Ohio State Football: Lack of defensive draft picks is alarming

The Ohio State football team had six players drafted in the 2023 NFL Draft. Only one of them was on the defensive side of the ball.

The Ohio State football team had six players drafted in the NFL Draft for the second consecutive year. In both years, only one defensive player was drafted. In 2022 defensive end Tyreke Smith was a fifth-round selection while Zach Harrison was drafted in the third round in 2023.

When you look at Ohio State’s defense in the previous couple of seasons, that makes a ton of sense. Ohio State has not had the impact players that it once had during the Urban Meyer era. And it mostly has to do with recruiting and development, especially in the secondary. The only real shot that the Buckeyes had to have a secondary player drafted this year was safety Ronnie Hickman, who wound up getting signed by the Cleveland Browns as an undrafted free agent.

At a school like Ohio State that just is not good enough. The Buckeyes used to pride themselves on being BIA in the secondary, pumping out NFL talent into the draft each and every offseason under Kerry Coombs. Where are the Denzel Ward’s, Marshon Lattimore’s, Jeff Okudah’s, or Gareon Conley’s?

While admittedly, the recruiting is getting better, these previous two drafts should serve as notice to head coach Ryan Day and defensive coordinator Jim Knowles that they can’t afford recruiting dips if they expect to win championships and beat Michigan. The Buckeyes need impact players at impact positions, and it needs to start in 2023.

Mike Hall at defensive tackle, J.T. Tuimoloau at defensive end, and Denzel Burke at corner need to be the pillars of this 2023 defense and they need to set the tone in fall camp. All three have a chance at being high draft picks if they come out and play to their potential. And if they do that, Ohio State should have a very successful 2023 season.