Ohio State football: 6 things to know about the Buckeyes who were selected in NFL Draft

1. Ohio State had four players drafted.

The Arizona Cardinals chose Marvin Harrison Jr. in the first round, the Cleveland Browns chose Mike Hall Jr. in the second round, the Houston Texans took Cade Stover in the fourth round, and the Las Vegas Raiders picked Tommy Eichenberg in the fifth round.

That is the smallest number of Buckeyes to hear their names called since 2013 when only three were picked. Ohio State also had three players drafted in 2005 and ‘08, the smallest total since none were chosen in 1998.

Ten picks in a two-year span is the smallest for Ohio State since there were nine combined in 2013 and ‘14.

2. Ohio State had a first-round pick for the eighth year in a row.

Harrison being the only first-rounder was a bit of an oddity.

Ohio State had five first-round picks in 2016, three in ‘17, ‘20 and ‘23 and two in 2018, ‘19 and ‘22.

The 2021 draft in which the Bears chose Justin Fields was the only one in the previous seven without multiple Ohio State first-rounders.

3. The defensive back draft drought continues.

Ohio State has not had a player from the secondary drafted since cornerback Shaun Wade went to the Ravens in the fifth round in 2021.

The last safety to be picked is still Jordan Fuller, who went to the Rams in the sixth round in 2020.

Ohio State’s three-year defensive back draft drought matches the longest in the common draft era, which began in 1967. That was actually part of a larger 10-year stretch that began in 1960 and ended with Ted Provost in 1970.

4. Five Ohio State tight ends have been drafted in the last 10 years.

Cade Stover going to the Texans in the fourth round continued a strong run for the position that began with Jeff Heuerman (Broncos) in 2015 and continued a year later with Nick Vannett (Seahawks).

In 2021, the Jaguars drafted Luke Farrell, and Jeremy Ruckert was picked by the Jets a year later.

Prior to Heuerman, no Ohio State tight ends were drafted in 10 consecutive drafts.

5. Forty-eight Ohio State receivers have been drafted in the common era.

Harrison is the fourth Ohio State receiver to be chosen in the first round in the last three years and the 11th all time.

He follows Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson in 2022 and Jaxon Smith-Njigba last year.

The other Ohio State receivers drafted in the first round are Joey Galloway (Seahawks, 1995), Terry Glenn (Patriots, 1996), David Boston (Cardinals, 1999), Michael Jenkins (Falcons, 2004), Santonio Holmes (Steelers, 2006), Anthony Gonzalez (Colts, 2007), Ted Ginn Jr. (Dolphins, 2007), Olave (Saints, 2022), Wilson (Jets, 2022) and Smith-Njigba (Seahawks, 2023).

6. Hall is the 38th Ohio State player drafted by the Browns.

The Cleveland franchise chose 19 players from Ohio State while they were run by former Ohio State coach Paul Brown, who was fired in 1963.

Since then, the franchise has drafted another 19 Buckeyes, and the total of 38 is the most for any franchise.

Brown went on to help found the Bengals, who joined the league in 1968 and lead the league in draft picks from Ohio State in that span with 20.

The Cardinals, who have been part of every draft since 1936, also have 20 draft picks from Ohio State while the Texans have six and the Raiders have 13.

The Texans joined the league in 2002 while the Raiders were originally an AFL team that began drafting with the NFL in 1967.

The Rams, who were also founded in Cleveland but left for Los Angeles in 1946, have drafted 28 players from Ohio State. That is third behind the Bears (31).