Latest NFL mock draft has Ohio State Buckeyes dominating first round

Ohio State has been dominating the college season so far. The current National Champions are undefeated in their quest for back-to-back titles and a plethora of Buckeye standouts are up for the sport’s most prestigious individual awards.

Will they dominate the top end of next year’s NFL Draft, too?

ESPN’s NFL Draft analysts Mel Kiper Jr. and Field Yates seem to think so, after projecting three Ohio State players being selected within the first five picks in their latest Mock Draft on the “First Draft” podcast.

Using an alternate picking format, and based off the current selection order, if the season ended today, Kiper starts off the run on Buckeyes by handing the Titans “the best defensive player in this draft”, linebacker Arvell Reese.

Said Kiper of Reese, who was recently announced as a semifinalist for the Butkus and Lombardi Award, “He can wear a lot of hats, he can be edge, he can be off-ball. He is a 6-4, 245 pounder from the number one team in the country, the Ohio State Buckeyes.”

Yates supported Kiper’s pick for Tennessee by saying: “I really think Arvell Reese, if he became a full-time pass rusher in the NFL, could be the kind of guy who changes your defense relatively quickly into his NFL career... He has been the best defensive player in all of college football.”

Two picks later, another Buckeyes’ name pops up in ESPN’s midseason mini-mock, as Kiper hands safety Caleb Downs to Miami fourth overall by stating: “Knowing this defense is so bad... I’m gonna go Caleb Downs here, the safety from Ohio State.”

Yates did point out, however, “He has not been quite as dynamic this year as he was a season ago, when he did look like the best defensive player on that Ohio State National Championship team. That being said, the skill set is exceptional, and the Dolphins need anybody in the defensive backfield.”

On the very next pick, Yates has the Giants taking standout wide receiver Carnell Tate, arguing: “He is exceptional. He looks so pro-ready to me. His route-running, his strength, his hands, the contested-catch ability. All of it is so good.”

The Buckeyes are already on a historic run, rewriting history almost on a weekly basis. Should Kiper and Yates’ projections hold, it would just add a little more to the phenomenal job head coach Ryan Day has done since taking over in 2019. Since the 2020 NFL Draft, 50 Ohio State players have been drafted into the NFL, including 14 first-rounders.

But, never in the 90 years of NFL and AFL drafts and 526 picks invested in Ohio State prospects to date, have the Buckeyes ever seen three of their own being taken within the Top-5 slots of any year.

While Ohio State has more urgent and important matters to take care of in the following weeks, including “The Game,” a probable berth in the Big Ten Championship Game, and of course the CFP, there’s a chance Buckeye fans everywhere will get another reason to celebrate when April comes around if Kiper and Yates are proved right.