Wilson expects three RBs to see ‘high-end’ playing time in 2021
COLUMBUS, Ohio –– Ohio State is no stranger to a running back by committee approach, but in recent years that has typically manifested itself in a two-back split.
As the talented names pile up in a Trey Sermon-less position room this offseason though, Ohio State offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson could see the backfield consistently hosting an even larger rotation of Buckeyes.
“We're going to need really about three backs that can play championship football for us,” Wilson said when spring camp wrapped up back in April.
Sermon and Master Teague –– who started most of the season before Sermon’s late emergence –– were nearly split down the middle in terms of total rush attempts last year. Sermon led the way with 116, and Teague tallied 104 of his own.
J.K. Dobbins was a true bellcow back in 2019, but he and Mike Weber more or less split the load in ‘17 and ‘18, racking up 424 and 273 carries, respectively.
If one was to predict Ohio State’s three carries leaders for the 2021 season –– quarterbacks aside –– it would be hard not to start with Teague, even with injury issues becoming somewhat persistent in his Buckeye career.
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The Murfreesboro, Tennessee, native is the only Buckeye RB with starting experience, and the most tenured back in position coach Tony Alford’s room.
Beyond that though, there are a number of running backs that could contend for those other two slots, should Wilson’s three-man rotation come to fruition.
“We're gonna need a combination of [TreVeyon Henderson] and Master and Miyan (Williams) and Marcus Crowley, Steele Chambers, Evan Pryor –– we're gonna need three or four of those cats to play high-end for us this year,” Wilson said.
Chambers, now entering his third season, has had no trouble ripping off chunk yardage on limited carries so far in his career, but fumbling the ball quickly curtailed his opportunities a season ago.
Pryor, a highly touted true freshman, doesn’t quite appear to have the frame necessary to handle a steady diet of carries just yet, standing at 5-foot-10, 197 pounds as of this spring. However, even if they don't come immediately, the big-play potential is there for the North Carolina native.
That leaves Henderson, Williams, and Crowley, first-, second- and third-year backs, respectively, who have all shown considerable promise in different capacities thus far.
Henderson, the most prized recruit of those three, turned heads all spring with his mature frame and game-readiness. Williams flashed earlier than expected with a couple big carries against Clemson as a true freshman. Crowley spent last year recovering from a torn ACL, but appeared an exciting option of the future during his own freshman campaign in 2019.
In all reality, the final running back rotation won’t be sorted out this offseason or even the first couple weeks of the 2021 slate. With this many talented options, and many of them on roughly the same plane entering the season, it will likely take time and a trial by fire to see who asserts themself at the position.
The return of a full season will assist the Buckeyes given the additional time to experiment, but with Minnesota and Oregon up first for Ohio State, there won’t be much of a warmup to start off.