Ten best Ohio State Football NFL careers
By Ryan Stano
5. Jack Tatum
There are very few players who were more feared on the field than Jack Tatum. Tatum started off his career by playing both running back and cornerback for the Ohio State football team but eventually switched full-time to defense. That was a move that worked wonders for him.
While with the Buckeyes, he made First-team All-Big Ten three times, was a consensus All-American in 1969, and a unanimous All-American in 1970. Tatum also won two national championships under Woody Hayes before being a first-round pick of the Raiders in 1971.
Tatum immediately gained a reputation as a hard-hitter over the middle. He was not going to let you be open over the middle of the field without paying a big price. No more was that shown than his hit on Vikings receiver Sammy White in Super Bowl XI. Look it up. It’s as hard of a hit as you’ll see.
Tatum would go on to make the Pro Bowl three consecutive years from 1973-75. He was also named Second-team All-Pro in 1974. While he doesn’t have some of the accolades as some of the other Buckeyes on this list, he was one of the faces of the Raiders during a time when the Raiders were the face of the NFL.
His notoriety as a hard-hitter is what puts him so high on this list. If you talk to receivers from that era, he’s one of the guys that they wanted to avoid at all costs. That says something about how fierce of a guy he was. I certainly know the next guy on this list wouldn’t have wanted to see him on the field.