Urban Meyer

Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer instructs his team during Buckeyes' April 16 spring game in Columbus. Ohio State landed 12 players in the NFL Draft, all in the first four rounds.

(AP/Jay LaPrete)

By all accounts, James Franklin has done a better job of recruiting high-end talent to Penn State than anyone has at the school in two decades. Since Rivals' recruiting rankings began almost 20 years ago followed by Scout, ESPN and 24/7, nobody had lured three consensus top-20 national classes in a row to PSU until Franklin and his staff completed their third in February.

If he keeps this up, he may have a shot at second place in the Big Ten East someday. That's because the just completed 2016 NFL Draft has provided the already embarrassingly dominant Urban Meyer with more recruiting momentum than an Indy car coming off turn 2. Everyone else is shooting for runner-up.

Ten Ohio State players were taken in the first three rounds alone, 12 in the first four - both Draft records for any school. And those first 10 players will get paid handsomely. Those are the ones who get big bonuses and who get a higher percentage of their salaries guaranteed, which in the violent sport of football means a lot more than it does in baseball or basketball.

When Joey Bosa was made the surprise No. 3 overall pick by the Chargers on Thursday night, it wasn't just the Bosa family who was celebrating. Sure, the OSU defensive end probably made an extra $3-to-4 million over what he would have made as, say, the No. 6 choice.

But Meyer had to be grinning at that nice surprise, too. The Ohio State coach can show it to top-echelon recruits as part of a larger portrait of what his best players earn straight out of the box in the NFL. That's everything in the recruiting game.

It's why Alabama mailed out a glossy to recruits three years ago bragging that its nine NFL draftees that April would be signing contracts worth in excess of a total $51 million.

A portion of a recruiting flier sent from Alabama to potential recruits shortly after the 2013 NFL Draft, summing the dollar value of contracts signed by the Crimson Tide's draftees that year.

Well, know what merely the top 10 Ohio State recruits will make this year? We can't say exactly but we can guarantee it will be in the $120 million range. Based on a graphic by Forbes.com, Ohio State's two choices, Bosa and running back Ezekiel Elliott (the No. 4 overall choice to the Cowboys) will combine to make over $50 million by themselves on their initial rookie contracts in the next four years. The five first-round Buckeye choices, including DB Eli Apple (No. 10 to the Giants), OL Taylor Decker (No. 16 to the Lions) and LB Darron Lee (No. 20 to the Jets) will combine to accrue $87 million.

That's some serious recruiting juice of the sort you can only squeeze if your school's products are drafted in the first round where total contracts ranged from California QB and No. 1-choice Jared Goff's $28 million to Texas A&M OT Germain Ifedi's $8 million.

Nobody else in the Big Ten is hanging even in the same area code with Ohio State in this competition. Other than OSU, only Michigan State landed a player (OT Jack Conklin at No. 8) in the first round at all. Of the Draft's first 94 selections, OSU had 10 while all other schools in the Big Ten combined barely edged the Buckeyes with 11.

The good news for Franklin and Penn State: They had three of those 11. The bad news for them and everyone else in the league: Urban Meyer is probably preparing a recruiting flyer right now with a 9-figure dollar amount printed in big bold numbers.