7 things to know about Ohio State and the NFL Draft

Entering Thursday night, USC has the most No. 1 overall draft picks in the common era (since 1967) with five.

Oklahoma has four and Ohio State has three, so Murray going No. 1 would let the Sooners tie the Trojans for the most while Bosa being the pick would move the Buckeyes into a second-place tie with OU.

Auburn and Stanford also have three No. 1 overall picks since 1967.

2. Dwayne Haskins is looking to end some serious droughts. 

More than two decades have passed since a Big Ten quarterback was drafted in the first round (Kerry Collins, Penn State, 1995), and more than three decades have passed since an Ohio State quarterback was a first-round pick (Art Schlichter, 1982).

From 1996-2018, the Pac-12 (previously the Pac-10) has produced 15 first-round quarterbacks while the SEC has produced 11 with nine coming from the Big 12 and eight from the ACC.

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The Big East, which ceased existence as a football conference six years ago, has produced three more first-round quarterbacks than the Big Ten while the AAC, which replaced the Big East in 2013, also has three first-round QBs.

Fifteen Ohio State quarterbacks have been drafted in the common era, but Schlichter is the only first-rounder.

The last Ohio State quarterback drafted is Cardale Jones, who went to the Bills in the fourth round in 2016.

3. If Bosa and Haskins are both selected in the top five, Ohio State would become the first school to feature multiple top five selections in three NFL Drafts in the common era. 

That also happened in 2016 (Joey Bosa, Ezekiel Elliott) and 1997 (Orlando Pace, Shawn Springs).

Haskins and Nick Bosa could give Ohio State two first-round selections for the fourth consecutive year, and no other school has had multiple first-round selections in each of the last three drafts.

If a third Ohio State player is taken in the first round, it would mark the fifth time since 2004 and third time in the last four years that has happened.

4. The Bosas can make some family history. 

Nick Bosa is expected to be the No. 2 pick — if not No. 1.

Assuming he goes in the first round, his father, John, will be the second man who was a first-round pick with two sons taken in the first round as well.

(Joey Bosa was a first-round pick of the Chargers in 2016 while John went to the Dolphins in 1987.)

The other is Archie Manning, who was a drafted in the first round by the Saints in 1971 and saw his sons Peyton and Eli respectively go in the first round in 1998 and 2004.

Joey and Nick Bosa are looking to become the eighth set of brothers to be selected in the first round since 2000.

5. Bosa is expected to be Ohio State’s fourth defensive player selected in the first round in as many years and the fifth in the past six years.

Since 2000, the Buckeyes’ 20 defensive players selected in the first round are three more than any other school.

Bosa would also be the fourth defensive end taking in two years after Sam Hubbard, Tyquan Lewis and Jalyn Holmes all heard their names called in the 2018 draft.

Overall, Ohio State has had 142 defensive players selected in the common era and 151 offensive players drafted.

6. Ohio State has produced almost twice as many first-round draft picks as any other Big Ten team in the common era. 

OSU’s 66 first-rounders are 30 more than No. 2 Michigan’s 36 and Penn State’s 34.

(Sixteen of PSU’s have come since the Nittany Lions joined the league in 1993.)

Overall, Ohio State is No. 2 in first-round picks in the common era, and that is likely to remain true after this year, too.

Southern California leads the way with 70 while Miami (Fla.) has 60 and Alabama 51.

7. The 2014 class could join rare company. 

This draft will close the door for the group of Buckeyes who signed in 2014.

Eight players have been drafted from the class of 23 so far with at least two (Parris Campbell and Terry McLaurin) and possibly more members likely to be selected this week.

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Since the draft was reduced to seven rounds in 1994, two Ohio State classes have produced double-digit draft picks. The 25-member class of 2002 had 12 players drafted while the 1998 lass had 11 draft picks despite consisting of only 16 members (that is an insane 69 percent of signees being drafted).