Ohio State football: 5 great players who didn’t live up to the NFL hype

Eric Kumerow didn’t pan out for the Dolphins.

There is a long history of top-tier defensive linemen and linebackers coming through Columbus. Many big names throughout NFL history, notably including Mike Vrabel, Joey Bosa and two young top-five picks, Nick Bosa and Chase Young, have come through Ohio State football as stars and gone on to the next level to succeed.

In the mid-1980s, it seemed as if Eric Kumerow was going to be one of the players who ultimately added to that legacy for the Buckeyes, even if it wasn’t quite as rich at the time as it now is. At the end of his college career, Kumerow was the career leader at Ohio State in sacks with 23. While he’s since been passed, he still ranks sixth in program history in that department, a testament to how dominant he was.

After such a dominant career for the Buckeyes and winning Big Ten Defensive Lineman of the Year as a junior in the 1986 season, he was selected with the No. 16 overall pick in the 1988 NFL Draft by the Miami Dolphins. It’s worth noting that the pick was panned at the time as he was not projected to be a first-round pick but that doesn’t discount his college success still.

Though he wasn’t a superstar as a rookie, the big man did make an impact in South Beach. Kumerow played in 14 games and had 3.0 sacks in his first season, hoping to grow from that moving forward. Unfortunately, he never made an NFL start and had just two sacks over the next two years. He then suffered a torn Achilles, which ended his career after playing just three seasons at the next level.