The Ohio State Buckeyes have an impressive trend of averaging one cornerback selected in the first round of the past four NFL drafts. And Denzel Ward is in position to make it 5-for-5.
"That's what kind of led to my reasoning for leaving early," Ward told reporters at the recently concluded NFL Combine. "I wanted to uphold that tradition of being the next guy to be a first-round pick from Ohio State."
Draft watchers see Ward going somewhere in the high middle of the first round. Anywhere in the round and he'll maintain that pace started by Bradley Roby (31st overall to Denver in 2014) and sustained by Eli Apple (10th to the Giants in '16), Marshon Lattimore (11th to New Orleans in '17) and Gareon Conley (24th to Oakland in '17).