Ohio
Was 2025 NFL Draft prep for Ohio State, Notre Dame players affected by expanded CFP?
INDIANAPOLIS — Barely five weeks after immersing themselves in scarlet and gray confetti at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium, several Ohio State players stood and smiled in front of cameras and microphones once again. Only this time, the now-former Buckeyes recalled their national title run in the past tense and enthusiastically answered questions about their NFL futures.
But with Ohio State’s and Notre Dame’s seasons concluding with the Buckeyes’ 34-23 victory on Jan. 20, many players forfeited between two and six weeks of draft preparation while chasing a championship. It’s a small price to pay to obtain the ultimate collegiate prize, but it does have residual effects. Unlike other players who opted out of bowl games, players at Notre Dame and Ohio State didn’t have as much rest and recovery time and were unable to dedicate more than a few weeks to training and skill refinement.
“We had a late season — thankfully. It ended late, and (we were) able to win a national championship,” Ohio State defensive end Jack Sawyer said Wednesday at the NFL Scouting Combine. “So we didn’t have a whole lot of time training. I flew straight out to California the next week after the game to start training.”
The combine is known for the on-field workouts, but it’s also valuable for medical examinations and player interviews. All the players will see doctors and spend time with various teams. As for the workouts, Sawyer will participate in on-field defensive line drills but save other testing, like the 40-yard dash and bench press, for Ohio State’s pro day. Notre Dame defensive tackle Howard Cross III, who missed three games in November but returned for the College Football Playoff, will bench and jump but wait to run at his team’s pro day.
JACK SAWYER SCOOP-AND-SCORE 😱
Ohio State is one step closer to advancing to the national championship! pic.twitter.com/BPoV5FBRGZ
— ESPN (@espn) January 11, 2025
“Like us, Ohio State and two or three other teams, we obviously, frankly, don’t have a couple weeks compared to other players that have had a couple months to get ready,” said Cross, after acknowledging he is healthy now. “But that’s still no excuse.
“You need time to relax and get yourself together before you can train. A lot of guys didn’t have enough time, especially the other guys at Notre Dame. So that’s gonna affect what we do.”
If there are fears among championship participants that their workout numbers might not reach their peak performance, NFL general managers assuaged those concerns publicly this week. If anything, competing in the CFP perhaps enhanced the players’ NFL prospects more than what they could have achieved in combine workouts.
“You’re evaluating everybody individually,” Seattle Seahawks general manager John Schneider said. “How do they play? What kind of injuries do they have? What are the analytics people thinking? What do the science people think? How do the coaches evaluate the player? What’s the fit?
“If you’re talking about, like, height-weight-speed … we’re actually more interested in the person and the competitor, what kind of football player they are, more than the GPS times, weight, speed, what they’re doing here.”
But that doesn’t mean NFL teams won’t judge how they perform.
“Yeah, we’re evaluating these guys in the workout,” Schneider said. “But it’s more about the football — like, what’s their tape tell us? — and then getting to know the person a little bit more here. And the biggest thing is the medical.”
Perhaps no players boosted their NFL profile in the postseason more than Sawyer and fellow Ohio State defensive end J.T. Tuimoloau. Sawyer had 4 1/2 sacks and three pass breakups in the Buckeyes’ four CFP games and delivered one of the iconic moments of the postseason with his 83-yard sack, scoop and score against Texas. Tuimoloau was even more prolific statistically, with 10 tackles for loss and 6 1/2 sacks in four games.
The Buckeyes’ late-season performance created a ton of memories for the players and their supporters, but it accelerated every phase of their draft preparation.
“It really just tested me on how I managed my time going back, getting your body right, as well as training,” Tuimoloau said. “There’s no time to just let things go to waste. So, you get to be very critical with your time, and that’s what it taught me.”
“Really, just taking care of your body and eating the right stuff,” Sawyer said. “I think we’ve done a really good job of that — all the guys, too. So, we all feel pretty good.”
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — As concerns have grown over the impact of social media on young people, lawmakers are pushing to keep protections in tact to keep children safe online.
This week the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Ohio’s law, the Social Media Parental Notification Act, requiring parental consent for children under the age of 16 to use social media must be restored. Gov. Mike DeWine signed the act into law in July 2023.
Netchoice, the trade group that represents Tik Tok, Snapchat, Meta and other tech companies contested Ohio’s law in 2024, arguing that it was overly broad, vague and represented an unconstitutional impediment to free speech.
“An unconstitutional law protects no one, and we remain focused on ensuring the First Amendment rights of Ohioans are protected,” Paul Taske, NetChoice Litigation Center Director said.
Cincinnati-based Sixth Circuit’s panel does not agree with this view point, determined that the law is not unconstitutional and had the block on the law’s enforcement vacated.
“At bottom, the Act imposes a parental consent requirement,” Judge Eric Clay wrote. “That requirement constitutes a marginal burden that precisely targets the multi-faceted problem that Ohio has identified: Children’s unsupervised assent to terms and conditions for use of platforms that take advantage of and harm them.”
The Social Media Parental Notification Act is a way to protect children’s mental health against the “intentionally addictive” nature of social media, according to U.S. senator Jon Husted.
The law requires companies to get parental permission for social media and gaming apps and to provide their privacy guidelines so families know what content would be censored or moderated on their child’s profile.
Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson says the ruling is “a win for Ohio families.”
“The court agreed that parents –- not social media companies –- should get a say in what kids see online,” he said in a statement. “We have an obligation to keep our children safe, and today, the most dangerous place for our kids is the internet. This decision gives parents the tools to be involved and provide oversight.”
LICKING COUNTY, Ohio (WCMH) — When you think of wild animals in central Ohio, a black bear likely isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. That’s why one Licking County family said they couldn’t believe their eyes.
It was an average afternoon drive home for father and son, Justin and Aaron Rhodes, when something walked into the road in front of them.
“I didn’t even think it was real at first, so that’s why I had to do the double take,” Justin said.
Aaron said he thought it was “just a weird looking dog”.
To their disbelief, it was a bear. The sighting comes just one year after the animal was spotted in Licking County for the first time in more than two decades.
“It’s kind of hard to believe that they’re even around this area,” Justin said. “I’ve lived in this area for about 24 years now, so it’s been quite a while, and I’ve never seen one before.”
These sightings are becoming more common. The Ohio Division of Wildlife said the black bear population is growing in the state, and they expect those trends to continue. Ohio saw a record number of confirmed sightings in 2025.
Lindsey Krusling, a wildlife communications specialist with the Ohio Division of Wildlife, said they are seeing more breeding females establish homes in the state, signaling the species is returning. Experts said the work restoring natural forest land is a big reason why.
“We’re starting to get some black bears coming in from neighboring states like Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky,” Krusling said. “They’re naturally crossing those state borders and coming back to Ohio because we have more of that habitat available to them, especially those forested areas.”
As the black bear population grows, the Division of Wildlife is expanding its research. They are putting radio collars on some bears they find in the state to help track data, such as if the bears are staying here, how far they’ve traveled and if they’re successfully having cubs.
“We’re trying to get quite a bit of data from these bears, and we’re super excited to see where this takes us,” Krusling said.
The research is in the beginning stages, but they expect population growth to continue, Krusling said.
Sighting reports can be submitted here to help the Division of Wildlife track black bear populations throughout the state.
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