After leading Ohio State’s 2024 football team to victory in the first 12-team College Football Playoff, Ohio State’s 2025 NFL draft class has a chance to make more history in April.
Georgia, who was also coming off a national championship at the time, set the record for the most players selected in a seven-round NFL draft when it had 15 players drafted in 2022. Ohio State appears so well-positioned to match that record that it would frankly be a surprise if it didn’t.
Fifteen of Ohio State’s top 20 players from this past season are now members of the 2025 NFL draft class, and all of them are projected to hear their names called at some point during the 7-round draft that will take place from April 24-26.
Despite winning the national championship, Ohio State doesn’t have any players in this year’s draft who are sure-fire locks to be first-round picks. The Buckeyes’ nine-year streak of having at least one player selected in the top 11 picks of the draft is in jeopardy of ending; the two Buckeyes who likely would have been top-10 draft picks this year, Jeremiah Smith and Caleb Downs, aren’t yet draft-eligible because Smith was only a freshman this past season and Downs was only a sophomore.
Oddly enough, the Buckeye who has the best chance of continuing that streak might be one who didn’t even play in the College Football Playoff. Despite suffering a season-ending knee injury in Ohio State’s sixth game of the season at Oregon in October, Josh Simmons is widely projected as Ohio State’s first draft pick. That’s because he fits the prototype for playing left tackle, one of the sport’s premier positions that regularly commands early first-round picks, and was one of the best left tackles in college football this past season before his injury.
That said, there are also plenty of Buckeyes who played in the CFP who are projected as early-round draft picks, many of whom thrust themselves into the first-round conversation because of how well they played in Ohio State’s run to a national championship.
Emeka Egbuka, fresh off of becoming Ohio State’s all-time receptions leader, is the second-most-widely projected Buckeye to be a first-round pick with just under three months to go until the draft. Egbuka would become the fifth Ohio State wide receiver in the last four years to be a first-round pick if he hears his name called on the draft’s first night.
Ohio State could end up having two left tackles selected in the first round thanks to Donovan Jackson’s dominant play in the CFP after moving to that position following Simmons’ injury. Jackson should be an early second-round pick at the very least after giving his NFL draft stock a huge boost by showing his versatility to play tackle, having already been one of the draft’s top guard prospects.
Defensive ends Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau are both projected to be either first- or second-round picks thanks to their dominant play throughout the CFP, where both of them lived up to all the hype they arrived in Columbus with as two of the top five overall prospects in the 2021 recruiting class. Defensive tackle Tyleik Williams is also widely projected to come off the board in the first two rounds, making it a near-certainty that three Ohio State defensive linemen (at least) will be selected in the top 100 picks of the same draft for the first time ever.
TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins should both hear their names called within the first three rounds of the draft, which would make them the first pair of Ohio State running backs to both go that high in the draft since John Brockington and Leo Hayden were both first-round picks in 1971.
Will Howard made a strong case for himself that he should be an early-round pick, too, with how well he played in quarterbacking Ohio State to a national championship. While there’s no consensus right now on how high Howard will go – recent mock draft projections for Howard collected by NFL Mock Draft Database range everywhere from the first round to the fourth round – the most likely landing spot for Howard appears to be somewhere on the second day of the draft.
That’s nine Ohio State players who project as likely top-100 picks, and there are six other Buckeyes who should also join them in hearing their names called on either Day 2 or 3.
Denzel Burke didn’t have the senior season he needed to become the top-10 pick he aspired to be when he decided to stay at Ohio State for his senior year, but he still projects to be drafted somewhere between the second and fourth rounds. Fellow defensive backs Lathan Ransom and Jordan Hancock are both likely middle- to late-round draft choices.
Ty Hamilton is projected to be Ohio State’s fourth defensive lineman drafted, with the potential to make it four defensive linemen in the first three rounds as The Athletic’s Dane Brugler recently projected Hamilton to be a third-round draft pick – just like his older brother DaVon was in 2020.
| Rank | Pos | Player |
|---|---|---|
| 17 | OT | Josh Simmons |
| 21 | WR | Emeka Egbuka |
| 37 | DT | Tyleik Williams |
| 38 | DE | Jack Sawyer |
| 39 | OL | Donovan Jackson |
| 43 | DE | JT Tuimoloau |
| 59 | RB | TreVeyon Henderson |
| 65 | RB | Quinshon Judkins |
| 72 | QB | Will Howard |
| 88 | CB | Denzel Burke |
| 100 | DT | Ty Hamilton |
| 103 | S | Lathan Ransom |
| 172 | C | Seth McLaughlin |
| 204 | LB | Cody Simon |
| 233 | CB | Jordan Hancock |
| *Rankings via NFL Mock Draft Database | ||
Cody Simon’s stock as a Day 3 draft pick at worst should also be solidified by how well he played in his senior season at Ohio State, which likely elevated Simon from being an undrafted free agent to a middle-round pick as he showed a different level of playmaking ability in his lone season as a full-time starter for the Buckeyes than he had in his previous seasons as a rotational player.
Assuming all of them are drafted, Ohio State’s 2025 draft class would set a program record with eight defensive players (all eight defensive starters who entered the draft) selected in the same year.
Ohio State should also have at least seven players drafted on offense with center Seth McLaughlin projected to be the Buckeyes’ seventh draft pick on that side of the ball. Even after his season-ending Achilles tear in November, McLaughlin is a safe bet to be drafted after winning the Rimington Trophy as college football’s best center in 2024.
Unless one of those 15 players surprisingly goes undrafted, Ohio State will tie the record for the most picks from one school in any draft since the draft was shortened to seven rounds in 1994. A 15th draft selection would also break Ohio State’s school record for the most picks in any draft, surpassing the previous mark of 14 total draft selections in 2004.
It’s not out of the question that Ohio State could even break Georgia’s record by having a 16th player drafted. Right tackle Josh Fryar and tight end Gee Scott Jr. were also starters for Ohio State this past season who are now looking to continue their careers in the NFL. Neither of them is currently projected as a probable draft pick, however, making it more likely that Ohio State will tie Georgia’s record than break it.
