Ohio State Football: Buckeyes RB situation vs. 2014

Ezekiel Elliott became a star on the 2014 Ohio State football team but the RB situation may be more promising now than prior to the championship season.

In a previous article I compared the offensive line situation on this year’s Ohio State football team to the one in May, 2014. Now I’ll take a look at the running backs.

In 2013 Carlos Hyde led the Buckeyes in rushing becoming Urban Meyer’s first 1,000 yard running back. After he moved on to the NFL the running back room was thin.

Jordan Hall also graduated so Ezekiel Elliott was certain to be the starter since he performed well in limited duty as a freshman, averaging 8.7 yards on his 30 carries. But no other returning running back carried the ball more than 22 times during the 2013 season.

Elliott went on to have an outstanding season and the Ohio State rushing attack was one of the best in the nation, but most probably didn’t think that would have been the case before the first game was played.

Things look more promising this year. Let’s look at the running back situation as it stands at the moment and compare it to the one in May, 2014.

J.K. Dobbins will be the featured back and he has had back-to-back 1,000 yard seasons. He will be shooting for a third straight to match Archie Griffin’s record, and there should be plenty of depth behind him.

Demario McCall apparently will be moving to the backfield, at least the majority of the time. McCall has rushed 71 times for 431 yards (6.1 per carry) and 4 touchdowns during his Ohio State career bouncing back and forth between running back and H-back.

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Master Teague averaged 6.2 yards per carry and scored a touchdown last season in limited duty as a true freshman. Expect big things for this speedster who reportedly has run a sub-4.4 in the 40.

This year’s freshmen should be interesting to watch also.

Marcus Crowley rushed for 2,235 yards and 28 touchdowns during his senior season in high school and was named the Gatorade Player of the Year in the state of Florida. He enrolled early and has already impressed the coaching staff.

Steele Chambers will also be arriving soon. I think the main reason this guy wasn’t ranked higher than the No. 231 player in the recruiting class could have been because it wasn’t certain which side of the ball he would play on. It appears the 6 ft. 1, 215 pound Chambers will be carrying the football instead of drilling others who are.

It’s hard to predict how the unit will perform next season, and obviously the rushing attack won’t be as effective as in 2014 unless the rebuilt offensive line performs as well as the over-achieving group of ‘Slobs’ the backs ran behind that year.

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However, with the talented backs on the roster fans have to like the prospect of the Buckeyes having a strong rushing attack next season.

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