One of Ohio State's greatest guards ever has found his NFL home.
The Minnesota Vikings selected Wyatt Davis with the No. 86 overall pick in the third round of the 2021 NFL draft on Friday.
That's the sound of it getting wavy in the Land of 10,000 Lakes
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) May 1, 2021
Congrats @wyattdavis53
Watch the 2021 #NFLDraft April 29-May 1 on @nflnetwork #GoBuckeyes #DevelopedHere #SKOL pic.twitter.com/wTvTlptHLw
Thank you @Vikings for this opportunity I couldn’t be more excited! You will not be disappointed! Let’s get to work! pic.twitter.com/q9LJ4U3av2
— Wyatt Davis (@wyattdavis53) May 1, 2021
Davis was the fourth Buckeye selected in this year's draft, joining first-round pick Justin Fields and second-round picks Pete Werner and Josh Myers.
He joins former Ohio State defensive lineman Jalyn Holmes on the Vikings' roster.
The grandson of Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive end Willie Davis, who died last year, Wyatt Davis is motivated to have an NFL career that would make his grandfather proud.
“I know that my grandfather, he's looking down upon me right now smiling, and now it's up to me to uphold the legacy that he built for my family,” Davis said. “And now that I have this opportunity, I definitely will be making the most of it. Not only making my family proud, but more importantly, making my teammates proud moving on in the future.“
He expects believe he will “fit perfectly” into the Vikings' zone blocking scheme.
“A lot of the scheme that the Vikings run, which I learned in the meeting I had with Coach Rico (Vikings offensive line coach Rick Dennison), is the same type of scheme that we ran at Ohio State, especially with the outside zone type of stuff,” Davis said. “And I feel like that's an area that I can excel in and look to make an impact in going forward.”
A two-time All-American at Ohio State, Davis was named to Big Ten Network's All-Decade team after just one season as a starter and became the 33rd unanimous All-American in Ohio State history in 2020. Dating back to Ohio State's final two games of 2018, Davis started the final 24 games of his Ohio State career, even while battling a knee injury for the final five games of 2020.
That experience should help Davis, who was the No. 1 guard in the recruiting class of 2017, as he looks to earn an immediate starting job on the Vikings’ offensive line as an NFL rookie.
While Davis played only at right guard at Ohio State, Vikings general manager Rick Spielman said after the third round that they believe he could line up at either left or right guard.
Ohio State has now had a guard selected in the first three rounds in back-to-back years, as the Detroit Lions selected Jonah Jackson with the No. 75 overall pick in 2020. The Buckeyes have had an offensive lineman selected in the first four rounds of each of the last six NFL drafts.
