DE Zach Harrison Picked in Third Round of NFL Draft

COLUMBUS, Ohio – It was a relatively quiet Friday evening and Day 2 for Ohio State at the 2023 NFL Draft, taking place at Union Station in Kansas City, Mo., as just one Buckeye was selected. Ohio State now has four draft picks so far this weekend.

Defensive end Zach Harrison was picked in the 3rd Round with the 75th overall pick by the Atlanta Falcons. He is the first defensive player from Ohio State to be selected, joining a trio of offensive players who went in the first round on Thursday: QB C.J. Stroud, OT Paris Johnson and WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

At 6-6, 272 pounds, Harrison played in 46 games between 2019-22 and recorded 106 tackles, 25.5 tackles-for-loss and 13.0 quarterback sacks. He also had 11 pass break-ups and nine quarterback hurries. He was named all-Big Ten Conference three times, including first-team honors as a senior in 2022.

2023 NFL Draft Picks from Ohio State University

• Round 1 – QB C.J. Stroud, No. 2 overall to the Houston Texans
• Round 1 – OT Paris Johnson, No. 6 overall to the Arizona Cardinals
• Round 1 – WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba, No. 20 overall to the Seattle Seahawks
• Round 3 – DE Zach Harrison, No. 75 overall to the Atlanta Falcons

NFL Draft Snapshot

• Four draft picks so far in this 88th NFL Draft increases Ohio State’s all-time total of NFL Draft picks to 484.
• The Big Ten Conference led all conferences with 20 picks through the first two rounds. The SEC was second with 17.
• Harrison’s pick extends an Ohio State streak of six consecutive years with at least one defensive lineman selected in the NFL Draft.
• Since 2018, 12 defensive linemen have been drafted, including Tyquan Lewis, Sam Hubbard and Jalyn Holmes (2018), Nick Bosa and Dre’Mont Jones (2019), Chase Young, DaVon Hamilton and Jashon Cornell (2020), Tommy Togiai and Jonathan Cooper (2021) and Tyreke Smith (2022).
• DL coach Larry Johnson has seen 15 of his linemen selected in the NFL Draft since first arriving on campus in 2014.

Rounds 4-7 of the NFL Draft will take place Saturday, starting at noon.