Biggest rivalry in sports will have multiple NFL prospects on display

Ohio State and Michigan do not just play a rivalry game anymore; they play a three-hour NFL preview with marching bands and very nervous college towns. These programs have spent decades sending players to Sundays, and both have produced multiple draft picks and Hall of Fame-level talent, according to long-term draft and NFL player data, which profile them as two of the most reliable pipelines in the sport.​

This year, Ohio State rolls into Ann Arbor looking every bit like the number one team and a traveling scouting combine. Linebacker Arvell Reese, safety Caleb Downs, and wide receiver Carnell Tate are all viewed as top ten-caliber prospects, continuing a Buckeye tradition of piling up early-round grades across the roster. Next year, Jeremiah Smith is already being penciled in as another top ten wide receiver prospect, adding to the long list of recent Ohio State receivers who have become high picks and productive pros, the sort of trend that has led many national analysts to label the program a wide receiver factory in draft coverage.​

The star power does not stop there for the Buckeyes, with linebacker Sonny Styles and corner Davison Igbinosun drawing first-round projections on national big boards and mock drafts, giving Ohio State the kind of defensive speed NFL coordinators drool over. Corner Jermaine Matthews Jr and tight end Max Klare are showing traits that fit into the second day of the draft, proof that even the so-called supporting cast in Columbus tends to hear its name called on draft weekend, according to multi-year draft breakdowns. Watching the Buckeyes warm up can feel like flipping through a future first-round roll call, which might explain why rivals joke that Ohio State is basically the minor leagues of the NFL.​

Michigan cannot quite match that volume of top-ten projections on paper, but the Wolverines have not seemed to care about paper lately, having won four straight in the rivalry, including multiple upsets of higher-ranked Ohio State teams, according to rivalry records and recent game recaps. Linebacker Jaishawn Barham headlines this year’s group as a strong talent with the size and athleticism that often pop at the combine. Edge rusher Derrick Moore, plus late-round candidates like linebacker Jimmy Rolder, corner Zeke Berry, and safety TJ Metcalf, give Michigan the kind of gritty depth that has fueled its recent surge and made the defense a place NFL teams keep visiting each spring in draft reports.​

The future is already sneaking onto the field, too, which is where this game really starts to look like an NFL farm system with better student sections. Michigan freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood and freshman wide receiver Andrew Marsh are the sort of blue-chip recruits who get their own early watch lists, and scouts will be circling their names for the next few years as they grow into bigger roles, much like past Wolverine stars who became pros.

On the other sideline, Ohio State’s Julian Sayin has Heisman-level buzz as a young quarterback and fits the modern NFL mold that draft analysts love to project, making this matchup feel like a sneak peek at a handful of future draft classes all jammed into one Saturday. By the time the bands clear the field and the scoreboard finally stops, fans will have watched one of the greatest rivalries in sports and, very likely, half a decade of NFL storylines starting to take shape.

This article originally appeared on Touchdown Wire: Biggest rivalry in sports will have multiple NFL prospects on display