With TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins now in the NFL, CJ Donaldson will look to step in and provide stability at running back for Ohio State.
One of the biggest question marks for Ohio State heading into this season is how the running backs will perform.
Last year the Buckeyes had one of the top running back combos in the country with TreVeyon Henderson and Ole Miss transfer Quinshon Judkins. Both running backs rushed for over 1,000 yards and 10 touchdowns last season, combining to amass 2,076 rushing yards and 24 touchdowns.
What made the rushing attack of the Buckeyes so successful is with two future NFL running backs sharing the load, Henderson and Judkins were both fresher down the stretch in the first year of the 12-team playoff.
There isn’t quite as much stability in the backfield this year, as Henderson and Judkins were both selected in the 2025 NFL Draft in April. Trying to fill the shoes of Henderson and Judkins will be James Peoples and CJ Donaldson.
Peoples figures to be more of the speed back, while Henderson has the build of more of a bruising running back, measuring 6-foot-2 and nearly 240 pounds. Donaldson will also bring veteran leadership to the unit, as Peoples enters this season with just 49 career carries in his short time at Ohio State.
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By comparison, Donaldson had over 400 carries in the first three seasons of his college career at West Virginia. After originally committing to Tulane, the three-star recruit changed his mind and decided that West Virginia was where he would enroll as a freshman in 2022.
The Mountaineers originally envisioned Donaldson as a tight end but he would enter the season opener against rival Pitt as the team’s starting running back. After rushing for 125 yards and a touchdown, along with blocking a kick in his college debut, Donaldson was named the Big 12’s Newcomer of the Week.
Unfortunately Donaldson’s freshman season was cut short when he suffered a leg injury against TCU. In his first collegiate season, Donaldson ran for 526 yards and eight touchdowns on 87 carries.
The sophomore and junior seasons for Donaldson were eerily similar. In 2023, Donaldson ran for 798 yards and 11 touchdowns on 171 carries in 12 games, while last season he rushed for 734 yards and 11 scores on 163 carries in 13 games. The biggest difference is last year Donaldson was able to play in West Virginia’s bowl game, rushing for 83 yards and two touchdowns in the Frisco Bowl loss to Memphis.
Donaldson missed the previous season’s bowl game which saw the Mountaineers defeat North Carolina in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl. The running back knew his time in Morgantown was likely finished when West Virginia fired head coach Neal Brown and hired former head coach Rich Rodriguez. Two days after the loss to Memphis in the Frisco Bowl, Donaldson announced he was entering the transfer portal.
Now Donaldson will look to channel what Judkins and Trey Sermon did as transfer running backs in Columbus. Judkins was part of Ohio State’s national title team last year, while Sermon set a single-game school record by rushing for 331 yards in the 2020 Big Ten Championship Game in a season that saw the Buckeyes advance to the College Football Playoff Championship Game.
Sermon shared time with Master Teague in the backfield, with the Oklahoma transfer’s big opportunity to make some noise coming in the conference title game against Northwestern when Teague was limited due to injury.
The rushing attack is going to be even more important to Ohio State’s offensive attack this year since the Buckeyes will be breaking in a new starting quarterback. Since he hasn’t seen any meaningful game action in his young career, who really knows how projected starting quarterback Julian Sayin will respond to leading the Ohio State offense.
Plus, the Buckeyes will open the season against Texas, who made it a point to not let stellar wide receiver Jeremiah Smith beat them, which will put even more pressure on the running game. Donaldson would be a perfect option to carry the load against the Longhorns, since with his size he could work on wearing down the Texas defense on what will likely be a toasty Big Noon Kickoff in late August in Columbus.
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Another reason Donaldson could be in for a strong 2025 campaign is he has been excellent when it comes to protecting the football. Prior to the Frisco Bowl against Memphis where he fumbled the football twice and lost one of those fumbles, the only fumble Donaldson had lost in his career came in his freshman year against Texas Tech.
I’ll chalk up the fumble against Memphis as a bit of fluke since it was the last game of his West Virginia career, so he could have let loose a little with it being a lower-level bowl game.
Donaldson’s role at Ohio State is perfect since he is already familiar with sharing carries after taking on a similar workload at West Virginia. Much like we saw with Henderson and Judkins last year, there are going to be some games this year when Donaldson hits and other games where Peoples hits.
What will be more important are both running backs stay healthy and as fresh as possible for what will hopefully be another deep playoff run for the Buckeyes.