40 best Ohio State football players this century, ranked
By Nick Villano
Ranking the 40 best Ohio State football players this century.
Ohio State football is in the championship conversation every year and annually ranks among the top of when it comes to players taken in the NFL Draft. That doesn’t happen if the Buckeyes didn’t have a ton of great players coming through Columbus.
From Jim Tressel to Urban Meyer to Ryan Day, the Buckeyes have been ranked in the top 10 in the final pole in 17 of the past 19 seasons. In one of those two outlier seasons, they finished 11th.
The Buckeyes have been lifted by amazing recruiting so when it comes to ranking the best Ohio State football players this century, it’s littered with some of the greatest college football players ever and a host of the best still playing in the NFL today.
Before getting into the rankings, no current Ohio State football players were included, so you won’t see C.J. Stroud or TreVeyon Henderson on this list. But when their time in Columbus is up, you can be sure they’ll be grouped with this elite group of Buckeyes.
Best Ohio State football players this century: 40-31
40. Santonio Holmes
39. Bradley Roby
38. Carlos Hyde
37. Antonio Pittman
36. LeCharles Bentley
35. Will Smith
34. Ryan Shazier
33. Will Allen
32. Pat Elflein
31. Denzel Ward