Ohio State’s recruiting class of 2016 officially ended its run in Columbus when Demario McCall played his sixth and final season with the Buckeyes this past fall.
While his lengthy career never blossomed into what many believed it could become when he arrived at Ohio State as the No. 44 overall prospect in the 2016 class, there were plenty of other players in his class – which was ranked as the fourth-best class in the country at the time – who went on to play major roles for the Buckeyes.
Although it did not spawn quite as many marquee players as the 2017 class that directly followed it – a class that still has one of its members on the Buckeyes’ 2022 roster (Jerron Cage) – the class of 2016 made a significant impact at Ohio State nonetheless, highlighted by a pair of superstars who would become first-round NFL draft picks in just three years as well as nine other players who became multi-year starters for the Buckeyes, including three multi-year captains.