Fourteen members of last year’s Ohio State football team have a real chance to hear their names called in this week’s NFL draft.
For most of them, it’s no surprise they’ve made it to this point.
Among those 14 players, all of whom received NFL Scouting Combine invitations, five of them were five-star recruits while seven of them were four-star recruits – and the two three-star recruits are a punter and a kicker. Eight of them were ranked as top 55 prospects in their respective recruiting classes, and all of them have been viewed as potential future NFL players since before they even began their careers as Buckeyes.
That said, they still had to prove they could play at Ohio State to earn their chance to play in the league that will come for most if not all of them this week. And most of them weren’t immediate stars for the Buckeyes, instead having to work their way up the depth chart and improve over the course of their careers to demonstrate their pro potential.
As we count down the days until the draft begins and their NFL dreams finally come true, let’s take a look back at how they got to this point in their journeys from recruits to Buckeyes to pro prospects.
QB Justin Fields
As the No. 2 overall prospect in the recruiting class of 2018 – behind only Trevor Lawrence, who’s set to complete the journey from No. 1 overall recruit to No. 1 overall pick on Thursday night – it was always expected that Fields would be one of the top picks in the 2021 NFL draft.
What wasn’t expected when Fields began his college career was that he would end up starring at Ohio State, as he began his career at Georgia. That said, his decision to become a Buckeye after just one year as a Bulldog certainly worked out for both Fields and Ohio State, as Fields led the Buckeyes to back-to-back College Football Playoff appearances while having what was statistically the finest two-year run ever for an Ohio State quarterback.
Fields is probably going to be selected at least a couple spots lower than his recruiting ranking on Thursday night, largely because he’s in a historically strong class of five first-round quarterbacks, but there’s a reason why many Ohio State fans and NFL draft analysts alike are puzzled that Fields probably won’t be a top-three pick, and that’s because his two years as a Buckeye were spectacular.
G Wyatt Davis
Like Fields, Davis was viewed as a likely future early-round NFL draft pick before he even played a snap of college football. As the No. 24 overall prospect and No. 1 guard in the recruiting class of 2017, Davis – the grandson of Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive end Willie Davis – has demonstrated the power and athleticism to be an NFL interior offensive lineman since he was in high school.
Davis’ Ohio State career lived up to the hype and then some. In each of his two full seasons as the Buckeyes’ starting right guard, Davis earned first-team All-American honors, including unanimous All-American honors in 2020.
Despite an Ohio State career that entrenched his status as one of the best guards in school history, it doesn’t appear likely Davis will be a first-round pick on Thursday. He’s widely projected to be a second- or third-round pick on Friday, though, and anything other than a long, successful NFL career would be a surprise considering how successful he’s been to this point.
LB Baron Browning
Browning is another prospect in this year’s Ohio State draft class who has been expected to be a future early-round NFL draft pick since he was in high school. The same physical traits that made him the No. 11 overall prospect and No. 1 outside linebacker in the class of 2017 could make him a second- or third-round pick on Friday.
It took Browning until this past season, his fourth year at Ohio State, to become a full-time starting linebacker for the Buckeyes, and he never quite became the superstar many thought he’d be in Columbus. He did earn third-team All-Big Ten honors in his last season at Ohio State, though, and had 110 career tackles with 18 tackles for loss, seven sacks and two forced fumbles.
As a 6-foot-3, 245-pound linebacker with elite athleticism, Browning showed enough playmaking ability in his four years as a Buckeye that it’s expected an NFL team will bet on his potential early and make him one of Ohio State’s top draft picks this year.
C/G Josh Myers
Like Davis, Myers arrived at Ohio State as one of the top offensive linemen in the recruiting class of 2017 – the No. 2 guard and No. 53 overall prospect, to be exact – and became the player he was supposed to be for the Buckeyes.
As Ohio State’s starting center for each of the past two seasons, Myers earned second-team All-Big Ten honors in 2019 and first-team All-Big Ten honors in 2020, when he was also one of three finalists for the Rimington Trophy as one of college football’s best centers.
Depending on which team drafts him this week, Myers could stay at center or move back to the guard position he was initially projected to play at Ohio State. Either way, he’s expected to be drafted at some point between the second and fourth rounds and should get a chance to compete for early playing time for his NFL team.
LB Pete Werner
Unlike the first four Buckeyes we’ve covered so far, Werner wasn’t necessarily expected to be a top NFL prospect when he started his Ohio State career. He was ranked as just the 277th-best player in the recruiting class of 2017.
Urban Meyer made it clear that he had high expectations for Werner early on, though, as he told media members to “buy stock in that guy for his career” during an October 2017 press conference. Werner went on to start for the Buckeyes for each of the next three seasons, earning first-team All-Big Ten honors in 2020, when he led Ohio State with 54 total tackles in just eight games.
Werner was a bit overlooked as a recruit, and he didn’t always get the credit he deserved as one of Ohio State’s top defensive players during his Buckeye career either. His due recognition should come this week, though, as Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy revealed Sunday on SportsCenter that “a lot” of NFL teams have graded Werner as a late first-round pick.
DT Tommy Togiai
Ohio State doesn’t usually make recruiting trips to Idaho – in fact, the Buckeyes had never had a player from Idaho before Togiai – but their efforts to bring Togiai from the Gem State to the Buckeye State paid off.
After rotating in off the bench in his first two seasons as a Buckeye, the No. 55 overall prospect and No. 3 defensive tackle in the recruiting class of 2018 emerged as exactly the player he was supposed to be in 2020: A dominant force at nose tackle who earned second-team All-Big Ten honors and was perhaps the biggest reason why Ohio State’s run defense was one of the best in the country.
Togiai’s decision to enter this year’s draft after just three years at Ohio State, which he described as “probably the hardest decision I’ve made so far in my life,” came as a bit of a surprise after just one season as a starter. Nonetheless, Togiai should hear his name called at some point between the second and fourth rounds this week.
CB/S Shaun Wade
Another Ohio State draft prospect who was a five-star recruit, Wade was the No. 17 overall prospect and second-ranked cornerback in the recruiting class of 2017.
Like Werner, Wade was a major contributor on Ohio State’s defense for three seasons. After missing his freshman year with an abdominal injury, Wade saw regular playing time as a slot cornerback and safety in 2018, started at slot cornerback in 2019 and started every game at outside cornerback in 2020.
Because Wade was inconsistent in his lone season playing outside last year, he’s expected to be a middle-round draft pick rather than the first-round pick it once appeared he could be. Still, he enters the NFL with both the physical tools that made him one of the top players in his recruiting class and a pedigree of production and playing experience at Ohio State.
RB Trey Sermon
Like Fields, Sermon’s journey to the NFL started as a kid growing up in Georgia and then at another college before he finished his college career at Ohio State.
In Sermon’s case, he probably could have been drafted even if he never became a Buckeye. After three seasons at Oklahoma in which he ran for 2,076 yards and 22 touchdowns, Sermon was already viewed as an NFL running back prospect and could have entered the 2020 NFL draft.
But Sermon, who was recruited by the Buckeyes as the No. 191 overall recruit in the class of 2017, decided to transfer to Ohio State for one final season of college football. Although his season with the Buckeyes started slow as a backup to Master Teague, he ultimately made the decision pay off and bolstered his draft stock by rushing for a school-record 331 yards in the Big Ten Championship Game against Northwestern and 193 yards in the Buckeyes’ College Football Playoff win over Clemson.
DE Jonathon Cooper
A near-five-star recruit as the No. 33 overall prospect in the class of 2016, Cooper never became a dominant pass-rusher for Ohio State but still finished his career strong after overcoming some obstacles along the way.
After emerging as a starting defensive end for the Buckeyes in 2018, Cooper played in just four games in 2019 due to an ankle injury. But that allowed him to take a redshirt and return to Ohio State for a fifth-year senior season in 2020, when he led all Buckeyes with 3.5 sacks and all Buckeye defensive lineman with 24 total tackles in their eight-game campaign.
By playing the best football of his career in his final season as a Buckeye, Cooper legitimized himself as an NFL prospect and should hear his name called during the final day of the draft on Saturday.
LB Justin Hilliard
When Hilliard arrived at Ohio State as a five-star recruit (No. 35 overall) in 2015, it wouldn’t have been a surprise if he went to the NFL after just three years. Instead, Hilliard spent six years at Ohio State, receiving an extra year of NCAA eligibility to play this past season after overcoming multiple biceps tears and a torn Achilles during his Buckeye career.
Because of all those injuries, Hilliard never became a regular in the starting lineup until the second half of his final season, when he started four of the Buckeyes’ final five games. He’s still expected to be drafted this week, though, thanks to his excellent play in the Buckeyes’ final three games, in which he recorded 25 total tackles with five tackles for loss, an interception and two fumble recoveries.
And even though he’s going to the NFL a few years later than expected, Hilliard has never lowered his expectations, saying earlier this spring that he’s “still shooting to be the best linebacker in the country.”
LB Tuf Borland
Out of the 12 position players who could be drafted from Ohio State this week, Borland was the lowest-ranked recruit, narrowly making the cut-off for a four-star recruit as the No. 324 overall prospect in the class of 2016.
Despite that mediocre ranking, Borland emerged as Ohio State’s top middle linebacker during redshirt freshman season in 2017 and would remain the starter at that position for the next three years, in which he became the second three-time captain in Ohio State history, joining J.T. Barrett in that historic accomplishment.
Like Barrett, who went undrafted in 2018, Borland had plenty of detractors during his Ohio State career and it’s uncertain whether his game will translate to the NFL. No matter what happens at the next level, though, Borland will always have a place in Ohio State history as one of the Buckeyes’ all-time great leaders – which is pretty good for a guy who wasn’t even a top-300 recruit out of high school.
TE Luke Farrell
As the nation’s No. 191 overall prospect, Farrell was actually just the second-highest-ranked tight end in Ohio State’s recruiting class of 2016 behind Jake Hausmann – who is also in the 2021 NFL draft pool, but faces long odds to be drafted after catching just three passes in his Ohio State career.
Farrell didn’t catch a ton of passes for the Buckeyes, either – just 34 in four playing seasons – but was consistently lauded by coaches as one of the team’s unsung heroes for his efforts as a blocker, which are what could get him selected in the late rounds of the draft on Saturday.
A 32-game starter for the Buckeyes, Farrell was one of just three Ohio State players – along with Togiai and Cooper – to grade out as a champion for all seven of the Buckeyes’ wins last year.
P Drue Chrisman
Ranked as the No. 1 punter in the recruiting class of 2016, Chrisman has long looked like a candidate to earn one of the NFL’s 32 punting jobs once he wrapped up his career at Ohio State.
After redshirting his freshman year, Chrisman was Ohio State’s starting punter for the last four seasons and was a consistent field-position weapon for the Buckeyes, averaging 44 yards per punt while downing 83 of his 185 career punts inside the opponent’s 20-yard line.
There’s never a guarantee that any punters will be selected in the draft, but Chrisman is ranked by ESPN as this year’s second-best punter behind Cincinnati’s James Smith.
K Blake Haubeil
Haubeil was ranked as the No. 4 kicker in the recruiting class of 2017, foreshadowing his potential to also emerge as an NFL prospect over the course of his career at Ohio State.
After handling kickoff duties for the Buckeyes as a freshman, Haubeil became Ohio State’s field goal kicker in 2018 when Sean Nuernberger went down with a groin injury. Over the next three years, Haubeil made 28 of his 35 field goal attempts – good for the second-best career field goal average in Ohio State history, behind only longtime NFL kicker Mike Nugent – and all 146 of his attempted extra points.
Like a punter, it’s hard to get drafted as a kicker, but ESPN ranks Haubeil as the No. 3 kicker in this year’s draft behind Miami’s Jose Borregales and Florida’s Evan McPherson.
