At the conclusion of Ohio State’s pro day last week, Buckeyes cornerbacks coach Kerry Coombs posted a photo on his personal Twitter account that featured three of his former players.
The photo had Coombs flanked to his right by Eli Apple and Gareon Conley with Marshon Lattimore standing on his left. Conley and Lattimore just finished their workout in front of nine NFL head coaches and over 120 pro personnel; Apple was back in town to watch two of his former teammates go through something he did just one year ago.
Apple, of course, was selected No. 10 overall in the 2016 NFL Draft by the New York Giants. Lattimore and Conley might be joining him as first-round picks here shortly. If both do — and they’re both projected first-round picks — that would give Coombs three first-round corners in the last two seasons. Go back even further and add Bradley Roby and that would be four over the last four seasons.
Quick, someone photoshop Roby into that photo so Coombs can frame it and put it in his office. He’s building quite the resumé.
3 pretty good corners at the Woody for Pro Day today! #lovemyguys #cantwaittoseethemallatthenextlevel! #firstrounderseveryone! #BIA #POU pic.twitter.com/oI451BF2P7
— Kerry Coombs (@OsuCoachCoombs) March 23, 2017
“I think we’re going to do a story at some point on Coach Coombs,” Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer said recently. “I don’t know how many guys — some guys go careers without coaching four first roundings and we’ve had one in [four years], four of them.”
When asked about his recent success of developing first-round cornerback talent, Coombs essentially shrugged off the praise and credited his players.
“We just have a lot of really good players that come here to play football and they work really, really hard,” Coombs said. “I am blessed.”
Coombs came to Ohio State from Cincinnati before to the 2012 season. He’s served as the Buckeyes’ cornerbacks coach since then after he spent five seasons coaching defensive backs for the Bearcats. Prior to working under Brian Kelly and Butch Jones at UC, Coombs was a longtime high school coach at powerhouse Colerain High School in Cincinnati.
His ties to the Cincinnati area — and many other places around the country — make him an invaluable recruiter for the Ohio State staff, too. Now, as the Buckeyes continue to pump out these first-round picks at corner, prospects from around the country want to come to Columbus and play for Meyer and Coombs. Ohio State signed five cornerbacks in its 2017 class. Two are from Ohio, two are from Texas and one is from Florida.
When players arrive at Ohio State, no matter they come from, Coombs’ expectation is rather clear.
"It's just all about working hard and working to be a first-round draft pick," said junior Denzel Ward, who will be Ohio State’s No. 1 corner this fall and has a chance to be next in the pipeline.
It was Roby in 2014, Apple in 2016 and now, potentially, both Lattimore and Conley in 2017. That’s pretty much all Coombs has to say when he walks into the home of a cornerback prospect nowadays. The resumé speaks for itself.
And if there was any doubt Coombs would miss his two latest pupils hear their names called at next month’s NFL Draft, Ohio State’s cornerbacks coach quickly erased it. Coombs wouldn’t miss this.
“You better believe I’ll be there,” he said. “With bells on.”
