The Ohio State football program lost a lot of talent from its 2024 national championship team. Losing 15 starters is not ideal, but the Buckeyes have enough depth to be able to survive it. They are still one of the favorites to win the national championship this season.
Still, they would love to have some of the guys that they lost on the roster for this year. Just because they have the talent to replace the guys that they lost doesn't mean that they wouldn't love to keep some of those guys. There is one guy who they would love to have kept for one more year.
That player is running back Quinshon Judkins. Judkins ended up playing just one year for the Ohio State Buckeyes, leaving for the NFL Draft early. Had he stayed, he would have been the featured back for the Buckeyes. Instead, he decided to enter the Draft and was a second-round pick.
Why the Ohio State football team will miss Quinshon Judkins more than anyone else
Judkins is now in Cleveland, so he gets to stay in the state of Ohio. The Buckeyes will miss him the most because they don't have any experience behind him at the running back spot. They had to go to the transfer portal to get CJ Donaldson in order to get someone who had some experience.
Donaldson doesn't look like he's going to start, either. It looks like James Peoples is going to be the guy who starts, but both are going to get a lot of carries. They will handle the backfield a lot like they did in 2024 with two guys sharing the carries pretty evenly.
Ohio State would have loved to have kept Judkins on the roster for one more year. He would have really helped a first-time starting quarterback be even more comfortable in the offense.