BuckeyeCardinal
Cantankerous Curmudgeon
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With a quote from Step:
OSU sets mark with 14 draftees
Buckeyes now hold record for most players taken in seven rounds
Monday, April 26, 2004
Tim May
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Shane Olivea believes the record book is going to reflect fondly on the outgoing class of Ohio State football players.
With the 2002 national championship already on their resume, these Buckeyes added another mark with 14 players selected yesterday in the NFL draft, the most from one school in a seven-round draft.
There were OSU players seven taken Saturday, including three in the first round, led by defensive end Will Smith. There were seven drafted yesterday, capped in the seventh round by Olivea going to San Diego and fellow offensive lineman Adrien Clarke going to Philadelphia. Both would have preferred earlier calls, Olivea said, but what’s important is they were picked.
"This group, we left on a high note," Olivea said. "We set a record not only as the No. 1 class in a seven-round draft but also as the most players ever taken from Ohio State in any draft. And it would have been 15 if Maurice Clarett hadn’t been blocked by the courts.
"But that record, that’s something we’re going to be able to (enjoy) for a very long time."
The previous high for a class from OSU was 12, taken both in 1971 and 1975, in 17-round drafts.
The previous overall record in the 11-year history of the seven-round draft belonged to Miami, which had 11 players taken in 2002. The Hurricanes set another record Saturday with six players picked in the first round, but they didn’t have another player go until the seventh round, when three were called.
OSU, on the other hand, almost hit for the cycle, with three players going in the first round, four in the third, two in the fourth, three in the fifth and two in the seventh. Included were quarterback Craig Krenzel, a fifth-round pick by Chicago, and receiver Drew Carter, who, only five months removed from knee surgery, was taken by Carolina in the fifth.
Yesterday started for OSU with center Alex Stepanovich being the fourth player picked in the fourth round, going to Arizona. He had a feeling a cascade of Buckeyes would follow, and it did, including safety Will Allen going in the fourth round to Tampa Bay and linebacker Robert Reynolds going in the fifth to Tennessee.
Reynolds laughed at his good fortune. His parents live in Bowling Green, Ky., just 40 miles north of Nashville, and have had season tickets to Titans games.
"That’s why this whole town of Bowling Green just blew up when I got picked by Tennessee," Reynolds said by phone. "I couldn’t think of anything better."
He was the 12 th OSU player taken overall, which made him the record breaker. But it’s the group as a whole that will stand out, Stepanovich said.
"Miami might have had six guys taken in the first round, but we’re more the blue-collar types," Stepanovich said. "We were always hungry, we were always fighting, and we’ve always wanted to prove ourselves against the best in the country. I think you’re going to see this turn out to be one of the best classes ever from one school."
Having 14 players in one draft says a lot, Carter said.
"It means we were a talented group, that everything we did, it wasn’t just luck," Carter said. "We worked hard for it, and I think this draft proves Ohio State has got some players."
The poster boy for that respect quotient would have to be Krenzel. Despite Krenzel leading the Buckeyes to a 25-2 record the last two seasons, some experts thought he might not get a call. Then the Bears reinforced a draft secret: You only need to convince one team of your worth. Rex Grossman is the Bears’ starter, but they looked at Krenzel’s body of work and think he can help them at least as an understudy.
"What else can you ask him to do? He won big games when he had to win," Bears director of college scouting Greg Gabriel said. "He has always come up with the big play when he had to make the big play."
Besides, based on Ohio State’s conservative offensive philosophy, "he’s probably a little underdeveloped," Gabriel said. "But that’s not his fault. That’s just the system he’s been in. He’s got a lot of talent."
And apparently he had a lot of talent around him, as the 2004 NFL draft will attest.
OSU sets mark with 14 draftees
Buckeyes now hold record for most players taken in seven rounds
Monday, April 26, 2004
Tim May
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Shane Olivea believes the record book is going to reflect fondly on the outgoing class of Ohio State football players.
With the 2002 national championship already on their resume, these Buckeyes added another mark with 14 players selected yesterday in the NFL draft, the most from one school in a seven-round draft.
There were OSU players seven taken Saturday, including three in the first round, led by defensive end Will Smith. There were seven drafted yesterday, capped in the seventh round by Olivea going to San Diego and fellow offensive lineman Adrien Clarke going to Philadelphia. Both would have preferred earlier calls, Olivea said, but what’s important is they were picked.
"This group, we left on a high note," Olivea said. "We set a record not only as the No. 1 class in a seven-round draft but also as the most players ever taken from Ohio State in any draft. And it would have been 15 if Maurice Clarett hadn’t been blocked by the courts.
"But that record, that’s something we’re going to be able to (enjoy) for a very long time."
The previous high for a class from OSU was 12, taken both in 1971 and 1975, in 17-round drafts.
The previous overall record in the 11-year history of the seven-round draft belonged to Miami, which had 11 players taken in 2002. The Hurricanes set another record Saturday with six players picked in the first round, but they didn’t have another player go until the seventh round, when three were called.
OSU, on the other hand, almost hit for the cycle, with three players going in the first round, four in the third, two in the fourth, three in the fifth and two in the seventh. Included were quarterback Craig Krenzel, a fifth-round pick by Chicago, and receiver Drew Carter, who, only five months removed from knee surgery, was taken by Carolina in the fifth.
Yesterday started for OSU with center Alex Stepanovich being the fourth player picked in the fourth round, going to Arizona. He had a feeling a cascade of Buckeyes would follow, and it did, including safety Will Allen going in the fourth round to Tampa Bay and linebacker Robert Reynolds going in the fifth to Tennessee.
Reynolds laughed at his good fortune. His parents live in Bowling Green, Ky., just 40 miles north of Nashville, and have had season tickets to Titans games.
"That’s why this whole town of Bowling Green just blew up when I got picked by Tennessee," Reynolds said by phone. "I couldn’t think of anything better."
He was the 12 th OSU player taken overall, which made him the record breaker. But it’s the group as a whole that will stand out, Stepanovich said.
"Miami might have had six guys taken in the first round, but we’re more the blue-collar types," Stepanovich said. "We were always hungry, we were always fighting, and we’ve always wanted to prove ourselves against the best in the country. I think you’re going to see this turn out to be one of the best classes ever from one school."
Having 14 players in one draft says a lot, Carter said.
"It means we were a talented group, that everything we did, it wasn’t just luck," Carter said. "We worked hard for it, and I think this draft proves Ohio State has got some players."
The poster boy for that respect quotient would have to be Krenzel. Despite Krenzel leading the Buckeyes to a 25-2 record the last two seasons, some experts thought he might not get a call. Then the Bears reinforced a draft secret: You only need to convince one team of your worth. Rex Grossman is the Bears’ starter, but they looked at Krenzel’s body of work and think he can help them at least as an understudy.
"What else can you ask him to do? He won big games when he had to win," Bears director of college scouting Greg Gabriel said. "He has always come up with the big play when he had to make the big play."
Besides, based on Ohio State’s conservative offensive philosophy, "he’s probably a little underdeveloped," Gabriel said. "But that’s not his fault. That’s just the system he’s been in. He’s got a lot of talent."
And apparently he had a lot of talent around him, as the 2004 NFL draft will attest.
