Ohio State’s 2022 NFL draft class was smaller than usual, but the Buckeyes should have a larger draft class in 2023.
Those two topics get most of our attention on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, just a few days after Ohio State had six players selected in the 2022 NFL draft.
This year’s NFL draft was a mixture of good and bad for the Buckeyes, as there were plenty of moments worth celebrating, like Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave (and Jameson Williams) going back-to-back and Jeremy Ruckert going to his favorite team. We talk about how great a recruiting pitch this year’s draft will be for Brian Hartline, predict which of those receivers will make the bigger immediate impact and analyze why Nicholas Petit-Frere might have landed in the best spot of Ohio State’s non-first-round picks.
There were also some disappointments, like Thayer Munford falling to the seventh round and Haskell Garrett going undrafted, and we talk about what might have precipitated their falls (beginning at 20:48) and whether that should be a warning sign for players using their extra year of eligibility.
At the 27:48 mark of the show, we begin to look ahead to next year’s NFL draft and which Buckeyes could hear their names called a year from now. We discuss how high C.J. Stroud and Jaxon Smith-Njigba could go, predict whether any other Buckeyes will join them in the first round and discuss how Ohio State could have as many as 10 or even more players selected in 2023 if they perform up to expectations this fall.
In the final 20 minutes of the show, we discuss the latest roster moves impacting the current Ohio State football and men’s basketball teams, as we consider why the Buckeyes brought in USC transfer Parker Lewis to bolster their kicking game and how Chris Holtmann’s squad will be impacted by the departure of Malaki Branham even though his decision to stay in the NBA draft wasn’t a surprise. Plus, we talk about the latest headlines surrounding NIL in college sports and why Ohio State isn’t using NIL as aggressively in recruiting as some other schools.
You can listen to Real Pod Wednesdays in the audio player above or wherever you listen to podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts.
