{"id":9217,"date":"2025-04-29T14:49:15","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T14:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asport.com.ng\/?p=9217"},"modified":"2025-04-29T14:49:15","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T14:49:15","slug":"how-many-ohio-state-players-will-go-in-the-first-round-of-the-2026-nfl-draft-buckeye-talk-podcast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asport.com.ng\/?p=9217","title":{"rendered":"How many Ohio State players will go in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft? Buckeye Talk podcast"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Projected First-Round Picks from Ohio State<\/h1>\n<h3>1. <strong>Caleb Downs \u2013 Safety<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Caleb Downs, who transferred from Alabama to Ohio State, has quickly established himself as one of the premier safeties in college football. His versatility, football IQ, and athleticism make him a top prospect. In early mock drafts, Downs is projected to be a top-10 pick, with some placing him as high as 6th overall to the Carolina Panthers.<\/p>\n<h3>2. <strong>Carnell Tate \u2013 Wide Receiver<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Carnell Tate has emerged as a dynamic playmaker in Ohio State&#8217;s receiving corps. His route-running precision and ability to make contested catches have caught the attention of NFL scouts. Tate is projected to be selected in the latter half of the first round, with some mock drafts placing him at 27th overall to the Washington Commanders.<\/p>\n<h3>3. <strong>Max Klare \u2013 Tight End<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>A transfer from Purdue, Max Klare has become a reliable target in Ohio State&#8217;s offense. His size and catching ability make him an intriguing prospect at the tight end position. Klare is projected to be a late first-round pick, with some mock drafts placing him at 22nd overall to the Los Angeles Chargers.<\/p>\n<h3>4. <strong>Sonny Styles \u2013 Linebacker<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Sonny Styles is known for his versatility and athleticism on the defensive side of the ball. He can play multiple positions and has a knack for making big plays. Styles is projected to be selected in the mid-first round, with some mock drafts placing him at 20th overall to the Minnesota Vikings.<\/p>\n<h2>Other Notable Buckeyes to Watch<\/h2>\n<p>Beyond the projected first-rounders, Ohio State has several other players who could rise into first-round consideration with strong performances in the upcoming season:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Donovan Jackson \u2013 Offensive Lineman<\/strong>: Known for his versatility, Jackson has experience at both guard and tackle positions. His adaptability and strength make him a valuable asset on the offensive line.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Tyleik Williams \u2013 Defensive Tackle<\/strong>: Williams has shown flashes of dominance on the defensive line. With continued development, he could become a first-round talent.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Insights from the Buckeye Talk Podcast<\/h2>\n<p>The Buckeye Talk podcast, hosted by Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird, and Stephen Means, has been instrumental in providing in-depth analysis of Ohio State football and its players&#8217; NFL prospects. They have highlighted the potential of players like Caleb Downs and Carnell Tate, emphasizing their readiness for the next level. The podcast also discusses the development of other players who could make a leap into first-round consideration with strong performances in the upcoming season.<\/p>\n<p>Ohio State continues to be a breeding ground for NFL talent. With players like Caleb Downs, Carnell Tate, Max Klare, and Sonny Styles projected to go in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft, the Buckeyes are poised to make a significant impact. Additionally, players like Donovan Jackson and Tyleik Williams have the potential to rise into first-round contention. As the college football season unfolds, these projections will become clearer, but it&#8217;s evident that Ohio State&#8217;s presence will be strongly felt in the 2026 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Projected First-Round Picks from Ohio State 1. Caleb Downs \u2013 Safety Caleb Downs, who transferred from Alabama to Ohio State, has quickly established himself as one of the premier safeties &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":9221,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[476,478,479,480],"class_list":["post-9217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","tag-ohio-state","tag-ohio-state-buckeyes-news","tag-ohio-state-football-news","tag-ohio-state-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How many Ohio State players will go in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft? Buckeye Talk podcast<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Caleb Downs, who transferred from Alabama to Ohio State, has quickly established himself as one of the premier safeties in college football..\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/asport.com.ng\/?p=9217\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How many Ohio State players will go in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft? Buckeye Talk podcast\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Caleb Downs, who transferred from Alabama to Ohio State, has quickly established himself as one of the premier safeties in college football..\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/asport.com.ng\/?p=9217\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Asport\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-29T14:49:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Admin1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Admin1\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/asport.com.ng\\\/?p=9217#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/asport.com.ng\\\/?p=9217\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Admin1\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/asport.com.ng\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a63da2e56319023144668e6717055c09\"},\"headline\":\"How many Ohio State players will go in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft? Buckeye Talk podcast\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-29T14:49:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/asport.com.ng\\\/?p=9217\"},\"wordCount\":506,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/asport.com.ng\\\/?p=9217#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"keywords\":[\"Ohio State\",\"Ohio State Buckeyes News\",\"Ohio State Football News\",\"Ohio State News\"],\"articleSection\":[\"FOOTBALL\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/asport.com.ng\\\/?p=9217#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/asport.com.ng\\\/?p=9217\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/asport.com.ng\\\/?p=9217\",\"name\":\"How many Ohio State players will go in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft? Buckeye Talk podcast\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/asport.com.ng\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/asport.com.ng\\\/?p=9217#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/asport.com.ng\\\/?p=9217#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-29T14:49:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/asport.com.ng\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a63da2e56319023144668e6717055c09\"},\"description\":\"Caleb Downs, who transferred from Alabama to Ohio State, has quickly established himself as one of the premier safeties in college football..\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/asport.com.ng\\\/?p=9217#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/asport.com.ng\\\/?p=9217\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/asport.com.ng\\\/?p=9217#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/asport.com.ng\\\/?p=9217#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/asport.com.ng\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How many Ohio State players will go in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft? Buckeye Talk podcast\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/asport.com.ng\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/asport.com.ng\\\/\",\"name\":\"Asport\",\"description\":\"Always for Sport\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/asport.com.ng\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/asport.com.ng\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a63da2e56319023144668e6717055c09\",\"name\":\"Admin1\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d3f1a3acc2b5542dbfb9acb9f1c3f1ed07e528b7aa9bb345a0ba2eaa8c84ffb0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d3f1a3acc2b5542dbfb9acb9f1c3f1ed07e528b7aa9bb345a0ba2eaa8c84ffb0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d3f1a3acc2b5542dbfb9acb9f1c3f1ed07e528b7aa9bb345a0ba2eaa8c84ffb0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Admin1\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/asport.com.ng\\\/?author=6\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How many Ohio State players will go in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft? Buckeye Talk podcast","description":"Caleb Downs, who transferred from Alabama to Ohio State, has quickly established himself as one of the premier safeties in college football..","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/asport.com.ng\/?p=9217","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How many Ohio State players will go in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft? Buckeye Talk podcast","og_description":"Caleb Downs, who transferred from Alabama to Ohio State, has quickly established himself as one of the premier safeties in college football..","og_url":"https:\/\/asport.com.ng\/?p=9217","og_site_name":"Asport","article_published_time":"2025-04-29T14:49:15+00:00","author":"Admin1","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Admin1","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/asport.com.ng\/?p=9217#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/asport.com.ng\/?p=9217"},"author":{"name":"Admin1","@id":"https:\/\/asport.com.ng\/#\/schema\/person\/a63da2e56319023144668e6717055c09"},"headline":"How many Ohio State players will go in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft? Buckeye Talk podcast","datePublished":"2025-04-29T14:49:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/asport.com.ng\/?p=9217"},"wordCount":506,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/asport.com.ng\/?p=9217#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","keywords":["Ohio State","Ohio State Buckeyes News","Ohio State Football News","Ohio State News"],"articleSection":["FOOTBALL"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/asport.com.ng\/?p=9217#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/asport.com.ng\/?p=9217","url":"https:\/\/asport.com.ng\/?p=9217","name":"How many Ohio State players will go in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft? Buckeye Talk podcast","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/asport.com.ng\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/asport.com.ng\/?p=9217#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/asport.com.ng\/?p=9217#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","datePublished":"2025-04-29T14:49:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/asport.com.ng\/#\/schema\/person\/a63da2e56319023144668e6717055c09"},"description":"Caleb Downs, who transferred from Alabama to Ohio State, has quickly established himself as one of the premier safeties in college football..","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/asport.com.ng\/?p=9217#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/asport.com.ng\/?p=9217"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/asport.com.ng\/?p=9217#primaryimage","url":"","contentUrl":""},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/asport.com.ng\/?p=9217#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/asport.com.ng\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How many Ohio State players will go in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft? Buckeye Talk podcast"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/asport.com.ng\/#website","url":"https:\/\/asport.com.ng\/","name":"Asport","description":"Always for Sport","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/asport.com.ng\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/asport.com.ng\/#\/schema\/person\/a63da2e56319023144668e6717055c09","name":"Admin1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d3f1a3acc2b5542dbfb9acb9f1c3f1ed07e528b7aa9bb345a0ba2eaa8c84ffb0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d3f1a3acc2b5542dbfb9acb9f1c3f1ed07e528b7aa9bb345a0ba2eaa8c84ffb0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d3f1a3acc2b5542dbfb9acb9f1c3f1ed07e528b7aa9bb345a0ba2eaa8c84ffb0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Admin1"},"url":"https:\/\/asport.com.ng\/?author=6"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/asport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/asport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/asport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/asport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9217\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/asport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}