Ohio State Buckeyes: Running back picture much different than March

But even as the passing game has become a primary weapon at most major colleges and even more so in the NFL, there is still a need for multiple running backs for a team to be able to rely on.

Ohio State offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson, a veteran coach who has been on the forefront of college football’s offensive evolution over the past 20 years, said the number he wants to have ready to go has actually grown a little rather than shrank.

“I think every year you’re gonna have more than one,” he said. “It’s even getting to the point in the college game with the tempo we play with now, you need to maybe have more than two. You need to have three.”

That sounds like a task running backs coach Tony Alford is better suited to deliver now than he was in spring or even late summer, let alone prior to Ohio State’s belated season-opener against Nebraska on Oct. 24.

When spring practice was suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic in March, Ohio State had already lost J.K. Dobbins early to the NFL Draft and last year’s No. 2 back, Master Teague, to an Achilles injury.

With Marcus Crowley still recovering from a knee injury suffered last fall and freshman running back Miyan Williams still in high school, the Buckeyes were precariously thin at a position that has one of the longest and proudest traditions of excellence for the program.

That prompted Ohio State head coach Ryan Day to look at the transfer market, where he plucked Trey Sermon away from Oklahoma.

The delay to the season also gave Teague time to heal, and now Williams is in the fold along with redshirt freshman Steele Chambers, who was looking at being the only scholarship back available for most of spring.

“Master has came off his injury and it looks like he has a chance, especially with the season being delayed,” Wilson said. “He’s doing everything and looks really good. Trey has come in and he’s very smart, looks very good. Catches it well, understands what we want, but I haven’t seen him with pads and in that hard practice environment or the game environment yet.”

That has him feeling more comfortable even though Crowley is still not 100 percent.

It also allows the staff to look at senior Demario McCall and junior Xavier Johnson in a different role.

“We’ll call those two kind of hybrid receiver-running backs,” Wilson said. “So we’ve got five guys that are getting a lot of work. The bulk of its being split between Master and Trey with the (first team) and Steele and the other guys are managing our second team right now.”

Sermon, a Marietta, Ga., native who ran for 2,076 yards and 22 touchdowns at Oklahoma and caught 36 passes for 391 yards, is listed at 6-foot-1, 215 pounds.

That puts him in a similar mold to Teague, a 5-11, 225-pound sophomore, Chambers (6-1, 220) and Crowley (6-1, 205).

The 5-9, 195-pound McCall is more of a water bug who has bounced between receiver and running back in his time at Ohio State while the 6-2, 215-pound Johnson has contributed on special teams and seen action on both sides of the ball as a running back and cornerback since walking on from Cincinnati Summit Country Day High School.

While the season-opener is still more than three weeks away, Wilson hopes to be able to get lots of work for all the Buckeye backs this month.

“So it’s one thing to say they complement each other, ‘Hey, you know this guy’s a good pass blocker, this guy’s a good inside runner, this guy’s a good outside runner, this guy’s a good route runner,’” Wilson said. “In reality you want him to be pretty good at all things. You don’t want to always put a guy in and never throw him a ball, so we’ll keep enhancing and developing them to where they’re very balanced.”