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Buckeyes reign as draft kings; Tide rule field

Alabama coach Nick Saban, left, and Ohio State coach Urban Meyer pose with the Sugar Bowl Classic trophy during a press conference at the Marriott downtown convention center in New Orleans, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2014. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Alabama coach Nick Saban, left, and Ohio State coach Urban Meyer pose with the Sugar Bowl Classic trophy during a press conference at the Marriott downtown convention center in New Orleans, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2014. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

As the debates continue about the most recent NFL Draft, there are a few very obvious observations about the Ohio State Buckeyes, who ruled the draft.

Consider that the Buckeyes had:

• Five first-round selections and 10 in the first three rounds, an NFL record.

• Twelve players drafted, the most of any school.

• Four more first-round picks than Alabama and five more overall.

So why aren't the Buckeyes the defending national champions?

The Crimson Tide had only seven players drafted last week, yet the King of SEC Swing won the latest national championship 45-40 over Clemson, which beat Oklahoma 37-17 in the semifinals. The Tide shut out Michigan State 38-0 in the semifinals.

Ohio State, which fell out of the top four after losing to Michigan State in November, was relegated to the Fiesta Bowl, where it defeated Notre Dame 44-28.

What the latest draft proves, once again, is that Ohio State dominates recruiting in the Big Ten. For the most part, it always has and always will.

Overall, from the first round to the last round, the SEC proved to be the most fertile drafting region, as 13 of the schools produced 51 drafted players. The Big Ten, which has 14 schools, had 47.

Even Kentucky and Vanderbilt helped, each providing a single draftee to the SEC total, the same number as Texas and Central Arkansas.

For the second consecutive year, the Tennessee Volunteers had no one drafted, but that might be one of the reasons the Vols were so much better last season; no one left early.

Like Alabama, Florida had seven players drafted; Arkansas, Georgia, LSU and Ole Miss were next in the SEC with five each.

Of the Rebels' five, three were first-round picks. But as everyone is well aware of now, the Laremy Tunsil debacle cast a huge shadow on Hugh Freeze's program.

Tunsil was once projected as the No. 1 pick of the draft. The offensive left tackle is that talented.

By draft night, after being sued by his stepfather and having pictures of him show up on the Internet apparently smoking marijuana, with a bong attached to a gas mask, and him claiming he was paid by Ole Miss, he slipped to No. 13.

Now Ole Miss has the burden of proving that Tunsil, who sat out a seven-game suspension for receiving extra benefits (reportedly for use of loaner cars), wasn't paid to be a Rebel.

The last time the Rebels had three players taken in the first round was, well, never. They did have two taken in 2009, defensive tackle Peria Jerry and Michael Oher, an offensive tackle. Oher played high school football for Freeze.

If consideration is going to be given to winning related to NFL draft picks, maybe Mississippi State's Dan Mullen should be given more credit.

Last year, the Bulldogs had five players drafted after posting a 10-3 record; this season, they surprised everyone by finishing 9-4 but had only three players drafted.

(On Wednesday, we'll take a closer look at the Arkansas Razorbacks who were drafted.)

A final note on Ohio State: Defensive end Joey Bosa was the first Buckeye taken, at No. 3 overall, followed by Ezekiel Elliott, who went No. 4 to the Dallas Cowboys.

It was thought the Cowboys would go after a defensive back, but Elliott is a solid pick, too. Elliott raised eyebrows coming out of high school when he signed with Ohio State instead of Missouri, where both his parents were athletes and graduates.

Don't expect former Razorbacks running back Darren McFadden to be afraid of competition with Elliott. McFadden is with the Cowboys, in the second year of a contract that pays him $1.25 million this year and has another $500,000 in roster incentives.

He'll make that roster, and most likely, regardless of draft picks, Alabama will be in the NCAA Final Four of football again this season.

Sports on 05/03/2016

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