The Ohio State football team has a full running backs room as Ryan Day and Tony Alford will have to make some tough decisions next season.
The Ohio State football team has a unique problem in their running back room. Despite failing to sign anybody to the 2023 recruiting class, running backs coach Tony Alford has a full room and will have some hard decisions to make about playing time next season.
TreyVeon Henderson and Miyan Williams are slatted in to get the bulk of the snaps next season. But both are injury-prone, and Henderson will not be participating in spring practices as he bounces back from his foot injury that ruined his 2022 season.
Alford also confirmed last week that Chip Traynum will be a full-time running back heading into Spring ball and he surely will get a good look as both Henderson and Evan Pryor are down due to injury.
Speaking of Pryor, Ohio State still doesn’t know what they have in him yet. The former top-100 recruit was impressing in fall camp last year before he went down with a season-ending ACL injury.
Lastly, Dallan Hayden, who was very impressive as a true freshman last season, will be in his first full Spring as a Buckeye, and like Traynum, he should receive a ton of reps due to all the injuries.
Add all of this up and Alford and Day will have some very difficult decisions to make about playing time next season. Henderson and Williams are the veterans while Traynum and Hayden surely had moments last season in which you’d like to see more of them. And of course, the wildcard is Evan Pryor and what he could do in this offense once healthy.
Rumors are still swirling about Hayden’s future if he doesn’t earn playing time this Spring. He unfortunately could get caught in between with all these backs on the roster and he could look to transfer out once the Spring portal window opens. Let’s hope it doesn’t get to that point because Hayden could be Ohio State’s starting back next season if Henderson decides to leave.
At any rate, the Buckeyes have the bodies to withstand injury next season. But once it’s likely that Williams, Henderson, and Traynum are all gone after next season as the room quickly becomes light again. This should be an interesting development in roster management as we head through the spring.