It’s been the question on everyone’s mind when it comes to the running back situation at Ohio State this fall. Master Teague was expected to be the starter in waiting with the departure of J.K. Dobbins to the NFL, but then he suffered an Achilles injury during the spring that put that in doubt.
In order to plug what seemed to be a hole in the roster, Ryan Day and company went out and convinced Oklahoma graduate transfer Trey Sermon to back the U-Haul up to the banks of the Olentangy with plans to be the guy in the backfield for the Buckeye offense in 2020.
However, based on recent reports, Teague has recovered from his injury and is all ready to go, especially with the longer timing of a late October start date. So now, there appears to be a two-man competition for the starting tailback spot.
So, how does the coaching staff assess the running back situation? Offensive Coordinator Kevin Wilson met with reporters on a Zoom call on Friday and spent some time discussing the status of the position as he sees it.
“I think it’ll be a 50-50 ballpark as we start,” said Wilson. “We’ve got five guys who are getting a lot of work, the bulk of it being split between Master and Trey with the ones and then Steele (Chambers) and the other guys are managing our second team right now.”
Interesting to hear Kevin Wilson say he thinks the #Buckeyes’ carries at RB could be split almost 50/50 with Trey Sermon and Master Teague. Story coming on @Bucknuts247 soon.
— Dave Biddle (@davebiddle) September 25, 2020
Ohio State fans likely know what Teague brings to the table. He’s got some straight-line burst to him but is a big, tough runner that can get yards between the tackles as well. What OSU fans may not be entirely familiar with is the skill set of Sermon and what role he will play.
“Trey has come in and he’s very smart, looks very good, catches it well, understands what we have,” said Wilson. “I haven’t seen him with pads in the hard practice environment or the game environment, you feel comfortable there.”
All of this is obviously a very fluid situation thought. There’s still a month until the start of the season, and with the pandemic, development, and situations that will present themselves in-game, things could change. Still, if what Wilson projects to be the case comes to pass, think more along the lines of 2018 when Dobbins and Mike Weber split carries rather than a feature back like what we saw last year with Dobbins.
The offense is projected to be a very dynamic one, and having two guys that can provide two different looks is not a bad thing at this point.
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