Drue Chrisman signed as a rookie free agent with his hometown Cincinnati Bengals following the 2021 NFL Draft. One of the top punters in school history, he earned all-conference honors three times in his career.
Ohio State Overview
• Graduated with his degree in consumer and family financial services
• Four-time academic all-Big Ten Conference honoree
• Three-time all-Big Ten Conference honoree, including second-team all-conference honors in 2020
• Two-time semifinalist for the Ray Guy Award
• Only married member of the team in 2020
• Averaged a personal-best 45.0 yards per punt in 2020
• Averaged 44.0 yards per punt over his career to rank fourth in school history
• 185 career punts for 8,145 yards with a long of 74
• 83 punts downed inside the opponents’ 20
• Relived his high school quarterback days by completing a 21-yard pass on a fake punt in the second quarter of the 2019 Big Ten Championship Game vs. Wisconsin
• Keyed Ohio State to the No. 1 ranking in the Big Ten in net punting in 2018 with an average of 41.6 yards, a figure that was sixth-best nationally
• Earned Ray Guy national punter of the week honors after averaging 47.9 yards off nine punts in the come-from-behind win, in bonkers white-out conditions, at Penn State
• Was even better in the win at Michigan State, dropping all five of his second half punts inside of the Spartan 6 yard line, and directly leading to nine Ohio State points, in the fist-fight in the frost won by a foot, 26-6
• Landed 29 punts inside of the 20 during the 2018 season, the second-most in school history
• 15 of his 27 punts last season were downed inside of the 10
• In 2017, as a red-shirt freshman, he was a Ray Guy Award semifinalist and the third-team all-Big Ten punter after averaging 44.2 yards per punt to rank second in the Big Ten Conference and 14th nationally
• Had 25 punts downed inside the 20, 15 over 50 yards
• His net average of 41.1 helped the Buckeyes lead the Big Ten and rank ninth nationally
• Did not have a game where he averaged less than 45 yards per punt through the last five games of the season (all wins), and included was a personal best 48.5-yard day vs. Michigan State
Honors and Awards
2020: Second Team Preseason All-American by Chris Sailer Kicking
Academic All-Big Ten and OSU Scholar-Athlete
2019: Honorable mention All-Big Ten (coaches and media)
Academic All-Big Ten and OSU Scholar-Athlete
2018: Third-team All-Big Ten (coaches and media)
Ray Guy semifinalist
Academic All-Big Ten and OSU Scholar-Athlete
2017: Ray Guy semifinalist
Academic All-Big Ten and OSU Scholar-Athlete
Flipping the Field … And Bottles
• Last year, Chrisman became a world-renown bottle flipper. And he still is, adding degrees of difficulty and moving targets to his repertoire
A Spring Game Surprise
• Chrisman proposed to his now fiancé – Avery Eliason, of Lawrenceburg, Ind. – at halftime of the 2019 spring game in Ohio Stadium
• He set it up by acting as the holder in a field goal kicking contest with Avery taking a turn. She was stopped, though, and still on one knee, Chrisman proposed. And Avery said “yes.”
More About Drue
• Chrisman was considered the No. 1 punter prospect in the 2016 recruiting class with 247Sports ranking him No. 1, the prestigious Kohl’s kicking and punting organization ranking him No. 1 (out of 81 punters) and Scout ranking him No. 2
• Averaged 46.4 and 43.0 yards per punt during the 2015 and 2014 seasons for LaSalle, respectively
• The Lancers, coached by Jim Hilvert, won back-to-back Division II Ohio state championships those seasons
• Named first-team Division II all-state by the Associated Press as a senior after earning second-team honors all-state honors in 2014
• First-team all-Greater Catholic League
• Named all-USA Ohio by USA Today
• A U.S. Army All-American
• Was 38-of-40 on extra points as a senior and kicked a game-winning, 41-yard field goal with 10 seconds to play to help LaSalle defeat Colerain, 39-36, in a key game
• Is the son of Sheila and Travis Chrisman