Draft Reactions | S.S. Mailbag

In the fourth round of the 2004 NFL Draft, 21 years ago, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers chose Ohio State safety Will Allen with the 111th overall selection. Allen was one of 14 Buckeyes drafted that weekend, which at the time was the most ever by one school in one draft.

From the point the Buccaneers tabbed Allen through the end of last year’s draft, another 134 Ohio State players heard their names called on draft weekend. None of them were taken by the Buccaneers.

This past weekend, the Buckeyes – unsurprisingly the defending national champions – had 14 players taken in the draft again. That’s no longer a record, as Georgia placed 15 of its fellas in the 2022 draft, but it’s still tied for second and gives Ohio State half of the all-time occurrences of a school sending 14 or more players into a single draft. (LSU also had 14 players drafted in 2020.)

This time, though, the Buccaneers were involved. In fact, they were the first team to dip into that deep Ohio State talent pool, grabbing wide receiver Emeka Egbuka with the 19th overall selection. Three of Egbuka’s teammates would also go in the first round: guard Donovan Jackson to Minnesota at no. 24, defensive tackle Tyliek Williams to Detroit at no. 28 and tackle Josh Simmons to Kansas City at no. 32.

Yes, that marks the first time the Buccaneers have ever taken an Ohio State player in the first round…or any of the top three rounds for that matter. Allen was previously their earliest-drafted Buckeye, and overall Egbuka is just the fourth player from his school to be drafted by Tampa Bay. That list also includes 10th-round linebacker Aaron Brown in 1978 and 12th-round wide receiver Thad Jemison in 1984. Allen actually went on to a nice NFL career, spending six years each with the Bucs and Steelers and one with the Cowboys and playing in 176 games. Brown actually stuck with the Bucs for three seasons – not bad for a 10th-rounder – and appeared in 44 games; Jemison never played in the NFL.

Still, four players all-time from a program as robust as Ohio State seems like a strange, if completely coincidental outcome. The Bucs have drafted more players from Cal, Illinois and Arizona State, and the same amount from Fresno State and Nevada!

As for the rest of the Buccaneers’ newest draft class, fourth-round outside linebacker David Walker is the biggest outlier, in terms of school of origin and franchise history. He is just the second player the Bucs have ever…