The calendar has turned to March, which means the reigning, defending National Champions will be kicking off Spring practice later this month. Ohio State has plenty of questions heading into 2025. Along with the quarterback battle, the Ohio State running backs are going to be under the microscope at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.
Gone are Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson. With them, the Buckeyes must replace 2,076 yards and 24 touchdowns off 338 carries. Those are some large shoes to fill, considering the pair left with over 3,700 career yards each. Who will step up and fill the void? There will be plenty of bodies in the room, but only one has logged any significant playing time at the collegiate level.
Ohio State Running Backs Must Fill Large Void
The New Guy
In the winter portal, the Buckeyes did not add too many players, but among the six headed to Columbus was CJ Donaldson from West Virginia. Across his three seasons with the Mountaineers, he led the way in carries in each of the last two. In total, he ran the ball 421 times for 2,058 yards and found the endzone 30 times. Donaldson brings a 4.9 yards-per-carry average with him.
He may not be a burner, but he’s reliable in the red zone. Of his 30 touchdowns, 24 were six or fewer yards (15 were one-yard touchdowns). He only has three carries of greater than 40 yards in his career and one touchdown over 25 yards.
Donaldson could lead the way in touchdowns as the 1b to one of the talented underclassmen. However, with his experience, he may be a Judkins-type player who leads the team in rushing in his only year. It doesn’t hurt that he only has two lost fumbles in his career.
Talented Second-Years
A popular pick to take over this fall is sophomore James Peoples. Last year, as a true freshman, Peoples was the third running back in the rotation behind Henderson and Judkins. The bulk of his 49 carries, 197 yards, and both touchdowns came in mop-up duty early in the season as the Buckeyes dominated their out-of-conference foes.
Already, Peoples has garnered comparisons to former Buckeye running back J.K. Dobbins. In an interview, Henderson reminisced about Dobbins’ game as he was the back Henderson watched as he committed and whose shoes he filled in 2021 after one year of a running-back-by-committee in 2020. Peoples has been lauded as a hard worker, and his patience is about to pay off. Dobbins ran for 4,459 yards and 38 touchdowns in three seasons. If Peoples can live up to that lofty comparison, the Buckeyes will be in a great spot.
Along with Peoples, the Buckeyes took in Sam Williams-Dixon in the 2024 recruiting class. As the fourth back, Williams-Dixon only played nine snaps, resulting in seven carries for 53 yards. The homegrown talent actually elected to enter the transfer portal at the beginning of January. Initially, he was not going to be available for the CFP run, but he had a change of heart, withdrew his name, and was with the team for the playoff.
Williams-Dixon will throw his hat into the ring to earn carries this year, but there’s a decent gap between Donaldson/Peoples and the rest. However, in his limited time, Williams-Dixon showed he has a little juice to his game. In last year’s Spring Game, the early-enrollee led the Buckeyes with 11 carries for 78 yards and a touchdown. Of course, it was just the Spring Game, but when the backups were in, it wasn’t two-hand touch.
A Trio of Freshmen
The 2025 recruiting class features three running backs for the Buckeyes, led by flipped Alabama commit Anthony “Turbo” Rogers. Of the incoming backs, Rogers is the only one who is not enrolling early. Despite that, he may have the talent to fight for some carries this fall. Rogers has already been clocked with 4.48 speed and reminds 247Sports scouts of Miami Dolphins back Devon Achane. He may be a tad undersized, but he has the strength and shiftiness to get out of trouble. Rogers was considered the fifth-best running back in the 2025 recruiting cycle.
Of the two enrolling early, Carlos Locklyn’s first recruiting win, Bo Jackson, Jr., leads the way. Jackson, no relation to the Bo Jackson, is a six-foot, 205-pound specimen of a back who already looks the part of a college athlete. After a 1700-yard, 30-touchdown junior season, he chose the Buckeyes over Georgia and Alabama. He has impressive contact balance and is able to score from anywhere on the field. He’s going to be a name to watch during this year’s Spring practices for no reason other than hype for the future. If he gets significant playing time in 2025, something might have gone wrong.
Finally, the third back heading to Columbus and enrolling early is another SEC flip, Isaiah West. Initially a Kentucky commit, West recommitted the day he earned an offer from Ohio State and locked in his plans a month later. Hailing from the same high school as Marvin Harrison, Jr. and Kyle McCord, West is a bruiser. What he may not have in track speed, he makes up with a physicality that will be useful at the goal line or short-yardage situations.
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