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Jun. 18—COLUMBUS — Ohio State football coach Ryan Day dropped a surprising nugget into his meeting with the media Tuesday.
With depth potentially an issue for the Buckeyes at running back this fall, Alabama transfer Caleb Downs could get some looks.
That was a little out of left field because Downs is already an accomplished safety, having been regarded as one of the top freshmen in the country last season for the Crimson Tide.
With All-Big Ten junior TreVeyon Henderson opting not to enter the NFL Draft and All-SEC sophomore Quinshon Judkins deciding to transfer to Ohio State from Mississippi, the Buckeyes will likely have the best running back duo in the country this fall.
Behind them on schlarship are just a pair of true freshmen — James Peoples and Sam Williams-Dixon — after three veteran running backs transferred out since the end of last season.
“We felt like coming out of the spring that James and Sam both did a nice job, we’re going to have to play them, and they’re going to have to take on a little bit of that,” Day said.
As for Downs seeing time at running back, the idea was apparently not new behind closed doors.
Day said it was discussed when the Buckeyes were recruiting him both out of high school and in the transfer portal in January.
“It’s something that he wanted to do, so we’ve been having him in some of the meetings and some of the individual drills as a possibility there if needed down the road to continue to build depth at that position,” Day said. “But I think we feel like if you have four strong running backs going into it, then that’s going to be enough to carry the season. I do think that the quarterbacks will run the ball more this season, so that should take some carries away from them, but James and Sam are going to have to step up to be guys that we can count on.”
Two-way players arise…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/ohio-state-football-buckeyes-could-184100875.html
Author : Dayton Daily News, Ohio
Publish date : 2024-06-18 18:41:00
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