HOW A RUNNING BACK’S DEPARTURE AFFECTS OHIO STATE’S RUNNING BACK RECRUITING.

The startling announcement of Tony Alford’s leaving occurred on Wednesday morning.

The veteran Ohio State running back coach is leaving the university after nine seasons to take a position at their bitter rival, a move that surprised a few OSU players. Given that the Buckeyes are in the middle of their spring practice, the timing is probably not ideal. However, life goes on, and Ryan Day will try his best to change course and appoint a stand-in as soon as possible.

Both immediate and long-term problems are raised by Alford’s abrupt resignation, but for the sake of this article, we’ll mostly concentrate on the former. Though perhaps not for the reason you might imagine, Ohio State is probably at least somewhat motivated to locate a suitable replacement as soon as feasible.

Both TreVeyon Henderson and Dallan Hayden have spent several seasons at Ohio State, so they are familiar with the offensive strategies that the Buckeyes like. Despite being a new addition to the team, Quinshon Judkins has already amassed over 1,000 yards in back-to-back SEC seasons.

Put simply, the running backs coaching position at Ohio State is in excellent hands for the 2024 campaign, no matter who the Buckeyes select as their next coach. In the interim, OSU can undoubtedly pick up the slack in teaching running backs during spring practices, whether it’s Day, Chip Kelly, or all of them.

The recruiting trail is the larger matter at hand.

OSU currently does not have any committed running backs in the 2025 class, but they want to recruit more tailbacks this cycle. The Buckeyes had a number of elite running backs, both domestically and nationally, prior to Alford’s departure. That’s not to imply that any of those individuals will suddenly stop thinking well of OSU; rather, it makes sense that they will seek information on the matter as soon as possible.

That’s mostly because Ohio State will host a sizable group of recruits this spring. As an illustration: