Spring football is here.
After a roller coaster of a 2021 season, from the highest of highs at the Rose Bowl to the lowest of lows at home against Oregon and in Ann Arbor against Michigan, Ohio State is back on the practice field with high expectations once again.
In the weeks leading up to the spring game, we'll break down the roster, going position-by-position to see who's back for another season, who the Buckeyes lost and what the expectations will be heading into the Buckeyes' season opener Sept. 3 against Notre Dame.
Today, we take a look at Ohio State's running backs
2021 recap
Ohio State had one of the most explosive run games in the Big Ten last season.
While they finished fifth in the conference with 180.3 rushing yards per game and fifth in the conference with 24 rushing touchdowns, the Buckeyes averaged 5.5 yards per carry, 0.3 yards more than any other team in the conference, and third-best in the country behind Coastal Carolina and Utah.
Much of that had to do with the play of TreVeyon Henderson.
Coming in as the No. 4 running back in the 2021 class, the Ohio State freshman broke Maurice Clarett's team record for most touchdowns in a freshman seasons, scoring 19 — 15 on the ground and four in the passing game — in 13 games, recording 1,560 all-purpose yards and averaging 7.4 yards each time he touched the ball.
Henderson's explosion each time he touched the football catapulted him to the top of the Buckeyes' depth chart at running back, eclipsing the amount of carries Miyan Williams, Master Teague III, Marcus Crowley and Evan Pryor had combined.
In the final two games of the season, though, the Buckeyes' run game success evaporated, averaging 4.5 yards per carry and scoring only one touchdown on the ground against Michigan and Utah.
2022 outlookÂ
Departing: Master Teague III, Robert CopeÂ
Coming in as the No. 8 running back in the 2018 class, Teague had potential to follow up players like Mike Weber and J.K. Dobbins to be the next great Ohio State running back. Instead, with Henderson's rise, he fell down the depth chart.
After recording 239 rushes in 2019 and 2020 combined, averaging 5.4 yards per touch with 12 touchdowns, Teague received only 67 carries in 2021, missing some time with an undisclosed injury.
As opposed to the nearly 12 touches per game he had in his past two seasons, Teague averaged only 9.6 in 2021, averaging 5.3 yards per carry with four touchdowns.
In four years with the Buckeyes, Teague scored 17 touchdowns, including a career-high eight in seven games in 2020.
Returning: Miyan Williams, Evan Pryor, Marcus Crowley, Cayden Saunders, TreVeyon HendersonÂ
Ohio State's bell-cow running back is returning in 2022.
Henderson is looking to follow up his record-breaking freshman campaign as one of the top returning running backs in the country.
Williams will be the clear No. 2 guy, averaging 7.1 carries through 10 games with 7.2 yards per touch and three rushing touchdowns. Pryor, who redshirted his freshman year, could see an uptick in touches, seeing a potential role both in the backfield and as a receiver.
Crowley is also set to return after playing in three games for the Buckeyes in 2021 before suffering another long-term injury that he's still recovering from this spring.
Incoming: Dallan HaydenÂ
With how young Tony Alford's room is heading into 2022, Ohio State didn't really need to make a splash at the running back position. Instead, it got a player who fit the mold of the running backs before him.
A bit taller than the other members of the room at 6-foot, Dallan Hayden showed his explosiveness at the high school level, accumulating over 4,000 rushing yards and 50 touchdowns over his past two years of high school.
With the players in front of him, don't expect the running back – who won't be with the program until the summer – to make a large impact in his first season with the Buckeyes.
Projected starter: TreVeyon Henderson
This is no surprise.
Henderson will come in on a mission to follow up his record-setting freshman season with another year that brings him to the forefront of the conversation of who is the best running back in college football.
Spring practice storyline to watchÂ
It's clear who the starter will be and it's seemingly clear what the hierarchy of the room is.
The main question will be how much of a role will the run game actually have in this offense?
Heading into 2022, all of the attention is on the show C.J. Stroud, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Marvin Harrison Jr. put on at the Rose Bowl, breaking records and sending shockwaves to opposing pass defenses across the Big Ten.
While the Buckeyes shattered expectations in the pass game, the run game recorded 110 rushing yards on 20 carries — including one 10-yard carry by Stroud — with no scores.
Henderson's going to play a role, showing his capabilities in the pass game late in the year. But if the Buckeyes want to have a balanced offense in 2022, the run game will have to be consistent, something depth in the room will provide.
Whether that means an uptick in carries for Williams, Crowley (if healthy) or Pryor remains to be seen. But it's something that Henderson can't do by himself, even though he will be the primary trend-setter and go-to running back for this offense by a lot.
