At Ohio State he was known for his grunts, surehanded tackling and being a two-time captain. Now, he's a pro football player.
After five years in Columbus, Tommy Eichenberg is taking his talents to Las Vegas as the Raiders selected the Cleveland product with the No. 148 overall pick in the fifth round of the 2024 NFL draft on Saturday.
The official call up to the NFL for Tommy
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He's the first Buckeye linebacker to be taken in the NFL draft since Pete Werner (second round, No. 60 overall by the New Orleans Saints) and Baron Browning (third round, No. 105 overall by the Denver Broncos) were selected in the 2021 NFL draft.
He’s the fourth Buckeye off the board in this year’s draft after No. 4 overall selection Marvin Harrison Jr., second-round pick Mike Hall Jr. and fourth-round pick Cade Stover.
Eichenberg joins his former Ohio State teammate Thayer Munford on the Raiders’ roster. He’ll also be coached by a former linebacker in Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce, a prospect he was excited about when asked about the Raiders at the NFL Scouting Combine.
“Just from what I’ve seen, he’s a really, really good dude. He was a great linebacker, too. And I think linebackers as head coaches is awesome,” Eichenberg said. “It’s just another example of a guy that’s like, he’s a football dude. And I feel like you always want to play for guys like that.”
A three-year starter at Ohio State, Eichenberg played in 41 games for the Buckeyes, racking up 258 total tackles, 20.5 tackles for loss, three sacks, six pass deflections, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and two interceptions, one of which he returned for a touchdown.
He missed three of his final four games at OSU due to a dislocated elbow suffered in a November game against Rutgers, which left a sour taste in Eichenberg's mouth.
“It was very, very hard for me,” Eichenberg said at the combine. “You just feel like you let a lot of people down, really. That was something that I had to deal with.”
Nonetheless, Eichenberg was the Big Ten Conference's Butkus-Fitzgerald Linebacker of the Year last season and a first-team All-Big Ten selection. He was the first OSU player ever to win the conference's linebacker of the year award, which was established in 2011. In his final campaign with the Buckeyes, Eichenberg recorded 80 tackles in 10 games, 2.5 tackles for loss, a sack and a forced fumble.
Eichenberg will now have a chance to showcase that he's fully healthy and compete for playing time with the Raiders with rookie workouts in May.
