If you didn’t think that Ohio State was the current gold standard in college football or that the Buckeyes are the program by which most others will measure themselves against, an overly confident Ryan Day sure seemed to underscore it during an early NFL draft segment Thursday night on ABC.
When asked a question about safety Caleb Downs, he proceeded to launch a long soliloquy about how screwed up Downs was coming out of the transfer portal from Alabama while sitting right next to former Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban. It was all done in jest for some delayed laughter, but it was notable that Day was in such a position to start cracking jokes at the expense of someone who often used the draft to serve as the ultimate validation for his spot atop the sport.
.@KirkHerbstreit: "How would you try to quantify what [Caleb Downs] meant?"
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) April 23, 2026
Ryan Day: "I think the first thing that surprised me, when Caleb came to Ohio State was that he was a mess. I don't know what they were doing at Alabama." 😅 pic.twitter.com/TUG78s5RQu
Saban is still a football sage to be fair, but he’s no longer in charge of the standard anymore at Alabama. That’s Ohio State now under Day.
Those in Bloomington, Ind., home of No. 1 pick Fernando Mendoza and the reigning national champion Indiana Hoosiers, can protest, or in Ann Arbor, Mich., for rivalry reasons. Dozens of towns south of the Mason-Dixon Line continue to chant “S-E-C” in unison despite the Big Ten finally inching past their rivals in the overall number of first-round picks 10-to-7.
But it’s hard to argue that, consistently over the last few years, it’s The Ohio State setting the standard teams are chasing.
The Buckeyes have certainly done plenty of winning. They made the College Football Playoff in five of the past seven seasons and have a national championship ring. They remain one of the year-in and year-out favorites to win the suddenly mighty Big Ten. They only drop closer to No. 10 in the national polls instead of hovering around No. 1 when there’s an obscene injury crisis.
Ohio State has always had a lush draft history. Downs was the 99th in program history to go in the first round. The Buckeyes had a school-record-tying 14 players selected last year. They hit double-digit total draft picks with regularity.
Thursday’s first round in Pittsburgh was another reminder of how coveted Ohio State players are.
According to the NFL, Ohio State became the first school with four players drafted in the top 12 since 1967. Each selection said plenty about the way the program is humming along.
Wide receiver Carnell Tate was the first in scarlet and gray to be drafted at No. 4 by the Tennessee Titans. That was a surprise given Tate was never better than the second option in college. He was the sixth first-rounder from Ohio State in the last five drafts. It’s one of the safest picks an NFL team can make, considering how fellow Buckeyes Marvin Harrison Jr., Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Garrett Wilson have performed in the league.
And how about Arvell Reese, a dynamic linebacker who played in only six games as a freshman, didn’t start as a sophomore and yet blossomed into a top-five pick as a junior on one of the best defenses in the country. Sonny Styles went three picks later to the Washington Commanders at No. 7. He is a developmental success, converting from a starting safety who flourished after bulking up to play linebacker.
Then there’s Downs, who may be the draft’s best overall player if you were to strip away any notion of positional value in the NFL. He was still so good the Dallas Cowboys shipped two fifth-round picks to move up a single spot to draft him with the 11th selection.
Meanwhile, defensive tackle Kayden McDonald, tight end Max Klare, edge Caden Curry and cornerback Davison Igbinosun should make some teams quite happy on Day 2 of the draft.
It wasn’t long ago that Georgia had seemingly wrestled the title of college football standard-bearer away from Saban’s Alabama dynasty. The Bulldogs still could claim it if Kirby Smart can stop going one-and-done in the CFP. Clemson threatened to do it at times during the heyday of its CFP runs under Dabo Swinney. Florida held the title for a stretch under former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer. Pete Carroll’s USC dynasty had a firm grip as the top program for a few years and has been pining to get back.
Perhaps Curt Cignetti and the Hoosiers can make their case again this fall that it is actually Indiana which is deserving of the title.
But for right now, it’s hard to look past Ohio State as the measuring stick.
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- What the NFL Draft Says About College Football: The SEC Is No Longer King
- Three Standout Moments From Indiana’s Spring Game: The Josh Hoover Era Begins With Baby Steps
This article was originally published on www.si.com as NFL Draft Proves Ohio State Is the Standard in College Football.
