With 14 players selected in last weekend’s NFL Draft, Ohio State shattered
the record for most players drafted since the draft was cut to seven rounds in
1994. Miami formally held the record with 11.
The Buckeyes had 12 players taken in the first five rounds alone. The overall
number would of course have been 15 if Maurice Clarett was allowed to be part of
the draft.
In a March column, I projected where OSU’s players would be taken. Let’s
revisit those predictions.
WILL SMITH
Selected in the first round (18th overall) by the New Orleans Saints.
Bucknuts projection: First round
Analysis: Great pick by the Saints here. Smith was the first DE off the board
and it was a bit surprising he didn’t go in the top 15. Smith joins former
Buckeyes LeCharles Bentley, Cie Grant and Kevin Houser in the Big Easy and will
be a starter from the get go.
CHRIS GAMBLE
Selected in the first round (28th overall) by the Carolina Panthers.
Bucknuts projection: First round
Analysis: Good situation for Gamble. He gets to go to the NFC champions, but
won’t be rushed into action. He is likely to begin the season as the nickel
back, unless he can’t beat out Artrell Hawkins.
MICHAEL JENKINS
Selected in the first round (29th overall) by the Atlanta Falcons.
Bucknuts projection: Late first round
Analysis: Another great situation. Jenkins gets to play with one of the best
quarterbacks in the NFL in Mike Vick and he won’t have the pressure of being
the No. 1 receiver. The Falcons inked Peerless Price to a huge contact last
year. Most had Jenkins pegged for the second round, but 6-5 receivers with good
hands that run 4.4 40s rarely last that long. It was good to see “Mr. Clutch”
finally get his just due... we can’t call him the most underrated Buckeye of
all time anymore.
BEN HARTSOCK
Selected in the third round (68th overall) by the Indianapolis Colts.
Bucknuts projection: Fourth round
Analysis: This is going to sound like a broken record, but yet another great
situation for a former Buckeye. Like Jenkins, Hartsock gets to play with one of
the top QBs in football in Peyton Manning. He also gets to stay close to home
and play with former OSU safety Mike Doss. It was a bit surprising that the
Colts took Hartsock considering they used a first round pick on Dallas Clark
last year, but Tony Dungy likes using two TE sets and came away from the combine
very impressed with Governor Hartsock.
TIM ANDERSON
Selected in the third round (74th overall) by the Buffalo Bills.
Bucknuts projection: Late second round
Analysis: Yep, another great fit. The blue-collar Anderson goes to a
blue-collar team like the Bills. He will have a chance to start right away and
will definitely be in the rotation on the D-line. I thought he might sneak into
the second round if there was a run on defensive tackles, but third round is
very good for Anderson.
BJ SANDER
Selected in the third round (87th overall) by the Green Bay Packers.
Bucknuts projection: Sixth round
Analysis: This was the first pick that made me almost fall out of my chair
(not counting the Bengals taking Chris Perry in the first round). Yes, Sander is
a great punter, but the third round? Probably a reach by the Packers for a guy
that only started one full year in college.
This just goes to show that size matters, even for punters. Sander has NFL
size, while the shorter Andy Groom was only an undrafted free agent two years
ago. The last Buckeye punter to go this high? Tom Tupa to the Phoenix Cardinals
in 1988. But he could also play quarterback.
DARRION SCOTT
Selected in the third round (88th overall) by the Minnesota Vikings.
Bucknuts projection: Fourth round
Analysis: Good fit for Scott and the Vikings. They needed another
pass-rushing DE and that’s exactly what Scott will give them. He played both
DE and DT at Ohio State, but will strictly play on the outside in the NFL.
ALEX STEPANOVICH
Selected in the fourth round (100th overall) to the Arizona Cardinals.
Bucknuts projection: Fourth round
Analysis: Stepanovich is 2-0 in Sun Devil Stadium and now gets to make that
his full-time home. Usually, this would not be a good team to go to, but with
Dennis Green taking over, the Cardinals won’t be down for too much longer.
Stepanovich was hoping to go late on day one, but will get a chance to step in
as a starter - either at center or guard - right away as a rookie. It’s a good
fit for him.
WILL ALLEN
Selected in the fourth round (111th overall) by the Tampa Bay Bucs.
Bucknuts projection: Fourth round
Analysis: Another good situation here. Allen gets to go to a winning team and
will get a chance to play right away. John Lynch left Tampa as a free agent this
year, opening up a spot in the secondary.
CRAIG KRENZEL
Selected in the fifth round (148th overall) by the Chicago Bears.
Bucknuts projection: Sixth or seventh round
Analysis: Throughout his career at OSU, we kept hearing that Krenzel would
never make it in the NFL. Well, the Bears blew that theory out of the water by
using a relatively early pick on Krenzel. No, he is not guaranteed to make the
active roster, but the odds are definitely in his favor. Behind second-year
starter Rex Grossman, the Bears have just one other quarterback under contract:
Jonathan Quinn. Krenzel should make the team as a third-stringer at worst and
will end up holding a clipboard - not a stethoscope - for the next few years.
DREW CARTER
Selected in the fifth round (163rd overall) by the Carolina Panthers.
Bucknuts projection: Seventh round (In fairness, that was made before Carter
busted a 4.3 at his personal pro day in early April.)
Analysis: Good to see Carter rewarded for all his hard work. No one had worse
luck during their college career than this guy and now he gets to go to a good
team with a very good chance of making the team as a backup behind Steve Smith
and Mushin Muhammad.
ROB REYNOLDS
Selected in the fifth round (165th overall) by the Tennessee Titans.
Bucknuts projection: Sixth round
Analysis: Reynolds will team with former Buckeyes Eddie George (maybe) and
Donnie Nickey and should make the active roster based on his special teams
skills alone. The Kentucky native also gets to stay close to home.
SHANE OLIVEA
Selected in the seventh round (209th overall) by the San Diego Chargers.
Bucknuts projection: Third round
Analysis: Not sure what I was thinking with that prediction… Olivea and
Sander were the ones I had no clue on. After the Senior Bowl, it was reported
that Olivea’s stock was on the rise. As it turns out, it was on the rise from
undrafted free agent, to seventh round pick.
ADRIEN CLARKE
Selected in the seventh round (227th overall) by the Philadelphia Eagles.
Bucknuts projection: Fifth round
After Clarke cut his weight all the way down to 328 pounds, I thought he
might go earlier, but as it turns out he was lucky to be drafted at all. Like
Olivea, practice squad is likely in his future.
* Well, there you have it. It was quite a couple of days for the former
Buckeyes. It just adds to their legacy: won a national championship; broke the
draft record. Very impressive. And this is a record that might never be broke.
Fourteen players drafted? Yeah, that might stand for a while.
Also, it should be noted that Scott McMullen was signed by the Eagles. If he
doesn’t stick there, look for No. 15 with the Columbus Destroyers next year.
Chris Spielman has already offered him a job if the NFL doesn’t work out.
And in case you’re wondering, I had Clarett as an early second round pick.
We’ll see where he goes in the supplemental draft, if he’s allowed to go
that route.
REAL AMERICAN HERO
Pat Tillman, the Army Ranger that was killed in action in Afghanistan last
week, will go down as one of the most intriguing stories in NFL history. How
many guys would give up a million dollar contract to go fight for their country?
Not many, but that’s exactly what Tillman did. He was inspired by the Sept.
11, 2001, terrorists attacks and left his job with the Cardinals following the
2001 season.
Ohio State played against Tillman in the 1997 Rose Bowl. Yes, that was him:
the hard-hitting linebacker with the long hair for Arizona State. He was later a
seventh-round pick by the Cardinals and was converted to safety. He quickly
became a starter and will always be remembered as an American hero. The NFL is
considering dedicating the 2004 season to Tillman.
ON THE BACKBURNER
If Todd Boeckman is redshirted this fall as expected, he will be entering his
second of three freshman seasons. Boeckman came to OSU last year as a grayshirt
and was able to practice with the team in preseason camp and during bowl
preparations.
This year, in order to get two years between he and Justin Zwick and Troy
Smith, Boeckman will probably redshirt. He had a good spring and could challenge
for the backup job, but all things being equal, Boeckman will redshirt. If he
doesn’t, the grayshirt year would have been a waste. All it would have meant
was that he missed out on a number of practices during the season.
Finally, in 2005, Boeckman will serve the last of his freshman seasons.
Looking way ahead, he is in line to be the starter in 2007 and ’08.
COACHING HOTBED?
The Big Ten has arguably the best group of football coaches in the country.
Tressel has five overall national championships and one in just three years
at OSU.
Not a big Lloyd Carr fan here, but you can’t argue with his results.
Other top coaches in the conference include: Barry Alvarez (where was
Wisconsin’s program before he got there?), Kirk Ferentz (NFL bound eventually,
but has done a great job at Iowa), Joe Tiller (Terrific job on both sides of the
ball at Purdue) and Glen Mason (Winning bowl games at Minnesota two years in a
row? That’s a foreign concept in Minneapolis, but Mason has been able to pull
it off).
Joe Paterno is obviously near the end (I bet this is his last year) but he is
a living legend.
The jury is still out on the other coaches in the conference, but overall, it’s
an impressive group.
IN A RADIO CONVERSATION…
Tressel and Spielman each said that Ohio State’s current crop of
linebackers is the best group ever at the school. You won’t get any
argument here, but that was a bold statement.
The projected starters are: A.J. Hawk, Anthony Schlegel and Bobby Carpenter.
The top backups are: John Kerr, Thomas Matthews and Mike D’Andrea. When your
backups could be starters at pretty much any school in the conference, you know
you’re in good shape.
SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY?
During the NFL draft, I saw the same “Simon Fraser” pass across the
screen. “What the heck? Fraser didn’t come out early,” was my first
thought.
Of course, it wasn’t defensive end Simon Fraser from OSU, it was referring
to Simon Fraser University in Canada. An offensive lineman named Obby Khan was
from SFU.
TAILBACK HELP
Definitely the most pleasant surprise of the spring was the play of tailback
Tony Pittman. He should still be in high school, but of course graduated early
so he could go through spring ball at OSU.
Pittman doesn’t come close to passing John Cooper’s “Look Test.” He
has very skinny legs and his upper-body isn’t very big either. However, none
of that matters. Pittman has a quick burst, good vision and runs hard. He plays
bigger than he looks, but still has the speed. He’s a slasher and will
definitely contribute as a true freshman this fall.