Gareon Conley leaving Ohio State for NFL draft

Gareon Conley is the second Ohio State football player to announce he is leaving early for the NFL.

A cornerback from Massillon, Conley has been a starter the past two years after serving as a reserve for the 2014 national champion Buckeyes. He redshirted as a freshman in 2013.

Mannnnn it's been a wonderful journey from recruiting to playing in the shoe. I feel like the past four years have really expanded and opened my mind and made me grow as a student an athlete and a man! It's been an honor to play as a buckeye and a silver bullet and also to be apart of the great secondary this past year! I wanna thank everyone from family to friends to buckeye nation for all the love and support it's a tremendous blessing to have played for yall. Most importantly I wanna thanks all my team mates who I was in the trenches with and through thick and thin I love y'all boys and y'all my brothas for life once a buckeye always a buckeye! I have decided to declare for the 2017 NFL draft. I wanna thank God cause I didn't earn any of this he blessed me and I took advantage of the blessings and I'm just glorifying him. Thanks again buckeye nation #HowSheGoneEat #BIA #silverbullets #tbc ...

💯

A photo posted by Ocho

💯 (@_gconley8) on Jan 3, 2017 at 10:29am PST

This season he had 26 tackles and four interceptions en route to earning second-team All-Big Ten recognition from the league coaches.

Teammate and fellow defensive back Malik Hooker announced Monday his intentions to turn pro early, and more defections are expected.

All-American offensive lineman Billy Price has said he will return for his fifth year.

In Other News

Lowder missing ‘good stuff’ as Dragons fall to Fort Wayne

Ohio State Buckeyes: Gene Smith on the NCAA, football ‘super league,’...

Bengals’ running back Chase Brown looks to ‘build on’ strong finish to...

McCoy: Bullpen, De La Cruz lift Reds past Angels

5 things to know about Miami football spring game

About the Author

Marcus Hartman

Marcus Hartman has been a digital sports columnist and reporter at Cox's Ohio newspapers the Dayton Daily News, Springfield News-Sun and Journal-News since 2016.