Scarlet Sunrise: Three Ohio State players in top 11 of ESPN preseason mock draft

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Three Ohio State players in top 11 of ESPN preseason mock draft

The 2023 college football season is about to start. But the mock draft season never ends.

ESPN NFL Draft analyst Matt Miller released his preseason first-round predictions for 2024 Thursday. His projection features five Ohio State players, including three in the first 11 picks.

Here’s where Miller has the Buckeyes prospects landing next spring:

• WR Marvin Harrison Jr., No. 2 overall (Arizona Cardinals)
• EDGE J.T. Tuimoloau, No. 10 overall (Chicago Bears)
• WR Emeka Egbuka, No. 11 overall (Chicago Bears)
• EDGE Jack Sawyer, No. 19 overall (Seattle Seahawks)
• DT Mike Hall Jr., No. 26 overall (Jacksonville Jaguars)

That’s a pair of Ohio State players joining former Buckeyes quarterback Justin Fields in Chicago, including Egbuka, who started his collegiate career the year after Fields left for the NFL.

Last year, now-former Ohio State offensive tackle Paris Johnson Jr. was a trendy mock to the Bears. The first-team All-American ended up going No. 6 overall to the Arizona Cardinals, though.

Harrison, by the way, is still being projected to be the highest-drafted wide receiver since Calvin Johnson Jr. was taken No. 2 overall by the Detroit Lions in 2007.

If Tuimoloau were to go No. 10 overall, he’d become the fourth Buckeyes defensive end to land in the top 10 since 2016. The other three — Joey Bosa, Nick Bosa and Chase Young — each went in the top three and each went on to be AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year in their respective draft classes.

Tuimoloau, Sawyer and Hall all being drafted in the first round would be a major success for longtime Ohio State D-Line coach Larry Johnson and the Jim Knowles defense as a whole. After all, the Buckeyes haven’t had a defensive player taken in the first round of the last three drafts.

Buckeyes special teams notebook: new long snapper, returning punter, ongoing kicking battle

Ohio State will look different in the third phase of the game this season.

The Buckeyes have a new long snapper. This offseason, they said goodbye to veteran Bradley Robinson and welcomed in Arizona State transfer John Ferlmann.

Ohio State will also have a new place kicker. Parker Lewis, who transferred in from USC last season, and Jayden Fielding, who handled kickoffs for the Buckeyes in 2022, are competing to replace Noah Ruggles.

Special teams coordinator Parker Fleming does have a returner at punter, though. Jesse Mirco is back for his third year in the position and currently ranks fourth in Buckeyes history with a career punt average of 44.2 yards per boot.

For more information on all that, plus updates on Ohio State’s return game, head on over here for a complete special teams notebook.

Three remaining unknowns one week before Ohio State opens season

Ohio State’s season opener at Indiana is just about a week away. Most offseason questions have been answered about this Buckeyes team. Perhaps most notably, the offensive line appears to be set after months of musical chairs at three open spots in the trenches.

But, of course, there are a couple unsettled position battles. Everyone knows about the two-way race for QB1: earlier this week, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day said neither Kyle McCord nor Devin Brown has done enough to win the job, at least to that point.

The less discussed competition is at the place kicker position, where Parker Lewis and Jayden Fielding continue to jockey for the starting role.

Maybe the biggest unknown, however, is just how much this Jim Knowles defense will improve, if any, in 2023.

Lettermen Row unpacks all three of those topics here.

Counting down

Buckeyes vs. Indiana: 8 days
Buckeyes vs. Michigan: 92 days

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