49ers NFL Draft 2022: 7-round mock using only Big Ten players
By Peter Panacy
Jeremy Ruckert. 105. player. 812. . Tight End. Buckeyes
Round 3, Pick No. 105 Overall (Compensatory): 49ers select TE Jeremy Ruckert, Ohio State
Head coach Kyle Shanahan has long sought a quality No. 2 tight end to pair with George Kittle, but those efforts haven’t exactly yielded great results in recent years.
Shanahan will likely keep trying, though.
Unless San Francisco is confident fellow tight end Ross Dwelley can bounce back from an otherwise down year in 2021, it wouldn’t hurt to use its compensatory pick in Round 3 on Ohio State’s Jeremy Ruckert, a 6-foot-5 and 250-pound specimen who wasn’t necessarily a high-volume target during his collegiate tenure but still has the knack for getting his hands on passes thrown his way.
| Receiving | Rushing | Scrimmage | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | School | Conf | Class | Pos | G | Rec | Yds | Avg | TD | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | Plays | Yds | Avg | TD |
| *2018 | Ohio State | Big Ten | FR | TE | 1 | 1 | 13 | 13.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 13.0 | 0 | |
| *2019 | Ohio State | Big Ten | SO | TE | 9 | 14 | 142 | 10.1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 142 | 10.1 | 4 | |
| *2020 | Ohio State | Big Ten | JR | TE | 5 | 13 | 151 | 11.6 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 151 | 11.6 | 5 | |
| *2021 | Ohio State | Big Ten | SR | TE | 11 | 26 | 309 | 11.9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 309 | 11.9 | 3 | |
| Career | Ohio State | 54 | 615 | 11.4 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 54 | 615 | 11.4 | 12 |
Provided by CFB at Sports Reference
Generated 4/22/2022.
Ruckert is adequate enough a blocker, too, so that will warrant more field time for him, and he’d also serve as good insurance against a would-be Kittle injury.
This year’s tight end class isn’t particularly great or deep, but Ruckert stands out as one of the likable options the 49ers could pursue.