With the Buckeyes explosive passing attack and the running back room, it could be hard for Peoples to get to 1,000 yards this year, but not impossible…
From now until preseason camp starts in August, Land-Grant Holy Land will be writing articles around a different theme every week. This week is all about our Unreasonable Expectations. You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all of our Unreasonable Expectations here.
There are a lot of ways you can take an “unreasonable expectation,” and I am going to go with one that isn’t that tough in general, but might be tough when taking into account all of the circumstances.
I am predicting James Peoples to rush for over 1,000 yards this season.
Again, in theory, this isn’t impossible — the Buckeyes just had two running backs accomplish that task.
Last year, Ohio State had a ton of success in the running game under offensive coordinator Chip Kelly. As a team, the Buckeyes ran for 2,662 yards and 34 touchdowns on 523 attempts, which is good for 5.1 yards per attempt.
Quinshon Judkins led the Buckeyes in rushing in his only season as a Buckeye, rushing for 1,060 yards and 14 touchdowns on 194 attempts. TreVeyon Henderson was close behind, rushing for 1,016 yards, and ten touchdowns on 144 attempts.
Judkins ran for 5.5 yards per attempt and Henderson ran for 5.5 yards per attempt. Will Howard added 226 yards and seven touchdowns on 105 attempts.
However, this is a different Ohio State team with a new offensive coordinator.
They will turn to Brian Hartline as the primary play caller and Peoples as RB1 with Judkins and Henderson heading to the Cleveland Browns and New England Patriots, respectively.
Peoples was a four star recruit and the No. 7 running back in the 2024 recruiting class from Veterans Memorial in San Antonio, Texas. As a freshman in 2024, Peoples appeared in eight games and ran for 197 yards and two touchdowns on 49 attempts.
To compliment Peoples, CJ Donaldson comes to Columbus from West Virginia and he has been very productive in his college career thus far. Donaldson was technically a tight end in his freshman season in Morgantown, but he still ran for 526 yards and eight touchdowns. In his three seasons, he ran for 2,058 yards and 30 touchdowns on 421 attempts. He ran for 4.9 yards per attempt.
At the NFL scouting combine, Lathan Ransom had great things to say about Peoples and his career coming up.
“I think James Peoples is a dog,” Ransom said at the combine. “That young running back coming up, (he’s going to) make a lot of plays.
“Just a hard worker, man, a dude that runs hard every time he gets a chance,” Ransom added about People’s work ethic. “And he’s a big running back, and tough to get down in that open field, so I think he’s going to make a lot of plays.”
Judkins echoed similar sentiments.
“James is a great young man,” Judkins said at the combine. “Learned a lot from me and Trey with our leadership, taught him a lot of things. He got to see us and how we approach different things. So I think him just coming out in his second year, he’ll grow a lot. A very talented player.
Judkins added, “He’s fast, a bigger back, I would say just a talented guy, you’ll see for sure.”
So, I expect Peoples to be a great producer as a sophomore for the Buckeyes, and of course, there is a chance they play 16 games again to give him a better chance.
The reason I feel this could be an unreasonable expectation is the makeup of the 2025-26 offense. Julian Sayin is coming in as the starting quarterback and Jeremiah Smith returns as the top receiver in the country. Also, Carnell Tate is one of the top receivers in the country and Purdue transfer Max Klare is possibly the top tight end in the country.
It is safe to assume the Buckeyes will rely on a strong passing attack this season, not to mention Donaldson will get a good portion of carries, as well as Sam Williams-Dixon and Bo Jackson.
I think it can be considered unreasonable for Peoples to get to 1,000 yards with the passing attack and the running back room the Buckeyes have. However, because of the playoff and the explosive potential of Peoples, I do think he will get to 1,000 yards.