” Meyer said at last year’s pro day. “We’ve done our jobs. I told our coaches that this is not about the NFL. We’ve done our job which is recruit them, develop them and then turn them over.
“And as you probably saw on social media, this was all over the place. We want to get it out.”
While Meyer made those comments a year ago — he did not speak to reporters at this year’s pro day — they still ring true now. Thursday may not have been quite the spectacle it was in 2016 — how could it be? — but it still felt like a big-time event that was rather hard to miss.
The Buckeyes’ social media team, which has expanded immensely the last two years, was all over the event posting videos, graphics and more throughout the day. Even if you were a recruit who didn’t make it to the event, it felt like you were there.
122 @NFL personnel
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) March 23, 2017
79 media members
32 #NFL teams
13 participants
9 head coaches
6 general managers#OSUProDay was pic.twitter.com/6Jbs3kPtOB
Since Meyer’s arrival in Columbus, Ohio State turned into somewhat of an NFL factory. Over the last three years, 23 former Buckeyes were selected in the NFL Draft. Of those 23, seven were first-round picks. Ohio State had 12 players drafted last season alone — five of which were in the first round.
New Buckeyes quarterbacks coach Ryan Day, who spent the last two seasons working in the NFL, said he’s not surprised at the talent being produced now that he is around the program every day. Day was asked recently how close Ohio State was to being an NFL team.
“Real close,” Day said. “First off, the guys who are running around the field are like NFL players. From the skill guys to the guys up front, the guys here have done an unbelievable job recruiting. The talent level here is just like a lot of NFL teams and that’s what’s most impressive when you get out here for the first three days.”
The Ohio State-to-the-NFL train doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon, either.
Malik Hooker, Marshon Lattimore and Gareon Conley are all projected first-round picks next month while Raekwon McMillan, Curtis Samuel, Pat Elflein and Noah Brown all will almost certainly hear their names called at some point in the Draft.
Who knows what players will be working out at next year’s pro day in Columbus. All that’s for certain is that there will be one and that it will be quite the event.
Because that’s what Ohio State Pro Day has become. And you better believe Meyer and Co. will be using it to try and recruit some players who might be participating one day in the near future.
