COLUMBUS, Ohio -- In 2025, Jim Tressel’s Ohio State Buckeyes set an NFL Draft record by having 14 players taken and that record stood for 16 years. That group was headlined by former All-American Will Smith, who went 18th to the New Orleans Saints with Chris Gamble (28th) and Michael Jenkins (29th) joining him in the first round. It wasn’t until 2020 that someone tied it with LSU’s national championship team, producing 14 picks, headlined by former Buckeye Joe Burrow as the top pick to the Cincinnati Bengals. He was one of five first-round picks. Two years later, Georgia’s national title team broke through with 15 players taken, headlined by Travon Walker going first to the Jacksonville Jaguars. He was also one of five Day 1 picks. Now the Buckeyes have a chance to reclaim their NFL Draft crown while also coming off a national title and there’s a good chance they’ll do so. Ohio State has 17 players hoping to get drafted this weekend, 15 of whom got invites to the NFL Combine earlier this year. That’s already a good sign that, at the bare minimum, it could walk away having tied Georgia’s 2022 number. Surpassing Michigan’s 2024 number of 13 following its national title team might even be a given. And the blueprint for how it could happen already exists. Ohio State’s road to record-breaking might not look like Georgia’s and LSU’s, which loaded up on first-rounders to get off to a hot start before using the next six rounds to punctuate a quality draft. It’s not impossible, given that most mock drafts feature anywhere from zero to four Buckeyes hearing their name on Day 1. But just as was the case in 2004, the bulk of their draft success could come on Day 2. Ohio State has set itself up for a big NFL Draft, maybe even the biggest the school has ever seen. It’s the final step in punctuation a season where it finally got over the hump with Ryan Day as it head coach. The theme for the 2024 season was to ’Leave No Doubt.’ A record-breaking 2025 NFL Draft provides one final opportunity for this era of Buckeyes to do just that.