COLUMBUS, Ohio – Running back J.K. Dobbins burst on to the scene as a true freshman and took college football by storm during his first season. Year two however was more of a challenge for the talented back out of central Texas and despite breaking the 1,000-yard plateau for a second consecutive season, he did not appear to be the same back.

Going into year three, the Buckeyes are going to need Dobbins to look more like that freshman phenom rather than the back who appeared to go through a bit of a sophomore slump.

Dobbins was thrust into action in the first game of his first season when Mike Weber could not go due to injury and did not disappoint with a huge game against the Indiana Hoosiers to the tune of 29 carries for 181 yards along with a pair of receptions for 24 yards. That all culminated in a 1,403 rushing yard season on 194 carries for seven touchdowns and a 7.2 YPC average.

2018 saw more touches and more touchdowns (10) but the YPC suffered as Dobbins was down from over seven to 4.6. Dobbins did not break the 1,000-yard mark until the Big Ten Championship Game, the 13th game of the season. Dobbins was held under 70-yards in the last three games of the season and only broke the 100-yard mark three times (TCU, Nebraska, Maryland) on the year. By comparison, Dobbins broke that mark six times just a year earlier.

With the passing game shifting from the Dwayne Haskins-era to the Justin Fields-era, it is going to be paramount for the running game to be there to give the passing game some time to come into its own.

“He's one of the guys that has to play good,” head coach Ryan Day said last week of his returning running back. “You just hit a major pressure point right there. I mean he has to play good for us, especially in the first six games of the year. And so that's been a challenge for him. Tony (Alford)'s challenged him, I've challenged him, Kevin Wilson's challenged him, Mickey Marotti's challenged him.”