Ohio State Football: Predicting OSU leading rusher in 2020

The Ohio State football team’s running back position for the 2020 season is looking bleak. Here we predict what may happen.

The Ohio State football team and head coach Ryan Day has a crisis on its hands in terms of the running back position for next season. Austin Ward of Lettermen Row confirmed that Master Teague tore his Achilles during spring football practices.

And with the likely No. 2 running back in Marcus Crowley still recovering from his undisclosed knee injury from last November, this is shaping up to be a tough spot for Ryan Day and running backs coach Tony Alford to have to figure out.

According to patient.info, an Achilles tear can take anywhere from four-months to 12 months to fully recover and get back to playing a sport. And with this sport being football, its safe to say that the injury could fall in line with it being on the higher end of that time-table.

This leaves the Buckeyes searching for answers at tail back as the first man up for the job will be Steele Chambers. Chamber saw some game action in his freshman season but it was not significant. Rushing for 135 yards and a score in three games last season, Chambers will see the majority of the first team reps once practices resume.

Marcus Crowley, given the nature of his undisclosed injury is a wild card. However, having a good amount of time to recover from his injury should put him in position to see action once the season begins.

Miyan Williams, the three-star recruit true freshman probably will not be a factor in this position come the fall. Not enrolling early will limit his capabilities of earning playing time.

Then there is Demario McCall, who finally will get his chance to shine due to this injury. While running between the tackles isn’t his thing, look for McCall to be the scat back in this offense and get some nice numbers in the passing game come this fall.

So if Master Teague is injured for the season, who becomes the Buckeyes leading rusher? The answer is who knows?

If he is gone for the season, the reality of the situation is that the running back position will be a three-headed monster between Chambers, Crowley and McCall. And Ohio State will likely play the hot hand on any given Saturday.

My money ultimately would be on Chambers, just because he is the only healthy back right now and that he would see the majority of first team reps once practices resume. Also, don’t forget Justin Fields. In this scenario, Fields would likely have the ball in his hand on key third and short situations and would turn into a Tim Tebow type back.

Lets all just hope that Teague’s injury is quick healing and he can get back in time for the season opener. If not, it could be a long season for Ohio State in terms of trying to establish a running game.