The Senior Bowl has compiled a watch list of the top 250 senior NFL prospects in college football, and Ohio State is well-represented on the list.
Eight Ohio State seniors – tied with Alabama, Michigan and Texas A&M for the second-most of any schools, behind only Georgia – made the Top 250 list announced by the Senior Bowl on Thursday: running back Trey Sermon, tight end Luke Farrell, left tackle Thayer Munford, defensive end Jonathon Cooper and linebackers Tuf Borland, Baron Browning, Justin Hilliard and Pete Werner.
Making the list is not a prerequisite for being invited to the game, so it's still possible that other Buckeyes could be invited to participate in the 2021 Senior Bowl. The list does not include any Senior Bowl-eligible juniors, like Ohio State cornerback Shaun Wade, who would be eligible to play in the Senior Bowl since he graduated from Ohio State this summer.
This list does not include 25-plus talented juniors on track to graduate and be eligible for the game. Later this fall our roster construction process will include input from trusted contacts around NFL. Initial invites scheduled go out in early November.
— Jim Nagy (@JimNagy_SB) August 20, 2020
With the Big Ten's decision to postpone its football season to the winter or spring and the NCAA's move to give all fall sports athletes an additional year of eligibility, all Ohio State seniors who are NFL draft prospects will now have a tough decision to make. Hypothetically, any senior could now choose to stay in college for another year and enter the 2022 NFL draft instead, but if they plan on entering the 2021 NFL draft, Big Ten seniors will have to decide whether to play in the postponed season or to turn their full focus to playing professionally.
Unless the Senior Bowl moves its game back from its scheduled date of Jan. 30, any player who participates in the winter/spring season would be unable to play in this year's Senior Bowl. If any of the Buckeyes named above choose to opt out of the season, however, the Senior Bowl could still give them one last opportunity to play a football game in an Ohio State helmet.
